Pharmaceuticals Impact on Environment
Added on 2020-03-04
5 Pages1148 Words96 Views
|
|
|
1Running head: POLLUTION PREVENTIONPollution PreventionName of student:Name of university:Author note:
POLLUTION PREVENTIONPharmaceuticals In Invironment (PIE) have increasingly become a topic of seriousconcern to the communities across the globe, including US, due to their potential to causesignificant harm to the aquatic life. a rich pool of literature throws light on the actualenvironmental impacts that are widely attributed to the presence of pharmaceuticals inenvironment, mainly, natural water streams. There has been constant evidences that thesemajor traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment are due to human excretion and improperdisposal practices (Daughton, 2016). The present paper outlines the societal and politicalconcerns related to the issue, the sources and impacts of PIE when discharged into streams.The discussion also includes the recommendations and programs in the United States fordisposing of unused medicines and these are compared to those in Europe. Lastly,recommendations are provided on how medicines are to be disposed off in a safe manner andthe concerned stakeholders are highlighted. According to Kümmerer (2016), there are different ways by which traces ofpharmaceutical products make their way into the environment, the most significant one beingexcretion of humans. The researcher highlight that about 50-90% of the active ingredientspresent in any oral dose of a medicine is ecreted out and the metabolites remain active in theenvironment. Inadequate access to toilets is the prime area of concern as a certain section ofthe population might be excreting in the open. The lack of social awareness regarding thisaspect draws attention of concerned stakeholders. On the political front, the leaders have beenaccused of not implementing adequate measures to regulate disposal guidelines and nottaking up strict actions against those violating the law. The communication between theenvironmentalists and the general public is not fostered by the political parties and thereforethe commn mass is left out from major decision making processes. Lack of socioeconomic-impact assessments share the challenge to a considerable extent. Lastly, any arising
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.
Related Documents
EFFECTS OF PHARMACEUTICAL WASTES AND CONTAMINANTS ON ECOSYSTEMS.lg...
|7
|1731
|59