Source: The post is based on the article “Health to harm: Researchers call for action against pharma pollution” published in Down To Earth on 12th December 2022
What is the News?
According to the Lancet report, Pharmaceutical Pollution is an overlooked but urgent issue that needs coordinated action from across the pharmaceutical, healthcare and environmental sectors.
Almost half or 43% of the world’s rivers are contaminated with active pharmaceutical ingredients in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.
What is Pharmaceutical pollution?
Pharmaceutical plants are often incapable of filtering out all the chemical compounds used in their manufacturing process and as such, the chemicals will seep into the surrounding freshwater systems and eventually into the oceans, lakes, streams, and rivers.
Wastewater from pharmaceutical manufacturers is also sometimes discharged into open fields and nearby water bodies, thereby increasing the pharmaceutical waste or their by-product load in the environment, landfills, or dumping areas. All this is basically known as pharmaceutical pollution.
About the status of pharmaceutical pollution in India
India is one of the biggest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals worldwide. It has been estimated that India is the world’s third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical production has been considered one of the most polluting industries in various parts of India.
Varieties of pharmaceuticals have been detected on the surface, ground and even in drinking water in many Indian cities due to the discharge of waste effluents.
The pollutants majorly enter water bodies due to the following sources: pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, hospitals, wastewater treatment plants, etc.
As a consequence, they cause adverse effects on land, water, food, and people’s health. It has been estimated that about 60000 newborns die annually in India because of multidrug-resistance infections and pharmaceutical water pollution with antimicrobial drugs is responsible for that.
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