Side Effects May Include...
This Earth Day, I wanted to talk about a lesser known threat to global water systems: Pharmaceuticals
Somewhere downstream of Amsterdam, trouble was brewing in the water. The cocaine from last night’s party was kicking in. They were young, they were high, and about to make decisions that they would regret for the rest of their lives… They also happened to be eels. The shock of how drugs were halting the mating habits of these endangered animals was just one of the many instances of how drug pollution is sweeping the globe. Although it may be tempting to add eels on cocaine to the long list of reasons to shake your fist at the ne’er do wells in your neighborhood, the majority of drug pollution related incidences come from FDA approved drugs you probably have at home in your medicine cabinet. Every year, over 100,000 tons of pharmaceuticals are consumed around the world. In the U.S. alone, approximately half of the population will have used at least one prescription drug in the past 30 days, and one in four Americans will have been using three or more prescription drugs at once. Medicines that cure everything from headaches to heart disease provide endless benefits to everyday life. But what happens when they leave the cabinet?
Drugs are mainly released into the environment through household plumbing. Some people will dispose of expired pills by flushing them down the toilet. But more often than not, the more bitter pill to take is the one that you’ve swallowed. Human bodies are not meant to break down all of the medicine in a single dosage, which means a lot of the chemicals and compounds in your medications pass through your body intact. Once they make their way into the sewers, it’s even harder to keep it away from our waterways.
Most active pharmaceutical ingredients (also known as APIs) are highly soluble. This allows for rapid digestion and relief from ailments. However, this can make it very difficult to filter APIs from wastewater. The same chemistry that lets medicine dissolve in your bodily fluids for it to do its job also makes it dissolve very easily in water, meaning it’s very difficult to separate out during normal sewage treatment procedures. A study released by the Nation Academy of Sciences revealed that over 25% of the world’s rivers contained unsafe levels of APIs and/or posed a risk for releasing antibiotic resistant microorganisms. There are also thousands upon thousands of different medicines out there. Most water treatment facilities simply do not have the money or the time to check for every single drug. The sheer number and variety of pharmaceuticals make it nearly impossible to test for and detect every possible contaminant passing through.
Perhaps more alarming is the fact that pharmaceuticals vary dramatically from one another in chemical composition. It is estimated that 2,500 varieties of pharmaceuticals are released into the environment each year. The mixing of these APIs could result in undetermined chemical reactions that could produce deadly results. Even relatively harmless drugs can be deadly when mixed together. The components of these medications and drugs are specifically designed to chemically react with your body. This means that the same chemicals will react with the bodies of other organisms in the water. For some creatures, these can become deadly cocktails of heart palpitations, disorientation, and catatonia. Others might have less obvious side effects, such as inability to produce offspring, or changes in behaviors that make them an easy target for predators.
Some organisms might be positively affected by the onslaught of drugs in the water but have a negative effect on us humans.
Take for example, antibiotics. These are a fairly common category of pharmaceuticals that are prescribed for a variety of ailments due to their low cost and high effectiveness. Antibiotics are a common group of medications that kill off many types of harmful bacteria species. However, some strains of bacteria can evolve to become resistant to antibiotics over time given enough exposure, creating new strains of potentially harmful diseases that can then be transported back into society.
Not only can these drugs react with organisms in a variety of ways, but they can also react with each other. Just like Tylenol and alcohol can be a deadly combination, even harmless drugs might become caustic when mixed together in the right way. About 2,500 varieties of drugs are released into the environment every year. Imagine how many chemical reactions are going on in the massive beaker that is our global waterways. Additionally, the pharmaceutical industry is a constantly evolving business. Many of the substances being released into the environment are too new to fully understand what their effects will be.
Pharmaceutical pollution is a tricky problem to solve or even discuss. The pharmaceutical industry as a whole has brought us life changing solutions to improve and extend our quality of life, many of which we depend on for our lives. But at what cost? And can there be a happy medium? Are there greener solutions to modern health that we just haven’t found yet? It’s an ethical dillema, but one that’s important to be aware of. One thing’s for certain: when it comes to the Earth, it’s too early to know all of the side effects.
What can you do?
Pharmaceutical pollution can be a double-edged sword. We need pharmaceutical treatments to be healthy and safe, but no-one likes a bad side effect. However, there are some ways to minimize the risks:
Read instructions for disposal on your medication carefully.
Some commercial drug stores offer proper disposal services for medications. Check out the FDA’s guidelines for disposing of prescription drugs.
Contact your local water treatment facility for more information about how to properly dispose of your pharmaceutical waste.
NOTE: If this post makes you want to stock up on bottled water, think again! Bottled water is actually less regulated than tap water as far as quality and contaminant testing. (This is because tap water is regulated by the EPA, while bottled water is regulated by the FDA, which generally has less stringent standards for common water pollutants)
Say NO to recreational drugs. They’re bad for your health and the planet.
If you’re using over the counter medications, buy bulk jars instead of individual packets to cut down on plastics.
If you are using over the counter medications for acute ailments (e.g. mild pain treatment, headache, muscle cramps, cold and flu), explore other non-pharmaceutical treatments first before reaching for the pills (e.g. heating pads, green tea, herbal supplements, lozenges, etc.)
Explore integrated and holistic health treatment options with your care providers, when applicable. For example, Acupuncture can be used in conjunction to treat both physical ailments, as well as mental health conditions, and may help patients to cut back on prescription medicine in a shorter amount of time.
Talk with others in your community about pharmaceutical pollution and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Get involved in your community and local government about protecting clean drinking water. NRDC provides a helpful resource here on how to get started.