Given that it is not feasible to simply tell people to stop taking pharmaceuticals, and that marine life such as fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being affected by pharmaceutical residues.
This is in relation to a project proposal I am working on.
The release or entry of pharmaceuticals into marine and coastal ecosystems has been high enough to induce biological impacts. They may act as additional stressors on marine ecosystems which are already impacted by global warming & climate change, eutrophication and over-fishing.The mechanisms of transformations and transfer in the environment lead to the exposure of biota
and constitute a potential risk for ecosystems.
The consumption phase is considered to be the biggest contributor to the emissions of medicinal products into the environment, notably through excretions and incorrect disposal of unused medicines through sinks and toilets. Between 30 and 90% of the orally administered dose is generally excreted as active
substance in the urine of animals and humans.
Sewage effluent is recognized as a major source of multiple pharmaceuticals, including their metabolites, entering aquatic environments.Sources of human pharmaceuticals in sewage include patient use in the community, discharges from hospitals and, in some cases, wastewater from pharmaceutical manufacturing. Sewage can be discharged into marine environments through coastal and ocean outfalls for WWTPs combined sewer overflows and via rivers receiving WWTP effluents
A range of veterinary medicines including antibiotics, also registered for human use, is used prophylactically and to control disease outbreaks in marine aquaculture.
Animal husbandry and horticulture along rivers and in coastal areas may also contribute to loadings of pharmaceuticals entering coastal waterways.
Waste disposal in coastal areas is a further source of pharmaceuticals entering the marine environment.
Once it's in the marine system it is very difficult. Many think that oceans have limitless capacity to absorb, degrade and assimilate pharmaceutical products. But the reality speaks that the biota are at the receiving end and they the bear the burden! We can better do the following for controlling the entry of those products rather than trying to remediate in the fathomless depths of oceans with next-to-impossible controlled remediation drive possible for humans.
Take-back schemes for unused medicinal products represent one of the simplest way to reduce inputs of pharmaceutical products into the environment. Major improvements in waste management could then be focused on the improvement of collection schemes for unused human and veterinary medicines, as well as
on tracking their efficiency.
All of these answers have been very helpful. Thank you very much!
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