By: Thomnas RitchieMarjorie Weigel

Jessalyn GallmanDylan RentfroClass: WD2

March 2, 2011

Pharmaceutical Dumping 

 

The act of illegally dumping expired drugs in waterways.

  What is Pharmaceutical Dumping?  

Pharmaceutics - Pharmacy: The art and science of preparing and dispensing drugs and medicines. Dumping- Throw away, dispose of. Pharmaceutical Dumping is the illegal disposal of medicinal materials primarily in the water supply. (Russel) 

According to researchers, a large enough amount of powerful antibiotics to treat approximately 90,000 people were being dumped into one of India's waterways daily. Not only that, the Associated Press reported that the same stream also contained over twenty other chemicals that were dumped by pharmacies.  The amount of chemicals found in this waterway were over 100 times the amount found in U.S. waterways with high levels of chemicals.(Adams)

What's The Issue?

Causes of Pharmaceutical Dumping

• The main causes of Pharmaceutical Dumping are financial concerns- pharmacist that illegally dump usually aim to save money that would otherwise be used to dispose of the medicine properly.

• Studies have found that 100 pounds of the antibiotic Ciprolaxin were entering the water every day from a drug factory in India.(U.S. Pharmaceutical Factories.)

• Also, it can cause disease causing bacteria,parasitic worms, and viruses enter the sewage systems and untreated wastes.(Causes of Water Pollutions).

Impacts of Pharmaceutical Dumping

• Companies have released at least 271 million ponds of Pharmaceutics into the waterways.  

• "Two common industrial chemicals that are also pharmaceuticals the antiseptics phenol and hydrogen peroxide account for 92 percent of the 271 million pounds identified as coming from drug-makers and other manufacturers. Both can be toxic and both are considered to be ubiquitous in the environment."(Donn)

• This can be very dangerous in some cases, as people can be allergic to these substances.

• Another impact of the dumping is breast cancer in women, and birth defects.

History of Pharmaceutical Dumping

    Dumping goes back as  far as the invention of medicine. In hospitals it was common for the poor to be tasked with bringing the bio hazardous wastes to dumps in populated areas for disposal, this was often hazardous for those who came in contact with the materials and those who lived in the vicinity. The dumping of defective or expired medicinal goods has been proven to be in occurrence since the 1800's as archaeologists have found evidence of this in buildings that once housed pharmacies. (Russian Info-Center)

Statistics

               Short Term Effects

• Toxic chemicals will harm inhabitants of the water they are being directly dumped into such as fish and other plants and animals.

 •  Direct contact with contaminated water can cause

illness. •  Water becomes murky and unsanitary, becoming a risk

toward the health of people and animals.

                Long Term Effects

• Excessive dumping of chemicals into waterways may cause contamination of connected waterways, causing a much larger number of plants and animals that inhabit the water to die out.

 • The dumping of Antibiotics into waterways may possibly

cause the Antibiotics to be less effective in curing infections.

This is a picture of an Indian waterway that has been contaminated by chemicals due to Pharmaceutical Dumping.

What can we do in our communities to Prevent Pharmaceutical Dumping 

This this cycle you are looking at the  Holistic Watershed Approach. This Cycle does not yield Positive Results from water By itself. But it does provide a good statue and calaboration, to help Programs help a lot more causes

In this photo you  are looking at there is a large amount of Pharmaceutical Dumping going on in this surburban area.

Recipe for a Revolution

Ingredients:1. People2. Strong belief 3. Large Group of People that belief what you do4. Place to meet to talk about the topic

Directions1. You take the large group of people that belief what you do.

Cordanize a time to meet at the Place to

Possible Sources

• An obvious source of this "dumping" is major drug companies that manufacture and chemically create the compounds they later dump.

• Also, manufacturers whom use certain types of paint such as lead based paint, then dump the leftovers they have no use for.

• other sources though they mean no harm are the water treatment plants that may, on occasion put excess amounts of certain chemicals such as chlorine.

Song

I Once a long time ago me and my brother dylan were hitch hiking down a long and lonesome road

 

Citations

Watson, Debra . "Pharmaceutical companies dump useless drugs in Albania." wsws. N.p., 1998-2011 . Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/drug-j03.shtml>  

"U.S. Pharmaceutical Factories Dumping Huge Quantities of Drugs Into Public Sewers, Rivers and Waterways." Dprogram.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://dprogram.net/2009/09/24/u-s-pharmaceutical-factories-dumping-huge-quantities-of-drugs-into-public-sewers-rivers-and-waterways/>

Gutierrez, David. "U.S. Pharmaceutical Factories Dumping Huge Quantities of Drugs Into Public     Sewers, Rivers and Waterways Learn more." Natural News. 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 23         Feb. 22, 2011 http://www.naturalnews.com/027092_water_drugs_rivers.html#ixzz1EnfkqZDm>

Donn, Mendoza, Pritchard, Jeff, Martha, Justin. "US Water Contaminated By Pharmaceutical     Companies, Hospitals, Consumers." The Huffington Post. 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 23 Feb.         2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/us-water-contaminated-by-_n_188852.html>

Adams, Mike. "India's Waterways A Toxic Skew Of Pharmaceutical Chemicals Dumped From Big Pharma Factories." Natural News. Truth Publishing International, 2003-2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://www.naturalnews.com/025415_water_Big_Pharma_drug.html>

"Safety and Health Topics: Hazardous Drugs." Occupational Safety and Health Administration - Home. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hazardousdrugs/index.html>

Citations 

Persyn, Russell . "Collaboration, Innovation, Our Future Watershed Integrity Team Seeks to Develop Results through Cooperation and Collaboration ." River Reach. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sara-tx.org/newsletters/winter-10.html> "Russia-InfoCentre :: 19th Century Pharmaceutical Dump Discovered by Archeologists in Lipetsk." Russia-InfoCentre ::. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://russia-ic.com/news/show/10753> 

"11 Green Companies - News Markets - Portfolio.com." Portfolio.Com: News & Views On Business And Entrepreneurship - Portfolio.com. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/11-Green-Companies"Causes Of Water Pollution: What Is To Blame." Controlloing Pollution. N.p., 2011. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://www.controllingpollution.com/causes-of-water-pollution/  Peterka, Amanda . "Record Levels of Pharmaceuticals Found in India's Water." redgreenandblue.com. N.p., 25 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/01/25/record-levels-of-pharmaceuticals-found-in-indias-water/>.

Peterka, Amanda . "Record Levels of Pharmaceuticals Found in India's Water." redgreenandblue.com. N.p., 25 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2011. <http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/01/25/record-levels-of-pharmaceuticals-found-in-indias-water/>.