Reader's Response Draft 1

On the website, “Citizen Campaign for the Environment”, Iburch (2015) reports on the adverse impact that improper pharmaceutical waste disposal has on the environment. Improper pharmaceutical waste disposal contaminates potable water sources, and it is mentioned by the same author that “low levels of drugs such as antibiotics, hormones, contraceptives and steroids are found in 80% of the rivers and streams”. Thus, these water sources are unsafe for consumption and usage. At the same time, it harms the marine life and humans by leaving them vulnerable to such pharmaceutical waste residue, albeit at low concentration. Some side effects on living organisms include irregular hormonal cycle and antibiotic resistance to drugs. Notably, male fish were found laying eggs due to prolong exposure to such residue. Legislation and raising public awareness on the proper disposal of pharmaceutical waste have been put in place to mitigate these prevailing issue.

In Iburch’s article, there is a lack of data to the quantity of pharmaceutical effluent present in the water sources that causes the detrimental side effects observed in living organisms. In addition, Iburch did not consider other possible environmental factors that contributes to genetic mutation seen in marine life.The same author did not introduce the safe methods for pharmaceutical waste disposal that is approved by regulatory bodies for the different classes of drugs too. Thus, this makes his statements put forth incomplete and unsupported.

The first reason why Iburch’s argument is incomplete is because he over generalises the idea of “unused or expired pharmaceuticals being flushed down the toilet”. According to a pharmaceutical waste disposal guideline that was released by the World Health Organization (1999), it states that small amounts of uncontrolled liquid pharmaceuticals that doesn’t exhibit anti-infective or anti-neoplastic properties can be flush down into the sewers. Iburch also fails to elobrate on how human excretion can potentially contribute to pharmaceutical waste.Harvard University (2015), concludes that human waste flushed into the sewage contains unmetabolized drugs, and could potentially contaminate potable water sources.In addition, Iburch didn’t mention anything on  the root of the issue- unconsumed pharmaceutics purchased in bulk. This is the main reason to huge amounts of unused pharmaceutics being flushed down, along with others into the sewage.

Furthermore, the examples used to illustrate the detrimental effects of pharmaceutical waste have on living organisms are not convincing due to the lack of statistical data .For instance,the concentration of hormones in the effluents is not mentioned. Besides, Iburch talks about the effects of the pharmaceutical effluent have on genetic mutation of marine life, without factoring in some of the environmental factors.Eisenstadt(2005)studies the different chemical compositions of water,temperature and other variables that could potentially explain the genetic mutation seen in marine life.The lack of concrete data and research makes it hard for readers to come to a conclusion, that the hormones present in the pharmaceutical effluents are responsible for genetic mutation seen.

In conclusion, the author carefully links the cause and effects of improper pharmaceutical waste  disposal with a myriad of examples. However, it would be better if the author addresses the issue in a broader perspective, before moving into smaller details. This would give the reader a general overview of the issue. Lastly, it is inevitable that pharmaceutical waste is contaminating our potable water sources. It is a problem where attention needs to be directed to.

References

Iburch (2015, March 4). Pharmaceutical Disposal  
Retrieved from http://www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/pharmaceutical-disposal.asp

Harvard University (2015). Drugs in the water
Retrieved from http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/drugs-in-the-water

Eisenstadt(2005) Drugs in the water
Retrieved from http://www .bu.edu/sjmag/scimag2005/features/drugsinwater.htm

World Health Organisation (1999), Guidelines for Safe Disposal of Unwanted Pharmaceuticals in and after Emergencies
Retrieved from http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/medicalwaste/unwantpharm.pdf