Eliminating Prescription Drugs From Entering The Environment

When people go to their doctors, they trust that these medical professionals have the knowledge necessary to prescribe a medication that will have no harmful interactions with any current medications or have any dangerous side effects that will cause more harm than help. People don’t pick up drugs that they find sitting on the side of the street and just start taking them without knowing exactly what they are putting into their bodies; however it is a frightening reality that people are unknowingly ingesting unknown pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. Nearly seventy percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two, according to Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center researchers (Nearly 7 in 10 Americans).

Prescription medication would still be present in the human waste being flushed into the sewer system, even though it would be in a more diluted form. In a rural area such as Bloomsburg, there is also the possibility that the hormones and antibiotics given to livestock will end up in their waste, which eventually enters the groundwater and water supply. Even with the possibility of eliminating prescription drugs from entering the environment via flushing these drugs down the toilet, it would be all but impossible to eliminate these drugs from entering the environment through human and animal waste. This is an example of nonpoint source pollution because it is nearly impossible to trace where drugs are coming from when they are entering the environment from virtually every household in the country. Being unable to trace the source of the pollutant makes it that much more difficult to prevent it from entering the environment and causing

In a widely reported study of smallmouth bass from the Potomac River, male fish were found to have female ovarian tissue within their testes. In another study, fish exposed to wastewater from a metropolitan area sewage treatment plant exhibited endocrine disruption, i.e. male fish produced female egg-yolk proteins (Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products). To date, no studies directly link trace chemicals found in water with human health problems but there are countless reasons for concern. Could exposure to these minute amounts of drugs in our water cause drug resistance? Could one unknowingly ingest a drug to which they are allergic to simply by drinking water? And how do these trace amounts of drugs, which may not be harmful to humans, affect a