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Environmental Impacts of Some Medications (Medicinal waste and the…
Environmental Impacts of Some Medications
Medicinal waste and the environment
For many years environmental impact of medicine has been ignored
Pharmacologically active compounds (PACs) used in medicine and biochemical studies have not been treated as toxic and have been released into environment.
However, prolonged exposure to PAC causes significant change in metabolism of organisms
Another pollutant is radioactive materials which is harmful to environment despite its low activity
Increasing exposure to radiation can cause apoptosis (programmed cell death) in lymphocytes (white blood cells), untimely reducing immune response and increasing risk of contracting diseases
Nuclear waste increases probability of developing cancer, birth defects, reproductive disorders and weak immune system
Antibiotic resistance
Widespread use of penicillin and other antibiotics have led to development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria
As a result, bacteria are resistant, so scientist make new drugs to combat this, but over time, bacteria become resistant to those as well
Factors causing antibiotic resistance
Over-prescription of antibiotics
Non-compliance of patients
Release of antibacterial waste by hospitals
Use of antibacterial in agriculture
Since 1990’s use of antibiotics have been mostly banned and are now only used for the most severe bacterial infections to prevent bacterial resistance
Nuclear waste
Many medicinal procedures involve use of radionuclides which are unstable isotopes of certain elements that undergo spontaneous radioactive decay
When radionuclides come into contact with various materials, those irradiated materials and the radionuclides are described as nuclear waste
Low level waste
: waste that gives off small amounts of ionizing radiation for a short time
Caused by radionuclides used in hospitals due to low activity and short half-life decay
The major radionuclides used for radiotherapy are also included in LLW
High level waste
: waste that gives off large amounts of ionizing radiation for a long time
Caused by nuclear reactors and contains products of nuclear fission.
Have long half-life decay and require proper treatment and storage underground to prevent radiation damage
Effects of antibacterial and radioactive waste can be cumulative
It is best to dispose of each type of waste in their respective ways to prevent potential hazard from combined effects
Waste from pharmaceutical industry
Most of the waste is organic compound
Chlorinated solvents ( CHCl3, CCl4, CH2Cl2) contribute to formation of photochemical smog and act as ozone depleting agents
Majority of solvents contribute to global warming due to high flammability
The disposal of chlorinated solvents is expensive and complex
Green chemistry
Green chemistry focuses on reducing environmental impact by minimizing use of hazardous materials
Another important focus is the use of biotechnologies in organic synthesis
Industrial use of natural products leads to issues
Extinction of plant species
Rising food prices
Factors involved in movement towards use of green solvents
the use of ionic liquids that show low vapor pressure
substituting organic solvents with those that are environmentally harmless
the use of solvents that are produced by renewable resources
The atom economy
a measure of the amount of starting materials that become useful products.
High atom economy means that less waste is created and reaction has a high efficiency
ideal chemical process : amount of all reactants = amount of all generated products, zero atom is wasted