User:AVavrinak/Drug pollution

One Health Effects
Drug pollution has adverse reactions not only to the quality of environment, but human and animal health through the principles of OneHealth, which an idea about the interrelatedness of environmental, animal and human health.

Environmental Consequences

Residues released from the manufacturing plants may ultimately end up in surface waters. Human and animal drug therapies enter the environment in the form of urine excretion or from improper disposal. This may go directly into the waste waters if released into the sewage, or leach into the ground water through the absorption of the soil itself. This may have abiotic abnormalities in the chemical make up of the water. Additionally some of these medications can contain heavy metals or other toxic substances that can leach into the water from osmotic driving forces. Alternatively the drugs may not enter the water abruptly and can accumulate in the soil as a non point source. This can have the same leaching effect on the soil as the water. This may also be retained due to microbial uptake and utilization in biofilms. Many of these medications prove to be persistent, lasting beyond treatment notable to their detection in drinking water. Even non-persistent drugs are exhibiting pseudo-persistent behavior due to the input exceeding the degradation rate. The persistence of these contaminants as well as its ability to permeate into various media contributes to its bioavailability. The Algae roots uptake drug pollutants settled in soil while the fat concentration of its tissue make for lipophilic contaminants suspended in the water itself. This mechanism of bioavailability is important to consider when understanding the implications for non target organisms of the drugs or metabolic intermediates for the organisms that prey on the algae.

Animal Health Points

Drug pollutants cause physiochemical responses in non targeted organisms rather than those originally intended for consumption. Alternatively the drugs in the water often intermingle with other metabolites that may have counter indications. Metabolic intermediates may also prove to be more potent or elicit a different response than the base drug. This can promote a more serious reaction in non target organism disrupting homeostatic balance to them and their spawn. The founding of estrogen and estradiol based derivatives in the water has been attributed to decreased generativity and even sterility in fish. In a controlled setting significant decrease in viable roe were noted in zebra fish as early as the second spawn. Coupling this effect with fish kill from drug contaminants, this can attribute to the destabilization and even lasting decline in fish population in contaminated habitats. Additionally migratory birds that rely on the contaminated environment for sustenance and habitat can be exposed to toxic levels of pollutants. One study surveyed linked NSAIDS to mortalities in scavenging birds. This can also lead to implications for terrestrial animals in the effect that exposure to these pharmaceuticals may trickle down and accumulate in the food webs. This can be important when placing considerations for endangered or threatened animals.

Human Health Points

While the levels currently are not high enough to directly impact human health there are many concerns about the future implications that this can cause to human health. speculations include pharmaceutical tolerance, heavy metal toxicity, and physiological complications. There are some current sociological implications of drug pollution. The decrease to the fish population can have a negative impact on consumption economic and recreational fishing. The nutrients leached into the water can increase the turbidity of the waterways. This will negatively impact the Fishable Swimmable goals of the Clean Water Act. The waterways can also serve as reservoirs to microbes. As antimicrobial agents continue to build in the water, exposure can promote antimicrobial resistance in these microbes. A positive correlation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and presence of trace levels of antimicrobials in the water has been shown. A waste water treatment plant in Australia reported high effluent levels of antibiotics, while simultaneously hosting two strains of resistant superbugs. This can further move on to decrease the availability of antibiotic options we have for human treatments.