250 Million Pounds of Drugs Flushed Annually

In yet another amazingly stupid example of how we’re killing ourselves and destroying the planet, it’s been revealed that health facilities around the world send an estimated 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals down the drain every year. Those drugs end up contaminating our water supply, and even small traces can cause serious cell abnormalities in humans – let alone the effects they have on other living things.  The discarded meds are expired, spoiled, over-prescribed, unneeded or otherwise unused.

From USA Today:

Few of the country’s 5,700 hospitals and 45,000 long-term care homes keep data on the pharmaceutical waste they generate. Based on a small sample, though, the AP was able to project an annual national estimate of at least 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging, with no way to separate out the drug volume.

Researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs.

One of the dangers of this is the fact that drug dumping has been linked to virulent antibiotic-resistant germs as well as genetic mutations that may promote cancers.  Tests of sewage from hospitals in Paris and Oslo have revealed hormones, antibiotics, heart and skin medications and pain relievers.  Though most drugs end up in landfills, the ones frequently flushed are the ones most susceptible to abuse.  The EPA is reportedly considering whether to impose a national standard for how much drug waste can be released into waterways by the medical services industry, but a decision isn’t expected until next year at the earliest.

Things like this are terrifying – what are we doing to ourselves? How could people think that things like this won’t have negative consequences? We’ve already learned that the EPA doesn’t necessarily have the people’s best interests in mind, so we can’t count on them to protect us.  When our water is polluted with cancer-causing drugs and we’re creating super bugs that could wipe us all out in a flash, you know that we need to make big changes and we need to make them NOW.

Link [USA Today]
Photo credit: Flickr user newtype2011

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