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The Impact of Drugs in the Environment

The impact of drugs in the environment is an issue currently being studied by many different groups. One piece of information that we can confirm from the existing studies is that many different pharmaceutical products can be found in both wastewater and in freshwater.

A recent article from Jeff Donn of the Associated Press mentions that US drug manufacturers have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways. At least 3 million pounds of nicotine products have been released, products that are used in stop-smoking patches primarily.

The Food and Drug Administration has said through spokesman Christopher Kelly that the FDA is not responsible for wastes coming from pharmaceutical factories.

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