UNEP-supported global reviews have documented hundreds of different pharmaceuticals detected in water systems.
The programme has identified these risks as increasingly important due to their links with antimicrobial resistance, endocrine disruption, ecosystem toxicity and contamination of water and soil systems.
Waste management in veterinary practices
Veterinary practices have begun implementing disposal protocols to reduce environmental contamination.
“Every veterinary practice has access to step-by-step waste disposal guidance and many have Environment Champions steering the effort at ground level,” says Rosie Naylor, CVS Group Procurement Director and Sustainability Lead.
“This is leading to less waste going to landfill and more being recycled,” says Rosie. Implementing waste-disposal guidance could reduce the amount of pharmaceutical residues entering natural systems.
Pharmaceutical substances can move through food chains and accumulate in organisms through biomagnification. UNEP has documented this process in multiple ecosystems.
The release of pharmaceuticals into the environment during manufacturing, use and disposal can create environmental and public health risks, according to the programme.
These risks stem from the biological activity of pharmaceutical ingredients.
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Impact on ecosystems and organisms
Pharmaceutical residues released into the environment can cause toxicity in organisms, endocrine disruption and changes in microbial communities, according to UNEP.
The selection and spread of antimicrobial resistance is also linked to pharmaceutical pollution.
Waterways are most commonly studied for pharmaceutical contamination. However, land-based animals are also affected, including documented cases such as mass vulture deaths linked to diclofenac exposure.
Humans are primarily exposed through contaminated water and food, according to UNEP. The full extent of the health risks remains unclear.
Ecosystem degradation caused by pharmaceutical pollution could indirectly increase public health risks.
UNEP notes this may occur through broader environmental system disruption and the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Global response to pharmaceutical contamination
“Solid waste reflects how our societies produce and consume, and how we treat people and the environment in the process,” says Dr Rüdiger Krech, Director a.i., Department of Environment, Climate Change, One Health & Migration at the World Health Organisation.
