Page 16 - May-June2019 Vol37 No1
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TENNESSEE By Ashley Cabrera
Safer Pharmaceutical Disposal
Many individuals are unaware of A 2014 Southeast study by the United concern and widespread in leachate. The
the potential impacts that improper States Geological Survey detected one study of 19 landfills across the country
disposal of unwanted and expired or more pharmaceuticals in all 59 found 80 pharmaceutical chemicals in
pharmaceuticals can have on the streams tested, with an average of six untreated leachate samples.4
environment. The effects of these pharmaceuticals detected.1 Additionally, Combatting the Opioid Epidemic in
drugs…and the opioid epidemic itself… a report from the Associated Press Tennessee
can be found in our waterways, our detected pharmaceutical residues in the
aquatic ecosystems and our society. drinking water of 24 major metropolitan According to the Centers for Disease
The Effect on Tennessee Waterways areas across the country. 2 There has been Control (CDC), a 320 percent increase
limited epidemiological and toxicological in prescription drug overdose deaths
When over-the-counter and research of impacts to humans from occurred in Tennessee from 2001 to 2017,
prescription drugs are flushed down exposure to pharmaceutical drug rising from 422 deaths to 1,776 deaths.5
the toilet or poured down the sink, residues. However, given impacts seen in The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use
chemicals in the drugs can potentially aquatic species, it is expected that there and Health showed that 40.5 percent of
enter a stream or groundwater. Once also may be adverse effects to humans. those who misused prescription pain
in the water, chemicals from some relievers said that they obtained the
pharmaceuticals, such as those found in Water impacted by pharmaceutical medicine from a friend or relative.6
pain medication, hormone therapy, and compounds can alter aquatic ecosystems
birth control drugs, can negatively affect and impact other wildlife. Scientists Tennesseans can help combat the
aquatic ecosystems. have detected pharmaceutical opioid epidemic by keeping expired or
residues in rivers and coastal waters
Currently, conventional wastewater worldwide, prompting concerns about
treatment plants are not designed potential adverse effects and long term
to remove all of the pharmaceutical implications they have on aquatic species
compounds found in the water before and ecosystems. Studies have shown that
discharging to a receiving body, so both fish and algae respond negatively to
trace levels often are detected in treated pharmaceutical contaminants.
municipal water supplies. The improperly
disposed pharmaceuticals also can find One study found that a gene related
their way into groundwater through a to egg production specific to female fish
variety of processes, including leaking was being expressed in male fish, which
infrastructure, septic systems, and indicates a hormonal change. Disruption
through normal hydrologic interactions of this species’ reproductive abilities
between surface and groundwater. led to a near-extinction of the study
population.3
While concentrations of
pharmaceuticals measured in streams Pharmaceuticals are just as likely
and other water bodies may be relatively to enter the streams and water bodies
small, there have been emerging when thrown away in the trash. Drugs
concerns of their effect on drinking that end up landfilled also enter water
water. The same pharmaceutical drug through landfill leachate, which is treated
residues that end up in our waterways at wastewater plants. In a 2014 study by
also can be found in our drinking water. the U.S. Geological Survey, they found
that pharmaceuticals are an emerging
16 TPW May/June 2019
