Greener Itinerary to Thwart Pharmacy – Effluence

PharmaTutor (November- 2013)

Received On: 27/10/2013; Accepted On: 04/11/2013; Published On: 25/11/2013

Author:
Raaz K Maheshwari
Department of Chemistry,
SBRM PG Govt College, Nagaur, Rajasthan, India.
drraazgreenchemacs@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: The use of PPCPs is on the rise on the globe. PPCPs enter into the environment through individual human activity and as residues from manufacturing, agribusiness, veterinary use, and hospital and community use. Individuals may add PPCPs to the environment through waste excretion and bathing as well as by directly disposing of unused medications to septic tanks, sewers, or trash. Because PPCPs tend to dissolve relatively easily and don’t evaporate at normal temperatures, they often end up in soil and water bodies. Some PPCPs are broken down or processed easily by a human or animal body and/or degrade quickly in the environment. However, others do not break down or degrade easily. The likelihood or ease with which an individual substance will break down depends on its chemical makeup and the metabolic pathway of the compound. Varying concentrations of drugs found in water sources can have ill effect on the aquatic life and human health. For pharmaceutical pollution, the solution calls upon all health care sectors to participate in preventing pharmaceutical pollution. Green Pharmacy aims at zero pharmaceutical waste in our environment. It offers an opportunity for social action that will greatly benefit our environment at all levels of our society. It encourages health providers and clients to focus on healthy lifestyle and prevention to ensure their well-being through regular wellness practices. It provides education and opportunity for everyone involved with the life cycle of medicine to participate in reducing pharmaceutical pollution. With relatively simple yet firm commitments to change our habits, becoming stewards of medicine rather than consumers of medicine we effectively become part of the solution. This review paper delineates about the powerful approaches of green pharmacy that provides comprehensive solution to pharmaceutical pollution affecting much of well being on globe. Research to date points to the ubiquity of PPCPs in aquatic environments. Existing wastewater treatment facilities are inadequate and aren’t designed to remove them from the waste stream. Our current system of quantifying their toxicological effects is inadequate. Now is the time to prevent further harm to living organisms and the environment.

How to cite this article: Maheshwari RK, Greener Itinerary To Thwart Pharmacy – Effluence, PharmaTutor, 2013, 1(1), 8-21

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