Any personal use of pharmaceutical products can lead to dangerous water pollution, even if drugs or cosmetics are applied only to the skin, researchers have found.
Researchers have known for several years that after a person ingests a drug, their body may excrete residues of the chemical that remain biologically active. Thus, internal drug use, combined with improper disposal of unused drug stores, has been blamed for residues of everything from antibiotics to painkillers to hormones found in municipal and natural water supplies across the country. Because drugs are specifically designed to produce biological effects at very low concentrations, this pollution is considered a major threat to human and environmental health.
Now a study conducted by researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Touro University in Henderson, Nev., and presented at the American Chemical Society annual meeting in San Francisco has shown that the shower and washing machine may be even more potent sources of pharmaceutical pollution than the toilet.
"We've long assumed that the active ingredients from medications enter the environment as a result of their excretion via urine and feces," study co-author Ilene Ruhoy said. "However, for the first time, we have identified potential alternative routes for the entry into the environment by way of bathing, showering and laundering."
"These routes may be important for certain APIs found in medications that are applied ... to the skin," she said. "They include creams, lotions, ointments, gels and skin patches."
The researchers reviewed hundreds of studies analyzing the body's use and metabolism of drugs, and concluded that drugs including acne medicine, antimicrobials, narcotics and steroids are entering the water system by being washed directly from people's skin in baths and showers. In addition, many medications dissolve in sweat and wash off the body into people's clothing, only to enter the water system when those clothes are laundered.
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