Iburch
(2015) suggested in "Pharmaceutical Disposal" that to prevent
contamination of water sources due to "common” pharmaceutical disposal
which causes health problems to lives, legislation is helpful. Iburch claims flushing
of medications is common and drugs are detected in the water resources. Studies
support his idea by detecting drugs in 80% of water sources tested by an
organisation called USGS. Iburch notes
water treatment plants cannot filter out the medications. These medications
affect aquatic life, especially the amphibians. He mentions studies showing
spawning problem and drop of fertility in aquatic lives caused by the medications.
Iburch believes that to prevent such contaminations, safe and convenient
medication disposal is the key. Laws, such as Secure and Responsible Drug
Disposal Act which promotes “drug take-back”, have been passed and ways are
provided to dispose the drugs safely. However, the causes he listed for the
problem are not comprehensive. Furthermore, his claim of effect of the medication
on aquatic life lacks direct evidence to support the validity.
Ibruch’s
argument is not comprehensive when he talks about the ways to solve the
contamination of pharmaceuticals in water. The recommendation of not to flush
the pharmaceuticals into the toilet and legislation are the possible ways.
However, Ibruch does not discuss about the root causes of the problem. For
instance, pharmaceuticals may not be used because people purchase them in large
amounts unnecessarily. Just to talk about flushing and providing ways for safe
disposal are not enough for this situation. Sealing the bags containing
pharmaceutical wastes as suggested by scientists from Harvard Medical School (2011)
also means that the bags that are not sealed may cause the same contamination
problem even if the pharmaceuticals are not disposed into the water. Furthermore,
pharmaceuticals for external application or in skincare products and perfumes (Harvard
Medical School, 2011) may be used. These pharmaceuticals may be washed away
from the skin, ending up as the contaminants in water. In addition, they are also
secreted through human skins or with human waste into the water (Fallik, D.,
2013). In
these situations, not to flush the pharmaceuticals into the toilet or legislation
for “drug take-back” is not constructive. Therefore, the lack of analysis of
the root causes in such contamination problem fails to give the readers a
complete picture of the problem. This makes the argument misleading.
In
addition, the data used to show the negative consequences of the pharmaceutical
contaminations to the aquatic life is not convincing
enough. As suggested by Eisenstadt L. (2005), the abnormality of the
aquatic life can be affected by “weather changes, other chemicals present in
the water, temperature fluctuations, and a host of other variables” in an
environment without high control. Thus, without data that can show the direct
relationship between pharmaceutical contamination and aquatic life, the
argument of the author on the water contamination problem is weak.
In sum,
despite using data to build the link on how pharmaceutical contaminants are
caused and cause other problems, the author should demonstrate a more
comprehensive analysis to show the root causes of the pharmaceutical contamination
and try to show data demonstrating a more proportional and convincing relationship
between the contamination and the environment. However, regardless of whether
pharmaceutical disposal practice is a way for such water contamination, the
contamination in the water sources is an existing and proven problem.
References
Harvard Medical School. (2011). Drugs in the water. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/drugs-in-the-water
Eisenstadt L. (2005). Drugs in the water. Triplepoint. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.bu.edu/sjmag/scimag2005/features/drugsinwater.htm
Iburch. (2015). Pharmaceutical
disposal. Citizens campaign for the
Environment. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.citizenscampaign.org/campaigns/pharmaceutical-disposal.asp
