Pharma Pollution + AI Image Debut
As part of the Ambassador program at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, I have the opportunity once a month to attend an hour-long learning session on a topic relevant to the Great Lakes. One of the most interesting sessions was a couple of years ago when a researcher spoke with us about the issue of pharmaceutical pollution in the Great Lakes and other bodies of water.
To be honest, I really hadn’t thought through this issue before, but it makes total sense. I asked some very basic questions to be sure I was understanding how pharmaceuticals were getting into the water. For example, I asked whether we were talking about human waste having some of the pharmaceuticals or chemical byproducts. The answer to this is definitely yes. In fact, this is the most likely source of most pharmaceuticals found in bodies of water versus medicine and drugs flushed down the toilet or effluents from pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Most wastewater treatment plants use mechanical-biological processes that successfully clean water very well of organic compounds, but these processes often do not remove pharmaceuticals. Some studies place the removal rate at about 50% of pharmaceuticals present. It is not a federal requirement to remove pharmaceuticals, and to do it successfully requires newer technologies like activated carbon filtrations or reverse osmosis that are often cost prohibitive to install at a large scale.
Why does this matter? There are a number of negative impacts to know:
- Reproductive problems for aquatic animals: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals in pharmaceuticals can decrease fertility in both sexes of some fish species.
- Behavioral changes in aquatic animals: Antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications can sometimes alter the behavior of fish in feeding, socialization and reproduction.
- Harm to plants: Pharmaceutical chemicals in some circumstances can damage aquatic plants by preventing photosynthesis from moving through its natural cycle.
- Antibiotic resistance: When antibiotics become more present in water generally, this can contribute to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can create hazards for human health.
What can be done about pharmaceutical pollution? It’s a tough one to tackle. To be real it would probably take a ton more people crushing on their sewer district in the way that I do AND be willing to put their money behind that love. Probably an uphill battle.
In terms of individual action, last Saturday, October 25th, was National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. This is a program sponsored by the US Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration that has a goal to increase awareness about safe medication practices, including appropriate disposal. On the Take Back Day there are a plethora of places, notably pharmacies, health care facilities, and law enforcement sites with additional drop boxes for expired or unused medication. However at any time you can usually ask at a pharmacy or hospital about drug disposal resources.
Don’t flush or dump drugs and medications down the pipes! For both human and fish safety.
People: So yes, this image is AI. It is the response to the prompt “sad fish with drugs and medications floating around”. I take pride that my writing content remains me synthesizing and sharing information. But I may have to use AI images in some cases because, well, they can be just mind-blowingly perfect at certain moments.
