Pharmaceutical Dumping Could Pose Risks to Wildlife, Scientists Warn

What happens when the drugs used to treat humans and animals are disposed? Scientific studies published Monday in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B reveal that pharmaceuticals, when flushed into land and water ecosystems, could pose risks to wildlife, from altering species’ behavior to changing fertility rates to death.

Pharmaceuticals can enter wild environments through a variety of routes, including dumping from drug manufacturers, as well as sewage.

“Global pharmaceutical consumption is rising with the growing and aging human population and more intensive food production,” write Kathryn E. Arnold of the University of York in the UK and colleagues. “Recent studies have revealed pharmaceutical residues in a wide range of ecosystems and organisms.” Despite the scope of the issue, the effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment are little researched and understood.

But in the research series published Monday, scientists uncover a broad spectrum of impacts.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT