MISUSE AND POISONINGS

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 100,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States from November 2021 to November 2022. In addition, over 430,000 children under the age of five were evaluated in a healthcare facility between 2001-2008 after self-ingesting pharmaceutical products (Bond et al. 2012). Pets can also get themselves into trouble when they find prescription or over-the-counter medications around the house or in the trash. Human and veterinary medications accounted for over 42% of the calls received by the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center in 2019. By promptly and properly disposing of any unwanted or expired medicine that accumulates in the home, the risks posed by these drugs to vulnerable groups like children and pets are reduced.

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

Antibiotic resistance is likely the most well-studied and well-known public health impact from medication in the environment. Antibiotics are essential for treating bacterial infections, but their improper use and disposal can lead to changes in normal bacterial communities in ecosystems, potentially leading to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Endale et al. 2023). Antimicrobials, such as triclosan, are so widely used that they are detected in aquatic environments and animals, and have been found in 75% of Americans (Weatherly and Gosse 2017). This can pose a serious threat to public health as the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria can make infections more difficult to treat, leading issues such as prolonged illnesses, increased healthcare costs (Salam et al. 2023), and reproductive and developmental problems in infants (Weatherly and Gosse 2017).

DRINKING WATER TREATMENT

As people excrete or wash off medications into the wastewater stream or improperly dispose of medication down the drain or toilet, conventional treatment facilities are often unable to remove it from the water we drink, bathe, and recreate in. Wastewater treatment does remove some pharmaceuticals, butat least one study has found them to remain “ubiquitous” in treated drinking water (Muambo et al. 2024). For the most part, medication is found in very low doses in drinking and surface waters, but its presence is still a cause of concern for human health given that we know very little about long-term impacts (Collier 2012).