Europe Creates A Water Pollution Watch List For Pharmaceuticals

In response to concern over the presence of prescription drugs in water supplies, the European Parliament has added three pharmaceutical compounds to a watch list of emerging pollutants, and these could one day be placed on a priority list of known pollutants, PM Live reports. The three compounds placed on the watch list are diclofenac, a commonly-used generic painkiller which is suspected of killing fish, and two hormones - 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) - which the EC claims can disrupt the endocrine system in humans and harm fish reproduction. The move comes as 12 other chemicals were placed on a priority list in what is known as the Water Framework Directive, which is a European Union road map for monitoring and controlling emissions that spill into rivers, lakes and coastal waters. Creating a watch list, however, was a compromise. The pharmaceutical industry had lobbyied to prevent the compounds from the Water Framework Directive entirely, writes PM Live, adding that drugmakers argued the data cited by the EC was not sufficient to make a definitive conclusion. The European Federation of National Associations of Water Services criticized the compromise because it “has considerably weakened the initial proposal” from the EC and maintains there is a pressing need to tackle water pollution by chemical and pharmaceutical substances at the source and not in treatment plants for drinking water or in waste water treatment plants, PM Live adds. The...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs