The global growth of the pharmaceutical market and industry has shown a tremendous increase in the last few decades. During last five years, these industries have offered total revenues of USD $ 534.8 billion. It is reported (world Pharmaceutical market 2007) that North America is the biggest Pharmaceutical market that constitute 49% of the global market followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. In accordance with the IMS report, there was an 8.3% increase in sales of prescribed drugs in 2006 in USA alone. It is also reported that India’s USD$3.1 billion Pharmaceutical industry is growing at the rate of 14% every year.
The Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products are an assemblage of numerous chemical compounds used vividly in most human endeavors. These products imply to any product used by people for personal health or cosmic reasons or used by agri-business to increase the growth. PPCP (Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products) include a multiple collection of thousands of chemical substances, including prescription and over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, veterinary drugs, fragrances and cosmetics. These are considered to be the pollutants agents present everywhere in our environment. The products used globally by individuals and domestic animals generally end up in the surrounding environment causing serious havoc at microgram levels.
The compounds used for pharmaceutical production are biologically active drugs such as hormones, antibiotics, lipid regulations and analgesics. These chemical compounds pose potential danger when they are discharged into the environment because they are basically containing low biodegradability. Some investigations have predicted that it is almost impossible to get rid of most chemical compounds of entering the drinking water system during ground water recharge.
Exogenous agents that interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding action or elimination of the natural hormones of the body are endocrine disrupters. They are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis, reproduction, development and behavior. The mechanism of action of these compounds lead to carcinogenic, reproductive or developmental effects by interfering with the various hormonal pathways. Phenols are byproducts of widely used industrial detergents and surfactants. Various kinds including alkyl phenol ethoxycarboxylate have been found in persisting through tertiary treatment. This alkylphenolic compounds have been found in rivers and tap water. They one found to cause endocrine disruption and alteration in reproductive physiology in fish.
A variety of sources are there that lead to the disposal of these pharmaceutical & Personal Care Products into the environment. The sources can be specified as point and non- point sources. Read more…
