Disposal of drugs and the ensuing environmental impacts: an integrative review of the literature

Ciencia e Saude Coletiva

article

Silva, Vanessa Wayne Palhares da¹  Figueira, Keylla Lopes¹  Silva, Flávia Garcez da¹  Zagui, Guilherme Sgobbi²  Meschede, Marina Smidt Celere¹ 

[1] Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará;Universidade de São Paulo

关键词: Pharmaceutical formulations;    Definitive disposal of chemical waste;    Dangers to the environment;    Environment and public health;    Environmental pollutants;   

DOI  :  10.1590/1413-81232023284.05752022

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Associacao Brasileira de Pos - Graduacao em Saude Coletiva

【 摘 要 】

The scope of this article is to investigate the national and international evidence available on the forms of drug disposal and the presence of drugs in environmental matrices. It involved an integrative review of the literature conducted in the PubMed, SciELO and Virtual Health Library (VHL) databases, which included articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese published between 2010 and 2020. Twenty-six articles were selected, which revealed the incorrect disposal of medicines by professionals and consumers due mainly to the lack of knowledge about the environmental impacts that they may cause. Studies have highlighted the contamination of water, sewage and sediments by incorrectly discarded drugs. Furthermore, it was observed that aquatic living creatures can be impacted by the presence of drugs in environmental matrices. The incorrect disposal of drugs continues to be a reality in the evidence assessed, which leads to the contamination of environmental matrices and is often not removed by wastewater treatment plants and interferes with the equilibrium of environmental life.

【 授权许可】

CC BY