Why in news?
European study finds, the pharmacy industry in Hyderabad is polluting the environment with antimicrobials.
What are the key findings of the study?
- The pollution contributes to a rise in drug-resistant infections, a new study published in the journal Infection alleges.
- Drug resistance in India is the sheer number of neonatal deaths attributed to it, an estimated 58,000 every year, followed by hospital-acquired infections that fail to respond to last-resort treatment.
- The crisis of drug resistance is exemplified by the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis in India and the disease could spread to the international community.
- More significantly, the study claims that all samples contained antimicrobials in concentrations far exceeding maximum permissible environmental concentrations of these drugs.
- For long now low-level exposure to antimicrobial drugs in the environment has been feared for inducing resistance.
- While industrial units can claim there is no chemical discharge, the water bodies continue to receive inflows clearly loaded with chemicals, this is miserable here.
- Now it’s clear that not only water bodies are getting polluted, the bacteria are also getting polluted.
- If this tends to continue microorganisms will evolve into drug resistive and spread across the nation which will be a global threat.
What is the reaction of the Industry?
- Drug manufacturers in Hyderabad maintain that it does not sufficiently link antibiotic resistance to pharma effluents and that they comply with Pollution Control Board norms.
- University of Hyderabad (UoH) scientists have carried out a study commissioned by the Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (India) that shows multidrug-resistant bacteria can also be found in areas where no pharma units exist.
- As it looked only for bacteria, the UoH study could not respond to specific allegations made by the Infection study of drug residues in high concentrations around specific pharma units.
- Industry representatives say they will commission another study before responding to this accusation.
What is the way forward?
- Claiming that Indian authorities have not done enough, the study also calls upon European regulators to ensure enforcement of regulations during the manufacturing process.
- It is important, that government should take needful action for prevention, rather than seeking complex methods for cure.
Source: The Hindu
