Vol. 7, Issue 5 (2018)

Author(s):
Vidhi Gautam, YP Sahni, Sachin Kumar Jain and Arpita Shrivastav

Abstract:
Ecopharmacovigilance includes science and activities pertaining to detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or other problems related to the existence of pharmaceuticals in the environment. These pharmaceuticals come into the environment through a variety of routes causing harmful effects. Some important examples of drugs causing harmful effects on environment are that of vultures' death after consuming carcass of animals treated with Diclofenac sodium, Ethinyl estradiol adversely affecting fish through its "feminization" of males, Progesterone producing sterility in frogs, Ivermectin adversely affecting growth of dung beetle, Fluoxetin causing behavioral changes in shrimps and bacterial resistance. Some corrective measures can be projected to lessen the amount of drugs entering the environment which includes reducing the amount of pharmaceutical waste generated, increasing efficiency of sewage treatment plants, green pharmacy and developing better drug disposal programs. Various attempts have been made by regulatory authorities to reduce the impact of pharmaceuticals in environment and these include Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) of drugs, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Risk Mitigation Measures. We need to monitor the effects of drugs not only as a good medical practice, but also to safeguard our environment.