Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-05-11
55-year-old environmental protection worker Hu Yuanbao picks up trash on the shore near the mouth of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, July 4, 2013. (File photo/Xinhua) |
China's
surface waters have been polluted by multiple pharmaceutical and personal care
products including 68 types of antibiotics and 90 types of non-antibiotics,
reports Beijing-based Caixin Media, one of the country's leading financial news
providers, citing a joint study by the East China University of Science and
Technology, Tongji University and Tsinghua University published in Chinese
science journal Science China on April 28.
Pharmaceutical
and personal care products are micro-organic pollutants that have raised
concern among both academics and the public due to their effect on human health
and the environment. The substances have been found in wastewater, surface
water, ground water and soil. The United Nations Environment Programme has
expressed concern over the influence of these products such as painkillers and
antibiotics on water resources.
The
frequency and the concentration of these products found in surface water in
China has been much higher than they have in Western countries. Antibiotics
Sulfamethoxazole and Sulfapyridine have been found in samples from the Huangpu
River. All the samples taken from the river during low water period have traces
of sulfamethoxazole with concentrations ranging between 14.9 to 623.3
nanograms, much higher than those recorded in Japan and the United States.
Although
less than 60% of the samples taken contained non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals and
personal care products, many common medicines such as anti-inflammatory
medicines, anticonvulsant drugs, hormones and medicines used to lower blood
pressure, blood lipids and reduce bacteria were found in the samples.
These
findings suggest severe abuse of additives in animal feed and prescription
drugs in China. Most of these substances come from wastewater produced by
members of the public, medical institutions, factories, the agricultural
husbandry and fisheries industries as well as landfills, according to the
study. A concentration of sulfamethoxazole up to 1,080 nanograms per liter was
recorded from a sample taken from a section of the River Zhu. The high level of
the antibiotic found in the region might have to do with the heavy use of
additives in the feed and preventative medicines in local chicken farms.
No comments:
Post a Comment