Antibiotic makers polluting China's drinking water: CCTV

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-01-01

A pharmacist in Meishan, Sichuan province. (File photo/Xinhua)

Antibiotics producers in China are suspected of dumping waste water and polluting the country's drinking water sources, reports national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).

Following an investigation into pollution emitted from antibiotics producers around the country, CCTV came out with the results of samples taken from drinking water, drains and water sources near factories and livestock farms. Even water in the vicinity of the Jining factory of Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical, previously considered a leader in pollution prevention facilities, was found containing the highest levels of antibiotics in the study. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has sent a team to the city for further investigation.

Other water samples, especially those taking from water near major antibiotic factories, tested positive for antibiotics.

The company is one of four major antibiotic producers in China. Its 2013 financial report shows 222 million yuan (US$35 million) of its 1.44 billion yuan (US$231 million) revenue came from active ingredients while another 227 million yuan (US$36 million) came from semi-synthetic active ingredients and 970 million (US$155 million) from medicines.

According to the China Chamber of Commerce of Medicine & Health Products Importers and Exporters, China produced 121,200 tons of antibiotics in 2013 and exported 34,300 tons, or US$2.19 billion in value. The active ingredients produced in the country amounted to 70% of the global market.

Active ingredients are costly and energy intensive to manufacture. Developed countries have been focusing on producing high-end antibiotic products and have relocated the production of active ingredients to other countries. The active ingredients of multinational pharmaceutical companies are typically manufactured in emerging countries. Around 180 million yuan (US$28 million) of Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical's revenue in 2013 came from other countries.

Cai Dongchen, chairman of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, said active ingredient manufacturing is inefficient and water treatment is costly. China also lacks the technologies and equipment for cleaning the materials during the production process, said the chairman.

Sources familiar with Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical said Chinese antibiotic producers will, like their European counterparts, be forced to relocate production sites if national environmental protection standards are stringently enforced.

Stuck in the upstream production process leaves the industry will little room for profit on manufacturing low-end active ingredients. Tighter government controls on the use of antibiotics are further squeezing industry margins. Antibiotic uses in hospitals have dropped from 68% in 2010 to 53.5% in 2013, according to the report.

Some antibiotic producers are redirecting funds set aside for saving energy and reducing carbon emissions to improving their production in order to compete on the market, said an industry insider.