Text d. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment

Since the 1990s water contamination by pharmaceuticals has been an environmental issue of concern. Most pharmaceuticals are deposited in the environment through human consumption and excretion, and are often filtered ineffectively by wastewater treatment plants which are not designed to manage them. Once in the water they can have diverse, subtle effects on organisms, although research is limited. Pharmaceuticals may also be deposited in the environment through improper disposal, runoff from sludge fertilizer and reclaimed wastewater irrigation, and leaky sewage.

Pharmacoenvironmentology is a branch of pharmacology and a form of pharmacovigilance which deals entry of chemicals or drugs into the environment after elimination from humans and animals post-therapy. It deals specifically with those pharmacological agents that have impact on the environment via elimination through living organisms subsequent to pharmacotherapy, while Ecopharmacology is concerned with the entry of chemicals or drugs into the environment through any route and at any concentration disturbing the balance of ecology (ecosystem), as a consequence. Ecopharmacology is a broad term that includes studies of “PPCPs” irrespective of doses and route of entry into environment.

Ecopharmacovigilance is the science and activities associated with the detection, evaluation, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment. This is close to the WHO definition of pharmacovigilance, the science aiming to capture any adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in humans after use. The term Environmental Persistent Pharmaceutical Pollutants (EPPP) was suggested in the 2010 nomination of pharmaceuticals and environment as an emerging issue to Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) by the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE). Throughout the 1990s outcomes were similar.

Revision exercises on unit II

Ex. I. Answer the following questions:

1. What nine arts, except distillation, were indispensable in the preparation and application of medicines in ancient times?

2. What medicines were commonly used for pain in the beginning of the XXth century?

3. What popular medieval treatments can you name?

4. What antibiotics emerged in the 1930s?

5. Do you share a famous comment of 1842 that “if all medicines in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be all the better for mankind and all the worse for the fishes”? State your point.

Ex. II. Name the word.

1. Type of drugs regulated as such because they can impose adverse effects and should not be used unless necessary.

2. Reasons to not prescribe drugs such as interactions or side effects.

3. Prescription practice says that these documents, required for approval, are used to help inform doctors’ prescription of these drugs, but errors can happen.

4. The science and activities associated with the detection, evaluation, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment.

5. Most of them are deposited in the environment through human consumption and excretion.

Ex. III. Fill in the blanks.

1. Until the 1970s, … were not a major concern for doctors and patients.

2. Depending upon the jurisdiction, may be divided into over-the-counter drugs.

3. A … can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.

4. OTC may be available without special restrictions, while must be prescribed by a licensed medical practitioner.

5. The World Health Organization keeps a list of …

Medications, prescription only medicine, pharmaceutical drug, essential medicines, drug prices.

Ex. IV. Find synonyms on the right to the words on the left:

	digitalis, nitroglycerin, and quinine		one of ten arts indispensable in the preparation and application of medicines that the student of Ayurveda was expected to know;
	analysis and separation of minerals		medicines used by the late 1920s for heart disorders;
	administration		the delivery of a pharmaceutical drug to a patient;
	errors of prescription practice		a branch of pharmacology and a form of pharmacovigilance which deals with entry of chemicals or drugs into the environment after elimination from humans and animals post-therapy;
	pharmacoenvironmentology		misprescription, contraindication and lack of detail in dosage and administrations instructions.

Ex. V. Translate into English paying attention on the classification of medicinal herbs and plants.

Официальные лекарственные растения — растения, сырьё которых разрешено для производства лекарственных средств в стране. Эти виды лекарственного растительного сырья указаны в Государственном реестре лекарственных средств. Фармакопейные лекарственные растения — официальные растения, требования к качеству лекарственного растительного сырья которых изложены в соответствующей статье Государственной Фармакопеи или международных фармакопей. Лекарственные растения и лекарственное растительное сырьё изучает одно из направлений фармацевтической науки Фармакогнозия. Лекарственные растения народной медицины — наиболее широкая категория, большинство растений в ней относительно плохо описано, и сведения о эффективности их применения не прошли необходимой проверки средствами современной фармакологии. Тем не менее, многие растения этой группы активно используются в странах, где медицинская помощь недоступна или слишком дорога.

Ex. VI. Read the text below and give it a title.

Modern pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques frequently rely upon biotechnology. Amongst the earliest uses of biotechnology in pharmaceutical manufacturing is the use of recombinant DNA technology to modify Escherichia coli bacteria to produce human insulin, which was performed at Genentech in 1978. Prior to the development of this technique, insulin was extracted from the pancreas glands of cattle, pigs, and other farm animals. While generally efficacious in the treatment of diabetes, animal-derived insulin is not indistinguishable from human insulin, and may therefore produce allergic reactions. Genentech researchers produced artificial genes for each of the two protein chains that comprise the insulin molecule. The artificial genes were then inserted... into plasmids... among a group of genes that were activated by lactose. Thus, the insulin-producing genes were also activated by lactose. The recombinant plasmids were inserted into Escherichia coli bacteria, which were induced to produce 100,000 molecules of either chain A or chain B human insulin. The two protein chains were then combined to produce insulin molecules.