Consultation

Since dawn, philosophers have been trying to answer some of humankind’s toughest questions. What is life? Do we truly experience joy? Is there life after death? However, the hardest debate of all still lies within the following question: “Marvel or DC?”. Unfortunately, today’s post will not discuss which fictional universe is better than the other, instead, I will introduce you to a real life superhero – Antibiotic. 

If you’re not familiar with the origin story of Antibiotic, I do recommend you to watch the following videos that wonderfully summarises its history, triumphs, and tribulations.

History of antibiotics

Development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria

Antibiotic has many superpowers and most powerful of all is its effective attacks against the villainous Bacteria, and because of this, Antibiotic has saved countless lives around the world. However, just like in every other superhero movie, the environment is often destroyed in the process of the battle (Yes this is what I focus on sometimes when I watch a movie). 

Figure 1 (Source: Author)

Figure 2 (Source: Author)

Now, most of us are familiar with the concept of antibiotic resistance in bacteria (Figure 1) and its bio-environmental threats (Figure 2), but few know that pharma is a huge contributor to this issue. In fact, the management of pharmaceutical waste is poorly controlled and often times, not even documented. A 2017 UNESCO report states that “even in developed countries only 7.63% (9 out of 118) of drugs were removed by wastewater treatment processes with efficiency levels of over 95%“. Imagine how much worse these impacts are in developing countries or in communities that depend on the waters for sustenance and/or livelihood. In Hyderabad, India, 95% of the specimens of waters collected already contain copious amounts of microbial resistant to antibiotics. No wonder our patient is so sick, the much stronger mutated Bacteria has contaminated Earth’s waterways!

Moreover, whatever I’ve presented solely focuses on the effects of antibiotics on our environment. What about the other drugs released into the waters?

Diabetic medications, like metformin, causes the feminisation and under-development of male fishes which not only jeopardises the population of the entire species, but also has the potential to disrupt major food chains. 

Cytotoxic drugs used to treat cancer patients, like 5-fluorouracil, were recently detected in water bodies around urban areas and while evidence of its effects on humans are still unfounded, small amounts of this potent chemicals are proven to have carcinogenic and damaging consequences on the environment and the human body. Furthermore, most of the cytotoxic drugs administered are non-biodegradable and will likely remain in Earth’s vessels for a considerable amount of time, only to increase in concentration if the status quo prevails.

Considering the variety of drugs available and manufactured, the magnitude of disastrous ramifications are limitless! Coupled with loose regulations and a lack of supervision, it is difficult to fully diagnose Earth and prescribe a solution. The only way forward is for corporations and government to tighten measures and invest in research to treat their wastewater.

I apologise for ending on such a discouraging note but do join me next week as we look into how our individual actions with our prescribed drugs affect the Earth. See you!