Opening The 'green Pharmacy'

摘要

Recent news reports in the U.S..about detectable levels of pharma-ceuticals in treated drinking water took many Americans and Congress by surprise.But the problem is an old one,one utility companies have been aware of for years.Drugs that flow from humansrninto the environment may include the lingering analgesic diclofenac,the long-lasting antiepileptic carbamazepine,the omnipresent antibiotic cipro-floxacin,and even seemingly mundane painkillers like ibuprofen,gemfi-brozil,and naproxen,not to mention synthetic estrogens.The problem has led to government hearings at the state and federal levels and to scientific meetings where environmental chemists,toxicolo-gists,policy makers,and drug company executives have discussed the pos-rnsible toxicity of human drugs in the environment and to humans-along with possible solutions.