Water pollution medicines

Air pollution is one of the worst problems caused by industries, agriculture, power stations, aerosols and other chemicals, and coal and other fires. As a result we suffer from headaches, respiratory tract infections and ailments, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, eye problems, and eventually a profound breakdown in health manifested by various cancers. Other environmental hazards include lead from gasoline — which causes hyperactivity and birth defects — acid rain, carbon monoxide poisoning, water pollution, and radiation. Clinical ecologists treat illnesses and disorders that they believe stem from an individual s reaction to these environmental factors. They practice what is known as environmental medicine, and they estimate that between 10 and 30% of the population suffers from some form of ecological disease (Thomas, 1997 and General References). 

Many risks people are subjected to can cause health problems or death. Precautions should be taken based on what is practical, logical, and useful. However, those involved in laws and regulations, as well as the public and, particularly, the news media, should recognize that there is Acceptable Risk. This is the concept that has developed in connection with toxic substances, food additives, air and water pollution, fire and related environmental concerns, and so on. It can be defined as a level of risk at which a seriously adverse result is highly unlikely to occur but it cannot be proven whether or not there is 100% safety. In these cases, it means living with the reasonable assurance of safety and acceptable uncertainty. This concept will always exist. Note the use of automobiles, aircrafts, boats, lawnmowers, food, medicine, water, and the air we breathe. Practically all elements around us encompass some level of uncertainty. Otherwise, life as we know it would not exist. Many products and environmental factors are not perfect and never will be perfect. 

In this part, I also show you a familiar chemistry lab — the home — and tell you about cleaners, detergents, antiperspirants, cosmetics, hair-care products, and medicines. And I discuss some of the problems society faces due to the industrial nature of our world air and water pollution. I hope that you don t get lost in the smog ... 

In the chapters of this part, I show you some applications of chemistry. I cover the chemistry of carbon and show you how it applies to petroleum and the process of making gasoline. I show you how that very same petroleum can be used to make plastics and S5mthetic fibers. I zip you home to look at the chemistry behind cleaners and detergents, medicines, and cosmetics of all kinds. And I show you some problems that society, technology, and science have created — air and water pollution. 

Over the past few decades, membrane materials and processes have been intensively studied due to multiple practical appHcations involving their abihty for selectivity and their capacity for concentration and fractioning in numerous domains such as environmental protection, biomedicine, and organic chemistry and in industries such as food, pharmaceutical, and electronics. This chapter is a general presentation which proposes some of the appUcations of membrane materials in pharmaceutics, such as for obtaining pure water in the pharmaceutical industry (at synthesis, formulation or conditioning of the pharmaceutical active substances), decontamination of polluted waters with medicines or medication wastes, and controlled drug deUvery devices for release of medications. The last part of the chapter is dedicated to a new class of materials—molecularly imprinted membranes and their applications such as chiral separation of optically active medications or the controlled release of enantiomers. 

Because of a wide use of nonionogenic surfactants (NIS) in many areas of production, medicine and in a life, they have become known hydrosphere pollutants. As a result there is a necessity of the control over their contents in natural waters. Now there exist a sufficient number of methods of NIS determination with different detection limits. As a rule, a preliminary concentration is used for surfactants various classes detection limits decrease. 

The solubility of chemicals, drugs or pollutants in water (S ), in octanol (S ), their saturation concentration in air Qii), as well as their partitioning in the corresponding two-phase systems [octanol-water (P /w = Q/Cw), air-water (Pair/w = C IC ) and air-octanol (Paij/ = C /Co)] are important physicochemical parameters in medicinal chemistry and in environmental research. The following correlahons of those properties with HYBOT descriptors have been published recently [54—58] ... 

At the same time, the public s faith in science and technology was eroding. Radioactive fallout from atomic bomb tests was poisoning cows milk, and the thalidomide antinausea medicine prescribed to pregnant women in Europe had caused severe birth defects in 8000 children. Above all, the enormous growth of the chemical industry and pollution after World War II put public pressure on Congress to clean up the nation s air and water. 

Among pharmaceuticals, antibiotics have become of special concern in recent years. The reason is that these substances are continuously being introduced into the environment and may spread and maintain bacterial resistance in the different compartments. Sulfonamides are very commonly used antimicrobials in humans but mainly in veterinary medicine, due to their broad spectrum of activity and low cost, being the second most widely used veterinary antibiotic in the EU. Their occurrence has been reported in all kinds of water matrices their high excretion rates (after their intake by humans of livestock) and high water solubility make them very ubiquitous and persistent pollutants in the environment. 

Chapter 5 of the document reviews the UFs used by UK Government departments, agencies, and their advisory committees in human health risk assessment. Default values for UFs are provided in Table 3 in the UK document with the factors separated into four classes (1) animal-to-human factor, (2) human variability factor, (3) quality or quantity of data factor, and (4) severity of effect factor. The following chemical sectors are addressed food additives and contaminants, pesticides and biocides, air pollutants, drinking water contaminants, soil contaminants, consumer products and cosmetics, veterinary products, human medicines, medical devices, and industrial chemicals. 

Gaseous hydrogen peroxide is a key component and product of the earth s lower atmospheric photochemical reactions, in both clean and polluted atmospheres. Atmospheric hydrogen peroxide is believed to be generated exclusively by gas-phase photochemical reactions (lARC, 1985). Low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide have been measured in the gas-phase and in cloud water in the United States (United States National Library of Medicine, 1998). It has been found in rain and surface water, in human and plant tissues, in foods and beverages and in bacteria (lARC, 1985). 

The chemical industry generally conjures up a small number of key images research laboratories, chemical formulas, large production plants - but also people wearing protective clothing at scenes of accidents and polluted waters. Medicines, tablets, tinctures, and ointments are a few examples of clearly positive pictures (Fig. 27.1). 

Synthetic dyes are extensively used in many up-to-date industrial processes and research, mainly in the preparation of textile, food, and leather products, as well as in cosmetics and medicine. The widespread application of synthetic dyes has resulted in serious environmental pollution Their occurrence in ground water and waste-water and the accumulation in sediment, soil, and various biological tissues has often been observed and reported. Dyes and intermediates can cause abnormal reproductive function in males and show marked toxic effects toward bacteria. The rate of biodegradation of the majority of synthetic dyes is very low, enhancing the toxicological hazard and environmental impact. 

Everything we put down the drain or flush (down the commode) ends up in our watersheds which can affect the health of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, plants, the atmosphere, and the water quality in our area. Residential and commercial use of chemicals constitutes a very large, nonpoint source of environmental contamination. A typical source of environmental contaminants are products used for household use such as cleaning agents, surfactants, pesticides, fertilizers, lawn and garden treatments, paints, sealants, and even discarded or flushed medicines. It is imperative that those seeking a healthy lifestyle and reduction in pollutant exposure choose with care the products they use to clean and maintain their homes, yards, and pets. 

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