ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2014
Pollution from drug manufacturing: review and perspectives.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 563 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in free-ranging wild mammals.BMC veterinary research · 2025Pooled it
- Towards a global definition of responsible antibiotic use: results of an international multidisciplinary consensus procedure.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2018Pooled it
- Occurrence and concentration variability of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and polyphenols in Nyabugogo River, Rwanda.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Psychotropic drugs in drinking water? A scoping review of evidence on diazepam and fluoxetine.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2026Article
- No Clear Evidence of Histopathological Effects Linked to NSAIDs in the Kidney or Liver of Fish Exposed to Treated Municipal Wastewaters.Toxicologic pathology · 2026Review
- A review of pharmaceutical removal from wastewater via hydrodynamic cavitation.Ultrasonics sonochemistry · 2026Review
- Environmentally Safe and Just Pharmacy: A Framework and Action Plan for Operating within the Earth System Boundary for Novel Entities.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Investigating the distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in relation to bacterial, fungal, and functional diversity in a hay field.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- One-pot-synthesized anthracene-based chemodosimeter for toxic cyanide (CNRSC advances · 2026Article
- Resistance Gene Dynamics, Biogeochemical Coupling, and Ecological Risks in Sediments of Anthropogenically Impacted Lake Wetlands in China.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Pesticide and pharmaceutical pollution in South Africa: a review of sources, impacts, and policy gaps.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Review
- Effect of alkaline pretreatment on cephalosporin degradation and microbial susceptibility in wastewater of cephalosporin drug manufacturing plant.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Greening the curriculum: challenges in bringing environmental sustainability to pharmaceutical education.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Article
- Hermetia illucens chitosan: indirect and direct antimicrobial activity of an innovative biopolymer for clinical and pharmaceutical applications.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Assessing the Ecotoxicological Effects of Emerging Drug and Dye Pollutants on Plant-Soil Systems Pre- and Post-Photocatalytic Wastewater Treatment.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Production ofMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- 'Mind the gaps': stakeholder perspectives on addressing antimicrobial resistance in the environment in the Indian context.Global health action · 2025Article
- Disposal practices for unused and expired medications among outpatients in three healthcare facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria: a cross-sectional analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Microbial responses to antibiotics cryptically shift the direction of disease outcomes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As long ago as the sixteenth century, Paracelsus recognized that 'the dose makes the poison'. Indeed, environmental concentrations of pharmaceuticals excreted by humans are limited, most importantly because a defined dose is given to just a fraction of the population. By contrast, recent studies have identified direct emission from drug manufacturing as a source of much higher environmental discharges that, in some cases, greatly exceed toxic threshold concentrations. Because production is concentrated in specific locations, the risks are not linked to usage patterns. Furthermore, as the drugs are not consumed, metabolism in the human body does not reduce concentrations. The environmental risks associated with manufacturing therefore comprise a different, wider set of pharmaceuticals compared with those associated with risks from excretion. Although pollution from manufacturing is less widespread, discharges that promote the development of drug-resistant microorganisms can still have global consequences. Risk management also differs between production and excretion in terms of accountability, incentive creation, legal opportunities, substitution possibilities and costs. Herein, I review studies about industrial emissions of pharmaceuticals and the effects associated with exposure to such effluents. I contrast environmental pollution due to manufacturing with that due to excretion in terms of their risks and management and highlight some recent initiatives.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.