GENEVA (AN) — The U.N. health agency issued its first guidance for curbing antibiotic pollution, a leading cause of antimicrobial resistance.
What's new: The World Health Organization's new guidance on Tuesday about wastewater and solid waste management for the manufacturing of antibiotics is intended to prevent the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR. It offers human health-based targets to reduce and address the risks and covers the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and their formulation into finished products.
What's next: The guidance comes weeks before the United Nations General Assembly takes up the widespread issue of AMR at its high-level meeting this month. The problem of AMR is driven by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials among wealthier nations– even though many other people globally lack access to essential antimicrobial medicines.
What's important: WHO emphasizes that the spread of AMR from antibiotic pollution can undermine the effectiveness of antibiotics around the world, including medicines produced at manufacturing sites responsible for the pollution. “Pharmaceutical waste from antibiotic manufacturing can facilitate the emergence of new drug-resistant bacteria, which can spread globally and threaten our health," says Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, a WHO assistant director-general for AMR. "Controlling pollution from antibiotic production contributes to keeping these life-saving medicines effective for everyone." AMR happens when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines. That makes people ill and increases the risk of spread of hard-to-treat infections.
Who's involved: The guidance was developed in cooperation with international experts from academia, regulators, inspectors, and international organizations. It was requested by WHO's executive board, G-7 health ministers and the U.N. Environment Program. “The guidance provides an independent and impartial scientific basis for regulators, procurers, inspectors, and industry themselves to include robust antibiotic pollution control in their standards,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO. “Critically, the strong focus on transparency will equip buyers, investors and the general public to make decisions that account for manufacturers’ efforts to control antibiotic pollution.”
What's happening now: The problem of high antibiotic pollution levels is largely unregulated; quality assurance criteria typically do not address environmental emissions, WHO says. Globally, there is a lack of accessible information on the environmental damage caused by manufacturing of medicines. Consumers also lack information on how to properly dispose of antibiotics that are unused or expired. Jacqueline Alvarez, head of UNEP's industry and economy division, says "evidence is mounting" that environmental factors play a key role in spreading AMR. "There is a widespread agreement that action on the environment must become more prominent as a solution," she says. "This includes pollution prevention and control from municipal systems, manufacturing sites, healthcare facilities and agri-food systems."
