A raft of new drugs may benefit those humans who need and can afford them, but new drugs make serious trouble for the natural environment and for many of the non-human creatures living there. The environment is already heavily polluted with drugs and personal care products that have passed through humans, entered sewage treatment plants and then been discharged into waterways. Millennium Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass., is using genomics to understand disease processes to develop drugs. Notably, all three examples of commercial exploitation of the genome involve new drugs. Daughton and Ternes say that the quantity of pharmaceuticals and personal care products entering the environment each year is roughly comparable to the amounts of pesticides used each year.
Pesticides tend to enter the environment in seasonal pulses.
Unlike many pesticides, most drugs and personal care products have not been examined for adverse environmental effects. It is important to recognize that for many drugs, their specific modes of action even in the target species are also unknown. However, to achieve these results, they must be taken continuously, often for many years. Most chemical researchers don't have the tools needed to look for these chemicals in the environment. Therefore typical researchers are not prepared to identify pharmaceuticals in the environment.