India’s billion dollar pharma industry has a waste problem

In January 2022 farmers in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, in the southern Indian state of Telangana, warned that pollution from pharmaceutical and chemical companies was affecting the fields at Anthammagudem, which supply most of the vegetables sold in the state capital Hyderabad.The farmers filed complaints with India’s National Human Rights Commission and the state’s pollution control board.1 The National Green Tribunal, a judicial body that rules over environmental cases across the country, called for a soil analysis. It found that soil, surface water, and groundwater in the area were replete with residue from drugs including antacids, antifungals, and anti-allergenics.The same year an investigation by Toxic Links, a New Delhi based environmental research and policy advocacy, raised concerns over antibiotic residues found in river water samples across India,2 particularly in four key rivers—the Cooum in Chennai, the Gomti (Lucknow), the Yamuna (New Delhi), and the Zuari (Goa).3 Twelve water samples were collected from…
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