Environmental impact of some medications

Nature of science:

Ethical implications and risks and problems—the scientific community must consider both the side effects of medications on the patient and the side effects of the development, production and use of medications on the environment (ie disposal of nuclear waste, solvents and antibiotic waste). ( 4.8)

• High-level waste (HLW) is waste that gives off large amounts of ionizing radiation for a long time.
• Low-level waste (LLW) is waste that gives off small amounts of ionizing radiation for a short time.
• Antibiotic resistance occurs when micro-organisms become resistant to antibacterials.

Applications and skills:

• Describe the environmental impact of medical nuclear waste disposal.
• Discussion of environmental issues related to left-over solvents.
• Explanation of the dangers of antibiotic waste, from improper drug disposal and animal waste, and the development of antibiotic resistance.
• Discussion of the basics of green chemistry (sustainable chemistry) processes.
• Explanation of how green chemistry was used to develop the precursor for Tamiflu (oseltamivir).

Guidance:

• The structure of oseltamivir is provided in the data booklet in section 37.

• Consider how pharmaceutical companies determine how to spend research funds to develop new medications.
• Do pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to do research on rare diseases that will not provide them with significant financial profit?
• Production of a drug typically involves a number of different organic reactions. What are the ethics governing the design (synthesis) of drugs? Do standards and practices vary by country and region?

Theory of knowledge:

• How do we balance ethical concerns that appear to be at odds with each other when trying to formulate a solution to the problem?

Aims:

• Aim 8: How do we safely dispose of medicinal nuclear waste?
• Aim 8: The Pacific yew tree which is the source of the chemotherapy drug Taxol is facing extinction.
• Aim 8: Solvent disposal is a growing environmental problem.