The state’s Air pollution Management Board is allowed to specify further related parameters and monitoring frequency based mostly on native situations | Pictures solely used for illustration functions solely | Photograph credit score: PTI
Current research claiming widespread antibiotic contamination in Indian rivers are based mostly on “simulations and assumptions,” and subsequently can’t draw conclusions on the difficulty, the federal government stated.
Atmosphere Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh, who responded to a query by Congressman Pramod Tiwari in Raja Sabha on Friday, stated the research cited “distinctive limitations on information availability.”
Survey outcomes
The research, carried out by researchers at McGill College, argued that 80% of Indian rivers whole lengths can pose environmental and well being dangers because of antibiotic contamination.
The media report, printed on April 24, 2025, was based mostly on a research carried out by researchers at McGill College in Canada titled “Antibiotics in World River Programs Arising from Human Consumption,” and replied in writing, “The findings are based mostly on simulations and assumptions.”
Moreover, the Minister notified that the federal government has not carried out analysis into antibiotic contamination within the river.
Relating to measures to control pharmaceutical waste and improve air pollution prevention, Singh knowledgeable that the federal government launched the Nationwide Motion Plan on Antibacterial Resistance (NAP-AMR) in April 2017, growing and lowering strategic interventions to scale back the environmental influence of antibacterial resistance by means of efficient waste administration and secure disposal of expired antibiotics.
He stated the Ministry of the Atmosphere issued a discover to the majority drug and pharmaceutical business in August 2021, classifying chemical compounds and residues produced from organic sludge or wastewater therapy as harmful waste.
These have to be managed in an environmentally sound method in accordance with Hazardous Waste and Different Waste (Administration and Transport Motion) Rules, Singh added in 2016.
He emphasised that the state’s Air pollution Management Fee is allowed to specify further related parameters and monitoring frequencies based mostly on native situations.
Expired antibiotics will likely be disposed of by producers or suppliers by means of incineration in accordance with the 2016 Biomedical Waste Administration Rules, whereas sludges from wastewater therapy vegetation are despatched to normal biomedical or hazardous waste disposal services for incineration or secure disposal.
“To scale back antibiotic residues from wastewater sources, the business is adopting discount, recycling and reuse of handled wastewater to maximise the diploma of liquid discharge and decrease the chance of pharmaceutical compound residues,” the minister stated.
