Environmental impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/environmental-impact-of-pharmaceuticals-and-personal-care-products

1. What is the annual production volume?
2. What is the treatment efficacy?
3. What happens to medicines and soaps when we flush them down the drain?
4. Why are some medicines considered "priority substances" by the European Union?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the annual production volume?Estimated tens of millions of tons of PPCPs produced globally each year
2. What is the treatment efficacy?Conventional wastewater treatment plants often fail to remove PPCP residues effectively
3. What happens to medicines and soaps when we flush them down the drain?They go into wastewater and usually stay there because normal treatment plants can’t fully remove them. The leftover chemicals then travel into rivers, where they can harm fish and other water life.
4. Why are some medicines considered "priority substances" by the European Union?Because they can contaminate water and soil and pose risks to people and the environment. The EU wants to focus on removing these chemicals to keep water clean.

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs): A broad category of chemicals including medicines, cosmetics, and hygiene products that can enter the environment.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, and accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms.
Bioaccumulation: The gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism, often through diet.
Advanced Wastewater Treatment: Technologies beyond conventional methods, such as ozonation or activated carbon, designed to remove emerging contaminants like PPCPs.