Pollution levels high around pharma hub in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: Pollution in and around the pharma hub in Vizag where bulk drug manufacturing units are located is very high due to the effluents released by pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. A majority of pharmaceutical factories are located in and around Parawada area of the district. Investigation by the Netherlands-based Chan-ging Markets Foundation, a UK-based ethical investigative agency Ecostorm for Sweden’s financial group Nordea found that the effluent treatment systems set up to process industrial waste fail to fulfil their purpose. There is also systematic dumping of chemical effluents by pharmaceutical factories in rivers, lakes and groundwater.

“The effect of pollution is so severe that it is easily identified even by a casual observer not just in areas immediately adjacent to the factories and treatment plants but many kilometres away,” said the report ‘Impact of pharmaceutical pollution on communities and environment in India,’ researched and prepared for Nordea Asset Management by Changing Markets and Ecostorm. The teams of Ecostorm and Changing Markets, who studied pharma industry clusters in both Hyderabad and Vizag for preparing the report poi-nted out that the response from both the Central government and the state authorities have been woefully inadequate, not to say complicit. Over the years, irresponsible drug manufacturers have enjoyed free rein to continue pumping vast quantities of untreated or inadequately treated pharmaceutical waste into the environment.

“Inhabitants living and working in the vicinity of drug manufacturing units in Visakhapatnam and other locations have borne the brunt of this. The situation adversely affects their livelihoods in the form of livestock deaths and decreased agricultural yields besides damage to their health. The reported impacts range from higher abortion rates to birth defects and stunted growth in children, as well as greater incidence of skin diseases,” said the report. The investigation covered several areas including industrial areas and pharmaceutical factories operating there, the effluent treatment plants set up to process the waste from these areas, and the impact of pollution on villages and water bodies surrounding the industrial areas. The findings were presented broadly according to site visits, face-to-face meetings with officials, academics and medical professionals, as well as interviews with local inhabitants, farmers, fishermen and environmental activists.