Environment ministry quashes limits for discharge of antibiotic residue in water bodies

The decision to drop the limits for antibiotic residue in the effluents from pharmaceutical industry was made even as the menace of antimicrobial resistance is being warned against by the public health experts in India.

In its latest set of rules notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on August 6, the limits specifying the discharge of antibiotic effluents and residue have been removed.

The notification titled ‘Environment (Protection) Second Amendment Rules, 2021’ no longer mentions antibiotic pollution in the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 which essentially means that there is no specification in the ministry’s rules when it comes to the handling of antibiotic residue released into the water bodies by the pharmaceutical industry in India.