Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in Malaysian Tap Water: A Way Forward for Upcoming Legislative Framework

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Othman, Adillah^{; *} | Ariffin, Mariani | Johari, Wan Lutfi Wan

Affiliations: Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: adillahothman@gmail.com.

Abstract: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) are the ingredients in pharmaceutical, personal care products, and agriculture that are biologically active, causing detrimental effects to humans and the environment. The detection of pharmaceutical contaminants in Malaysian rivers suggests a high risk for the contaminants to reach tap water since the river is the primary source of water intake points for all drinking water treatment plants and the inability of these plants to treat emerging pollutants like the APIs. In response to the issue, this study aims to evaluate selected documents on the characteristics and properties of pharmaceutical contaminants that are harmful and examine how the Malaysian legislative framework could prevent the contaminants in tap water. A systematic search was carried out on selected pharmaceutical-related documents, and content analysis was conducted to discover patterns and ideas within the selected documents. The finding of this study demonstrates that Malaysian legislative framework has the capacity and capability to carry out a risk mitigation on APIs as well as the insertion of selected types of pharmaceutical contaminants as new parameters. This study’s findings provide insights for the improvement of the Malaysian legislative framework against the potential risks of APIs contamination of our tap water.

Keywords: Malaysia law, pharmaceutical residue, medical waste, clinical waste, multi-barrier approach

DOI: 10.3233/EPL-201041

Journal: Environmental Policy and Law, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 351-358, 2021