Studies have demonstrated that trace concentrations of ingredients found in pharmaceuticals and other consumer products used by the general public are present in waters in Europe and North America.

The low levels of medicines that have been detected come primarily from patient use because a portion of medicines may pass through the human body without being completely metabolized. These compounds then make their way into municipal wastewater treatment systems (WWT); a portion may pass through WWT without being fully degraded and therefore may be discharged to the environment in very small concentrations. To date, scientists have found no evidence of adverse human health effects from the trace levels of pharmaceuticals detected in the environment.

In November 2007, Merck adopted a formal public policy position on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PIE). This position describes our efforts to work with government agencies, the scientific community and other stakeholders to understand and appropriately respond to the issue. Merck participates in many stakeholder collaborations aimed at developing and implementing a science-based approach to evaluating and setting policy related to pharmaceuticals in the environment. In addition:

• Merck scientists have presented at several scientific workshops focused on pharmaceuticals in the environment, including the annual meetings of the Society of Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry and the Water Environment Federation.
• Merck is also a sponsor of the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), where the significance of trace constituents of consumer products, including pharmaceuticals in the environment, has been identified as a critical knowledge area and is the subject of numerous research projects, including research on new wastewater treatment technologies to improve the removal of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals from wastewater discharges.

Although not a major source of pharmaceuticals in the environment, proper disposal of unused medicines is another important component of this issue given that flushing of medicines contributes to the trace concentrations detected in the environment. Merck, through its membership in the PhRMA PIE Task Force, has worked to develop and implement the SMARxT Disposal Program, designed to provide the general public with information on proper disposal of medicines.