Green Medicine: A Healthy Alternative to Managed Healthcare

Green Medicine: Protecting the Environment
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In recent years going organic has become a healthy option of choice for many. Many establishments have caught on the green bandwagon. On one hand, it cannot be denied that the campaign for the environment have raised consciousness of many people that choosing the green bag over the plastic wrappers appears healthier for the environment.

The long-term impacts of initiatives that are branded as “green” have yet to be seen. The consequence of doing otherwise is simply unimaginable.

Presently, the consequence of unhealthy practices of pharmaceutical companies and physicians are significantly damaging the environment all over the world. In Europe and the United States, more than 100 different types of drugs and their metabolites are present in lakes and other bodies of water.

According to the Environmental Health News in 2007, estrogenic compounds in treated sewage water may create exposure risks in drinking water. After being carried by sewage (estero), the estrogenic contaminants can seep into rivers and in turn contaminate drinking waters. (Estrogens are hormones present in large quantity among women and are also synthetically created as contraceptive pills.)

In Canada, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported that the frogs are dying. The report also considered the combination of habitat destruction and increased exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays and pesticides as contributory factors to the significantly declining frog population. According to the report, scientific evidence point to a common drug taken by millions of women: the birth control pill.

Illness and the Environment: A Reader in Contested Medicine

In its September 2007 issue, the Environmental Health News reported findings noted in experiments concerning synthetic estrogen used by women causing varied effects on fishes (minnows) most notable when these drugs are mixed with wastewater effluent.

The source country of developing countries such as the Philippine government’s parallel drug importation scheme—India--have controversies concerning its pharmaceutical practices. The Science News published in 2007 an article detailing pharmaceutical companies discharging foul waters containing “astronomical amounts” of antibiotics and high concentrations of other drugs into a stream that feeds a major river.

In Wisconcin, United States, in order to clean up the Fox Valley rivers medications were being flushed down the drain. This has not only proven extensive and extensive but also dangerous to the environment which affected every member of the community.

Third-world countries such as the Philippines is beset with so many health care issues and concerns that looking beyond the immediate demands come as a bigger challenge. To see a future that is actually liveable for all rather than find means to make us live past the present so we may gain the privilege of living in the future remains visionary for the myopic sight of the healthcare system.

The greening of the American healthcare system demands a lot not just from the policymakers but also from the sick and healthy among the American public. 

Green Medicine: Challenging the Assumptions of Conventional Health Care