Jakarta Bay Sea Contain Paracetamol, Deputy Governor Of DKI Alludes To Drug Waste During Pandemic

ILLUSTRATION/BEK JAKARTA/ANTARA

JAKARTA - A study states that seawater in Jakarta Bay contains paracetamol. The study of water pollution on the coast of the capital city was published in a journal entitled Science Direct in August 2021.

Responding to the research, the Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta linked the findings to the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit Indonesia and almost the entire world. Riza said pharmaceutical waste such as drug disposal has increased since the pandemic.

"Indeed, since the outbreak of COVID-19, pharmaceutical waste has increased," said Riza at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Central Jakarta, Friday, October 1.

Riza said, currently the DKI Health Office and the Environment Agency have followed up with anticipatory efforts to ensure that all medical waste from handling COVID-19 is distributed to waste management sites, in accordance with existing regulations.

So far, Riza assesses that there are no significant problems with the findings of paracetamol content in Jakarta waters, related to the increase in waste pollution.

"So, the public or anyone else, don't throw away trash, especially medical waste. We take care of our environment, our sea, we keep it clean and our ecosystem," he said.

It is known, the results of the research on the paraswtamol content carried out revealed that Angke had a high concentration of Paracetamol, which was 610 ng/L, and Ancol was 420 ng/L.

In this study, this is the first study to analyze the picture of sea water quality related to paracetamol contamination in coastal waters around Indonesia. However, scientists say this preliminary overview study still requires further analysis.

"Given the consideration of drugs as emerging contaminants, these data suggest that further investigation is needed," said the researchers, consisting of Wulan Koagouw, Zainal Arifin, George WJ Olivier, and Corina Ciocan.