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environmental clean-up and in other areas. However,
there is significant public concern regarding the possible
risks to human health and the environment through the
introduction and use of GMOs in our ecosystem.
The EPA is the competent authority in Ireland for the
implementation of the Genetically Modified Organisms
Regulations on the contained use, the deliberate
release into the environment and the transboundary
movement of GMOs. As part of its regulatory function,
the EPA has established a register of GMO users in
Ireland. As of December 2015, there were 587 entries
on this register. Over 95% of these are contained
users, the majority of which are third-level research
laboratories classified as being of negligible risk. The
remainder are deliberate release users (small-scale field
trials and clinical trials).
In July 2012, the EPA granted consent to Teagasc Oak
Park to carry out field trials on a GM potato line with
improved resistance to late potato blight fungus for
a 4-year period until the end of 2016, with post-trial
monitoring continuing until 2020. There is currently no
commercial cultivation of GM crops in Ireland.
Any health and environmental issues concerning the use
of GM ingredients in food and feed are considered by
the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Department
of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which are the
competent authorities in this area.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals occur naturally in the environment, and low
concentrations of some of these are essential to human
health and wellbeing. However, elevated concentrations
of many heavy metals are directly toxic to humans, and
also to animals and plants, which in turn can accumulate
these substances, offering a further threat to humans
eating contaminated foodstuffs. Sources of heavy metals
include materials such as paints, batteries and piping, and
industrial activities including mining and coal-burning
electricity generation. Ongoing monitoring of water and
air indicates that heavy metal pollution does not pose a
significant threat to health in Ireland.
In 2015, the EEA examined emissions of heavy metals
and reported an improving situation in Ireland with
trends between 1990 and 2013 showing emissions for
cadmium down 36.7%, mercury down 37.7% and lead
down 88.6%. This downwards trend is mirrored across
Europe and is attributed to improvements in abatement
technologies, coupled with the effect of EU directives
and regulations mandating reductions, and limits on
heavy metal emissions. The very large decrease in lead
emissions is largely associated with the phase-out of
leaded petrol.
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
Pharmaceutical drugs are contaminants of emerging
concern in the aquatic environment.
The amount of pharmaceutical production, consumption
and ultimately discharge into the aquatic environment is
steadily increasing (EPA, 2015g). Human actions, termed
as “involuntary” (pharmaceutical excretion through the
body or washing of topical medicines down the drain)
and “purposeful” (disposal of unused or out of date
medicines), are primarily responsible for the release of
pharmaceuticals into the environment (Daughton, 2007).
The unnecessary and excessive use of antimicrobial
agents, such as antibiotics, has significantly contributed
to the development and spread of antimicrobial
resistance (AMR) worldwide across the human
population, agriculture and the wider environment.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
estimates that AMR results in 25,000 deaths annually
in Europe, plus related costs, resulting from healthcare
expenses and productivity losses, of over €1.5 billion.
The issue is one of such great concern that AMR is
listed in the Department of the Taoiseach’s National Risk
Assessment, which identifies risks that may have an
adverse impact on Ireland’s wellbeing (Department of
the Taoiseach, 2015). In 2016, an EPA-funded research
project found high levels of bacteria resistant to all
antibiotics in urban sewage from hospitals and from
the general city sewage. The researchers also noted
that the hospital effluent was different, in that there
were high levels of bacteria resistant to a number of
newer antibiotics (Morris
et al.
, 2016). The number of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria present was greatly reduced
by effective waste water treatment, but some antibiotic-
resistant bacteria survive and are discharged into rivers
and seawater.
Whilst inappropriate prescribing and dispensing of
antimicrobials for human therapeutic use is a significant
contributor to the AMR problem, use in the agriculture
and food production sector is as substantial. In terms of
environmental impact from human therapeutic use of
antimicrobials, a significant quantity of the antimicrobials
given to patients is shed into the toilet in urine or faeces,
in a form that is still biologically active. Added to this is
the large number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which
may reside in the gut of humans, passed into the toilet
every day. Urban waste water treatment plants and
domestic waste water treatment systems are unable to
effectively remove all antimicrobials or antibiotic-resistant
bacteria, meaning that the resultant “active” effluent
is released into the environment, causing subsequent
exposure and thereby contributing to the growing
problem of AMR.