The Grave Risks Associated with Secondhand Exposure to Chemotherapy Drugs Excreted by Cancer Patients in Their Sweat, Saliva, Urine and Feces.

Decades ago, scientists discovered pharmacy and oncology nursing personnel who were routinely exposed to cytotoxic chemicals suffered dire effects. For these workers, exposure to these chemicals resulted in:

Almost three times the number of miscarriages than other nurses.

Nearly five times as many birth defects in the children born to these workers.

Infertility, leukemia, and other problems

That research led to strong governmental controls and regulations to protect front-line caretakers from the hazardous cytotoxic drugs they must handle every day. But what about families and caregivers who are exposed to these same dangerous chemicals? Without adequate protection, families and caregivers of chemotherapy patients are at greater risk. Cytotoxic agents have more recently been identified in urine samples from family members at even higher levels than in healthcare workers who have handled these drugs for as long as ten years. Surface contamination has also been measured at higher levels in home settings than in clinical ones.

As much as 90% of common cytotoxic drugs infused or injected into a patient are excreted in their original active form through the patients' sweat, vomit, urine and feces, no efforts are made to contain these chemicals. In both hospital and home settings, cancer patients' toxic human waste is excreted or poured into a toilet and enters our wastewater systems.

Leading environmental scientists say the solution to preventing this grave environmental and human health and safety risk is to capture cytotoxic chemicals at the source (the patient's excreta). There are technologies and processes available to capture, sequester and destroy chemotherapy chemicals found in cancer patients' excreted waste in a safe and compliant manner before it is flushed down a toilet and others are exposed with irreversible consequences.