IMPACTOS AMBIENTAIS DO DESCARTE DOMICILIAR DE MEDICAMENTOS: REVISÃO DA LITERATURA

The objective of this research was to analyze in the literature the impacts caused by the disposal of expired or disused medicines on the environment. The study consists of an Integrative Literature Review (IR), where the process of searching, analyzing and describing of an area of ​​knowledge takes place to answer to a specific question. The research was carried out using the following databases: United States National Library of Medicine (PUBMED), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIELO) and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), with the inclusion criteria being articles published between the years 2014 and 2024, with free access and available in Portuguese and English. 18 articles were selected, which highlighted the incorrect disposal of medicines by the population. With the review, it was possible to identify that the disposal of medicines in the environment causes countless damages, as they affect water sources, animals, soil and crops, causing toxic bioaccumulation.