Measurement of Gross Alpha/Beta Activity in Samples of Water Used for Drug Manufacturing in Bangladesh

A total of 25 samples of water being used by pharmaceutical industries in Bangladesh for drug manufacturing were investigated for alpha/beta activity. The samples were collected from 7 different pharmaceutical industries in 2020–2022. EPA 900 method was followed for sample collection and preparation for measuring the gross alpha and beta activity using a ZnS scintillation detector. The gross alpha and beta activity ranged from 0.0018 ± 0.0007 to 0.0091 ± 0.0009 Bq/L with a mean value of 0.0039 ± 0.0007 Bq/L and from 0.0304 ± 0.0213 to 0.1835 ± 0.0214 Bq/L with an average value of 0.0948 ± 0.0213 Bq/L, respectively. The annual effective dose (AED) for the gross alpha and beta activity ranged from 0.0005 ± 0.0002 to 0.0024 ± 0.0002 mSv/year with a mean of 0.0010 ± 0.0002 mSv/year and from 0.0079 ± 0.0056 to 0.0480 ± 0.0056 mSv/year with a mean of 0.0248 ± 0.0056 mSv/year, respectively. Monitoring these parameters in pharmaceutical water should be recommended as a critical quality control measure to maintain the safety and integrity of drug products.