Occurrence of drugs in German sewage treatment plants and rivers
TL;DR: In this article, the occurrence of 32 drug residues belonging to different medicinal classes like antiphlogistics, lipid regulators, psychiatric drugs, antiepileptic drugs, betablockers and β 2 -sympathomimetics as well as five metabolites has been investigated in German municipal sewage treatment plant (STP) discharges, river and stream waters.
About: This article is published in Water Research.The article was published on 1998-11-01. It has received 3015 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Environmental impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.
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TL;DR: The U.S. Geological Survey used five newly developed analytical methods to measure concentrations of 95 organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in water samples from a network of 139 streams across 30 states during 1999 and 2000 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: To provide the first nationwide reconnaissance of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey used five newly developed analytical methods to measure concentrations of 95 OWCs in water samples from a network of 139 streams across 30 states during 1999 and 2000. The selection of sampling sites was biased toward streams susceptible to contamination (i.e. downstream of intense urbanization and livestock production). OWCs were prevalent during this study, being found in 80% of the streams sampled. The compounds detected represent a wide range of residential, industrial, and agricultural origins and uses with 82 of the 95 OWCs being found during this study. The most frequently detected compounds were coprostanol (fecal steroid), cholesterol (plant and animal steroid), N,N-diethyltoluamide (insect repellant), caffeine (stimulant), triclosan (antimicrobial disinfectant), tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (fire retardant), and 4-nonylphenol (nonionic detergent metabolite). Measured concentrations for this study were generally low and rarely exceeded drinking-water guidelines, drinking-water health advisories, or aquatic-life criteria. Many compounds, however, do not have such guidelines established. The detection of multiple OWCs was common for this study, with a median of seven and as many as 38 OWCs being found in a given water sample. Little is known about the potential interactive effects (such as synergistic or antagonistic toxicity) that may occur from complex mixtures of OWCs in the environment. In addition, results of this study demonstrate the importance of obtaining data on metabolites to fully understand not only the fate and transport of OWCs in the hydrologic system but also their ultimate overall effect on human health and the environment.
7,036 citations
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TL;DR: This review attempts to synthesize the literature on environmental origin, distribution/occurrence, and effects and to catalyze a more focused discussion in the environmental science community.
Abstract: During the last three decades, the impact of chemical pollution has focused almost exclusively on the conventional "priority" pollutants, especially those acutely toxic/carcinogenic pesticides and industrial intermediates displaying persistence in the environment. This spectrum of chemicals, however, is only one piece of the larger puzzle in "holistic" risk assessment. Another diverse group of bioactive chemicals receiving comparatively little attention as potential environmental pollutants includes the pharmaceuticals and active ingredients in personal care products (in this review collectively termed PPCPs), both human and veterinary, including not just prescription drugs and biologics, but also diagnostic agents, "nutraceuticals," fragrances, sun-screen agents, and numerous others. These compounds and their bioactive metabolites can be continually introduced to the aquatic environment as complex mixtures via a number of routes but primarily by both untreated and treated sewage. Aquatic pollution is particularly troublesome because aquatic organisms are captive to continual life-cycle, multigenerational exposure. The possibility for continual but undetectable or unnoticed effects on aquatic organisms is particularly worrisome because effects could accumulate so slowly that major change goes undetected until the cumulative level of these effects finally cascades to irreversible change--change that would otherwise be attributed to natural adaptation or ecologic succession. As opposed to the conventional, persistent priority pollutants, PPCPs need not be persistent if they are continually introduced to surface waters, even at low parts-per-trillion/parts-per-billion concentrations (ng-microg/L). Even though some PPCPs are extremely persistent and introduced to the environment in very high quantities and perhaps have already gained ubiquity worldwide, others could act as if they were persistent, simply because their continual infusion into the aquatic environment serves to sustain perpetual life-cycle exposures for aquatic organisms. This review attempts to synthesize the literature on environmental origin, distribution/occurrence, and effects and to catalyze a more focused discussion in the environmental science community.
4,347 citations
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TL;DR: This review provides a summary of the recent occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment including sewage, surface water, groundwater and drinking water.
2,933 citations
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TL;DR: Several PhACs from various prescription classes have been found at concentrations up to the microg/l-level in sewage influent and effluent samples and also in several surface waters located downstream from municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs).
2,858 citations
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TL;DR: This paper has attempted to summarize the latest information available in the literature on the use, sales, exposure pathways, environmental occurrence, fate and effects of veterinary antibiotics in animal agriculture.
2,856 citations
References
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TL;DR: Pentoxifylline offers a well-tolerated and effective alternative to the treatment options available for patients with peripheral vascular disease and in isolated studies proved to be superior to drugs such as co-dergocrine mesylate, adenosine and pyrithioxine.
Abstract: Pentoxifylline (oxpentifylline) is an orally active haemorheological agent for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and a number of other conditions involving a defective regional microcirculation. Pentoxifylline acts primarily by increasing red blood cell deformability, by reducing blood viscosity and by decreasing the potential for platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. Extensive open and placebo-controlled studies have shown that pentoxifylline 600 to 1200 mg/day for at least 6 weeks is associated with subjective and objective improvements in 60 to 100% of patients with peripheral vascular disease. The most commonly assessed clinical parameter, walking distance, is usually improved by about 100%, although much greater improvements have also been documented. Other parameters which have been clearly improved include lower limb rest pain, paraesthesia, muscle blood flow, cramps and leg ulcers. Pentoxifylline has produced consistently better results than placebo, and in those studies using comparative drugs, better results than nylidrin, adenosine and naftidrofuryl. In patients with cerebrovascular disorders, open studies with pentoxifylline, usually at a dosage of 600 to 1200 mg/day (300 to 600 mg/day in Japan), have shown marked overall clinical improvements in about 85% of patients. Symptomatic improvements in rehabilitation psychometric tests, neuromotor and speech deficits and other subjective symptoms have accompanied increased cerebral blood flow, particularly to ischaemic areas. Pentoxifylline would appear to be useful in most types of cerebrovascular disease including transient ischaemic attacks, sequelae of cerebral thrombosis and haemorrhage, and chronic ischaemic disorders. In patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease pentoxifylline 600 to 1200 mg/day conferred significant clinical benefit compared with placebo and in isolated studies proved to be superior to drugs such as co-dergocrine mesylate, adenosine and pyrithioxine. Preliminary studies indicate that pentoxifylline may also prove useful in vaso-occlusive crises of sickle cell disease, some hearing disorders, disorders of eye circulation, high altitude sickness and asthenozoospermia. Pentoxifylline is usually well tolerated when administered as the conventional controlled release formulation, gastrointestinal symptoms (about 3%) being the most common complaint, although these and other adverse effects have not occurred to a significantly greater extent than with placebo. Thus, pentoxifylline offers a well-tolerated and effective alternative to the treatment options available for patients with peripheral vascular disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
1,788 citations
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TL;DR: This study outlines some of the problems encountered in assessing the risk from pharmaceutical chemicals which might enter the water cycle from domestic and industrial sources.
Abstract: Increased demands for potable water, especially where supplies are drawn from lowland rivers has necessitated a greater degree of water re-use. As water undertakings have a duty to maintain the wholesome quality of potable water supplies, increasing concern is being expressed over the presence of organic micro-contaminants (contaminants found at microgram litre-1 concentrations). This study outlines some of the problems encountered in assessing the risk from pharmaceutical chemicals which might enter the water cycle from domestic and industrial sources. Analytical chemistry was of value for only a few of the 200 compounds studied. However, much useful information was derived from the human metabolic routes of the drugs and is collated in Appendix I. Biodegradation studies and other ecotoxicity/environmental toxicology data may be required to a greater extent in the future. Particular consideration is given to vulnerable sections of the population.
703 citations
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TL;DR: The occurrence and distribution of organic compounds originating from waste from the pharmaceutical industry in the groundwater downgradient of the same landfill is described, the first report on pharmaceutical compounds in a leachate plume.
Abstract: Introduction Usually landfill leachates contain specific organic compounds as BTEXs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons and chlorobenzenes originating from household chemicals and waste from small businesses (I). However, where industrial waste has been landfilled, the leachate may contain many other organic compounds (2). Another paper of ours (3) described the distribution of commonly found organic compounds in the leachate plume downgradient of the Grindsted Landfill and discussed the fate of the organic compounds in view of the redox environments determined in the plume (4) . In this paper, we describe the occurrence and distribution of organic compounds originating from waste from the pharmaceutical industry in the groundwater downgradient of the same landfill. According to our knowledge, this is the first report on pharmaceutical compounds in a leachate plume.
388 citations
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TL;DR: Chlorophenoxyisobutyrate (CPIB) and salicylic acid, the metabolites of clofibrate and aspirin, were quantitated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the effluent of a sewage disposal plant in Kansas City, Missouri.
366 citations