Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 603, Issue -, Pages 226-236Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.022
Keywords
Environmental contaminants; Pharmaceuticals; Environmental risk assessment; Predicted environmental concentrations; Measured environmental concentrations; Wastewater treatment plant effluent
Categories
Funding
- European Union (FEDER funds) [POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265]
- National Funds (FCT/MEC) [PT2020 UID/QUI/50006/2013, SFRH/BPD/62877/2009]
- National Funds (Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia) [PT2020 UID/QUI/50006/2013, SFRH/BPD/62877/2009]
- National Funds (Ministerio da Educaao e Ciencia) [PT2020 UID/QUI/50006/2013, SFRH/BPD/62877/2009]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BPD/62877/2009] Funding Source: FCT
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A critical evaluation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Guideline on Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) was performed on 16 of Portugal's most consumed pharmaceuticals in wastewater effluents (WWEs), the main route for aquatic contamination. The predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) were formulated based on the Guideline, after incorporating several refinements. The best approach was selected by comparing the measured environmental concentrations (MECs) to the PECs in WWEs. Finally, risk was assessed by comparing PECs to predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs). The results showed that the default value of the penetration factor (Fpen) used by the EMA (0.01) was surpassed and that national consumption and excretion data were the two most important parameters for PEC calculations. The risk quotient between PECs and PNECs was higher than 1 for 12 pharmaceuticals, indicating a risk to all three trophic levels of aquatic organisms (algae, daphnids and fish). To improve the current ERA framework, suggestions were made for incorporating consumption and excretion data, changing the default value of Fpen to 0.04 and adding a safety factor of 10. Moreover, this evaluation should be performed for pharmaceuticals already on the market, and future ERAs should incorporate a risk-benefit analysis, an important risk-management step. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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