Pharmaceuticals and personal care products and their sublethal and lethal effects in aquatic organisms

Abstract

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) include over-the-counter and prescription drugs, veterinary drugs, fragrances, and cosmetics. PPCPs have been detected in aquatic environments at low concentrations and are emerging as contaminants of concern. PPCPs are primarily released into aquatic environments via untreated sewage, wastewater treatment plants, landfill leachate and can affect aquatic life through persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. However, there are limited reviews of lethal and sublethal effects of PPCP exposures on aquatic organisms. To understand PPCP toxicity on aquatic organisms, a literature review was conducted which identified aquatic organisms known to be affected by PPCPs; concentrations of PPCPs reported as producing sublethal and lethal effects in aquatic organisms; and research gaps on PPCP aquatic toxicity. Twelve PPCPs were selected from three seminal studies for review, including bisphenol A, carbamazepine, erythromycin, fluoxetine, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, metoprolol, naproxen, nonylphenol, ofloxacin, sertraline, sulfamethoxazole, and triclosan. Many aquatic species were affected by PPCPs at sublethal and lethal exposures, including sublethal effects at environmentally relevant concentrations. Because lethal effects were seldom observed at environmentally relevant concentrations, many studies considered PPCPs non-toxic. Few studies have compared effects of PPCPs on the same organisms for identical exposure parameters (time and concentration), resulting in wide variation in reported toxicity levels with limited consensus in the academic literature. Consensus in lethal concentrations was reported for Daphnia magna with 48 h exposure for bisphenol A and triclosan and Vibrio fischeri with 15 min exposure to carbamazepine. Environmentally relevant sublethal concentrations were higher than water quality guidelines developed for Canada and predicted no-effect concentrations derived globally. Species sensitivity distributions for some PPCPs show that aquatic species are affected lethally at environmentally relevant concentrations. More studies on indirect, and long-term ecological effects along with testing chronic toxicity of PPCPs at environmentally relevant concentrations, is recommended. These will help guide future research to determine extent and magnitude of PPCP concentrations in aquatic environments and help inform management decisions to reduce sources of PPCPs into the environment. Future management requires effective monitoring strategies regarding use, disposal, occurrence, and impacts at different life cycle stages of PPCPs in the environment.

Increased use of sanitizers and disinfectants during the COVID-19 pandemic: identification of antimicrobial chemicals and considerations for aquatic environmental contamination

“…However all were heavily focused on pharmaceuticals (including antimicrobial drugs, i.e. antibiotics) and of the few disinfecting antimicrobials included, only triclosan and triclocarban were reported (Srain et al 2021;Krogh et al2017;Couperus et al 2016;de Solla et al 2016;Lapen et al 2008). Furthermore, there is a lack of established water quality guidelines for all but two of the candidate antimicrobials: triclosan (0.47 µg/L) and one QAC (didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride; 1.5 µg/L; CCME's Water Quality Guidelines database and GoC 2017 chemical fact sheets, US EPA).…”

“…Like other PPCPs, following consumer use many of these sanitizers and disinfectants are washed down the drain, may reach stormwater systems following outdoor application or may be released during product manufacturing. With respect to the former pathways, because wastewater treatment technologies in Canada, and elsewhere, are not designed to remove these chemicals (Senta et al 2013), antimicrobials may be released from effluent outfalls into aquatic ecosystems, or leach from biosolids applied to agricultural fields, and exert toxicity on non-target biota (Srain et al 2021, Krogh et al 2017Luo et al 2014;Lapen et al 2008). These releases, which have the potential to be continuous, may render 5 contaminants that might otherwise breakdown quickly to have pseudo-persistence, resulting in chronic exposure to aquatic biota (Ebele et al 2017).…”

Pharmaceutical pollution in marine waters and benthic flora of the southern Australian coastline

“…The risk quotients suggest a moderate risk of harm from carbamazepine exposure and low risk of harm from tramadol and venlafaxine exposure to marine organisms based on PNEC values. Nevertheless, as emerging contaminants, more research is needed on the potential ecological impacts of long-term low-level exposure to such pharmaceuticals (Khan et al 2021), their mixtures (Srain et al 2021) and the role that these low-level concentrations might have at transferring pharmaceuticals into food webs (Richmond et al 2018).…”

A Review on Emerging Pollutants in the Water Environment: Existences, Health Effects and Treatment Processes

“…Triclosan also has been shown to harm phytoplankton accumulation in freshwaters at specific concentrations in the environment. Long-term exposure to parabens, even at low concentrations, might cause vitellogenin synthesis in fish [101].…”