Human Pharmaceuticals In The Environment

Human interaction with the environment remains one of the most pervasive facets of modern society. In a world characterized by rapid population growth, unprecedented global trade and digital communications, energy security, natural resource scarcities, climatic changes and environmental quality, emerging diseases and public health, biodiversity and habitat modifications are routinely touted by the popular press as they canvas global political agendas and scholarly endeavors.

Following the success of the first edition, this pioneering study of pharmaceuticals in the environment has been updated and greatly extended. It includes the status of research on pharmaceuticals in soil, with attention to terrestrial and aquatic environments as well as new substance categories such as tetracylines and chinolones and the latest results concerning contamination of the environment and risk reduction.

An important reference for researchers in the pharmaceutical industry, environmentalists and policy makers wanting to better understand the impacts of pharmaceuticals on the environment.

The observed concentrations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in raw wastewater confirm that municipal wastewater represents the main disposal pathway for the PPCPs consumed in households, hospitals and industry. In sewage treatment plant effluents most PPCPs are still present, since many of these polar and persistent compounds are being removed only partially or, in some cases, not at all. Treated wastewater therefore represents an important point source for PPCPs into the environment. After passing a sewage treatment plant the treated wastewater is mostly discharged into rivers and streams or sometimes used to irrigate fields. If drinking water is produced using resources containing a substantial proportion of treated wastewater (e.g. from river water downstream of communities) the water cycle is closed and indirect potable reuse occurs. Human Pharmaceuticals, Hormones and Fragrances provides an overview of the occurrence, analytics, removal and environmental risk of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater, surface water and drinking water. The book covers all aspects of the fate and removal of PPCPs in the whole water cycle: consumption and occurrence, analytical methods, the legal background, environmental risk assessment, human and animal toxicology, source control options, wastewater and drinking water treatment as well as indirect reuse. The book presents a summary of the results obtained during the EU project "Poseidon", combined with further expert knowledge on the field, and is written at a level appropriate for professionals involved in management of water resource quality. Professionals in the field including decision makers, engineers and scientists, as well as students entering the field, will find this an invaluable source of information. First comprehensive study on the assessment, fate and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater and drinking water treatment. Emphasises the importance of micropollutants in the water cycle, provides methods for quantifying their fate and technologies for their removal.

Within recent years pharmaceuticals have come into focus as contaminants of the environment (see for example Kümmerer, K. editor: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment). At the same time the issue of sustainable chemistry gained momentum. Bringing both together would result in sustainable pharmacy. Sustainable pharmacy is a totally new issue and approach. It addresses environmental, economical and social aspects of pharmacy. In the present stage the focus will be on environmental issues along the whole lifecycle of a pharmaceutical entity. That is dealing with resources and energy input but also with waste issues for example during the synthesis and production of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. Furthermore, it would also look on the compounds themselves and will aim to improve the degradability of the compounds after their use in the environment to reduce the environmental risk caused by pharmaceuticals in the environment. Another issue is the people using pharmaceuticals such as pharmacists, medical doctors and patients. How can they contribute to more efficient use of pharmaceuticals with less environmental burden and less risk for drinking water. The book "Sustainable Pharmacy" will address all these issues and will be the first one dealing with this important topic.