social and environmental impacts. New drugs are daily being introduced as the
number of patents keeps increasing, and the pharmaceutical products for numerous
therapeutic and commercial purposes keep escalating accordingly, reaching already
the increasingly polluted environment. The inadvertent and purposeful discharges of
pharmacologically active compounds via excreta remain underappreciated, yet their
toxicological potency on the ecosystem has become a global issue. Environmental
monitoring and risk assessments have shown the sewage treatment works as one of
the potential routes through which the levels of consumption by a local population
can be estimated. The exposure data of trends in their distribution, biodegradability,
fate, toxicity and environmental assessment can safeguard aquatic and human
environment by letting the appropriate authorities involved in fighting and controlling drug menace develop the desired approaches in controlling and effective
monitoring of emerging pollution challenges.
2. Major Advances
We reviewed the occurrence of bioactive metabolites, metabolism, measurement,
transport routes in the aquatic environment and treatment processes with the available analytical methodologies in the literature.
The major points are:
1. The literature showed the distribution of the plethora of trace drugs include abused
drugs, which were as follows: cocaine, opioid, cannabinoid, amphetamine, lysergic
diethylamide, hallucinogen and pharmaceuticals of many therapeutic classes of
drugs: antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptics, antineoplastics, antidepressants,
beta-blockers, β 2 -sympathomimetics, contraceptives, diagnostic contrast media, lipid
regulators, preservatives, sunscreen agents and tranquilizers in the environment.
They occurred in varying concentration and range from 10 to 8700 ng L
À1 in sewage
treatment works and 10–410 ng L
À1 and stream at different locations.
2. The environmental analyses have shown that significant routes which the pharmaceutical drugs enter the aquatic environment are some domestic sewage systems
from Italy, Belgium, Spain, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom
with 15 compounds detected from biweekly samplings from Nottingham sewage
treatment work effluents, including ibuprofen, caffeine, lidocaine, cocaine,
codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine, ephedrine, methadone, nicotine, 6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and procaine. The
mean concentrations, 19.2 Æ 5.8, 15.2 Æ 4.3, 13.6 Æ 5.7, 9.1 Æ 3.5, 8.2 Æ 3.1,
5.1 Æ 2.8, 4.7 Æ 1.7 and 4.2 Æ 1.7 ng L
À1
, were found, respectively. In Spain,
225 and 2307 ng L
À1 of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in 5 sewage treatment work
influents were higher compared to 47 ng L
À1 of cocaine concentrations in effluent.
The toxicity and extent of persistence may have potential effects on the environment after the sewage-sludge disposal to surface waters or landfills.
3. The reported hydrophilicity/lipophilicity properties of compounds allowed the
chemical partitioning onto suspension in solution and biosolids with microbial
degradation. The degradation possibilities of compounds include partial/complete
278
A. O. Mustapha
number of patents keeps increasing, and the pharmaceutical products for numerous
therapeutic and commercial purposes keep escalating accordingly, reaching already
the increasingly polluted environment. The inadvertent and purposeful discharges of
pharmacologically active compounds via excreta remain underappreciated, yet their
toxicological potency on the ecosystem has become a global issue. Environmental
monitoring and risk assessments have shown the sewage treatment works as one of
the potential routes through which the levels of consumption by a local population
can be estimated. The exposure data of trends in their distribution, biodegradability,
fate, toxicity and environmental assessment can safeguard aquatic and human
environment by letting the appropriate authorities involved in fighting and controlling drug menace develop the desired approaches in controlling and effective
monitoring of emerging pollution challenges.
2. Major Advances
We reviewed the occurrence of bioactive metabolites, metabolism, measurement,
transport routes in the aquatic environment and treatment processes with the available analytical methodologies in the literature.
The major points are:
1. The literature showed the distribution of the plethora of trace drugs include abused
drugs, which were as follows: cocaine, opioid, cannabinoid, amphetamine, lysergic
diethylamide, hallucinogen and pharmaceuticals of many therapeutic classes of
drugs: antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, anti-epileptics, antineoplastics, antidepressants,
beta-blockers, β 2 -sympathomimetics, contraceptives, diagnostic contrast media, lipid
regulators, preservatives, sunscreen agents and tranquilizers in the environment.
They occurred in varying concentration and range from 10 to 8700 ng L
À1 in sewage
treatment works and 10–410 ng L
À1 and stream at different locations.
2. The environmental analyses have shown that significant routes which the pharmaceutical drugs enter the aquatic environment are some domestic sewage systems
from Italy, Belgium, Spain, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom
with 15 compounds detected from biweekly samplings from Nottingham sewage
treatment work effluents, including ibuprofen, caffeine, lidocaine, cocaine,
codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine, ephedrine, methadone, nicotine, 6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and procaine. The
mean concentrations, 19.2 Æ 5.8, 15.2 Æ 4.3, 13.6 Æ 5.7, 9.1 Æ 3.5, 8.2 Æ 3.1,
5.1 Æ 2.8, 4.7 Æ 1.7 and 4.2 Æ 1.7 ng L
À1
, were found, respectively. In Spain,
225 and 2307 ng L
À1 of cocaine and benzoylecgonine in 5 sewage treatment work
influents were higher compared to 47 ng L
À1 of cocaine concentrations in effluent.
The toxicity and extent of persistence may have potential effects on the environment after the sewage-sludge disposal to surface waters or landfills.
3. The reported hydrophilicity/lipophilicity properties of compounds allowed the
chemical partitioning onto suspension in solution and biosolids with microbial
degradation. The degradation possibilities of compounds include partial/complete
278
A. O. Mustapha