Environmental screening of selected organic compounds 2008. Human and hospital-use pharmaceuticals, aquaculture medicines and personal care products.

Abstract

On behalf of SFT, NILU, NIVA, and IVL monitored pharmaceuticals, hospital-use pharmaceuticals, aquaculture medicines and personal care products in samples from hospital effluent water, wastewater treatment facilities, seawater, marine sediment, and blue mussels in samples collected in 2008 as a part of a screening. The detected concentrations of the compounds included in this report were compared with their known ecotoxicological effect concentrations. For most compounds toxicity data are available for a few species, therefore a safety factor of 1000 was used. Based on this simple risk assessment, the compounds tamoxifen, morphine, EDTA, butyl paraben,lauryl sulfate, and laureth sulfate are of some environmental concern. The compounds carbamazepine, cetrimonium, diethyl phthalate, naproxen, and propranolol are of environmental concern due to their presence in receiving compartments and their reported ecotoxicological effects.