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Ecotoxicity and environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aquatic environments and wastewater treatment plants

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Abstract

A wide range of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are present in the environment, and many of their adverse effects are unknown. The environmental risk assessment of 26 PPCPs of relevant consumption and occurrence in the aquatic environment in Spain was accomplished in this research. Based on the ecotoxicity values obtained by bioluminescence and respirometry assays and by predictions using the US EPA ecological structure–activity relationship (ECOSAR™), the compounds were classified following the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. According to the criteria of the European Medicines Agency, the real risk of impact of these compounds in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and in the aquatic environment was predicted. In at least two ecotoxicity tests, 65.4 % of the PPCPs under study showed high toxicity or were harmful to aquatic organisms. The global order of the species’ sensitivity to the PPCPs considered was as follows: Vibrio fischeri (5 min) > Vibrio fischeri (15 min) > algae > crustaceans > fish > biomass of WWTP. Acetaminophen, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, clofibrate, ibuprofen, omeprazole, triclosan, parabens and 1,4-benzoquinone showed some type of risk for the aquatic environments and/or for the activated sludge of WWTPs. Development of acute and chronic ecotoxicity data, the determination of predicted and measured environmental concentrations of PPCPs, the inclusion of metabolites and transformation products and the evaluation of mixtures of these compounds will allow further improvements of the results of the ERAs and, finally, to efficiently identify the compounds that could affect the environment.

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Abbreviations

ASA:

Acetylsalicylic acid

B:

Bioaccumulation

EC50 :

Half maximal effective concentration

ECOSAR, US EPA:

Ecological structure–activity relationship

EMEA:

European medicines agency

EPA:

United States environmental protection agency

EPA EPI SuiteTM:

Estimation programs interface suite™ developed by the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention Toxics and Syracuse Research Corporation

ERA:

Environmental risk assessment

EU TGD:

European Union Technical Guidance Document

GHS:

Globally harmonized system of classification and labeling of chemicals

LC50:

Half maximal lethal concentration

MLSS:

Mixed liquor suspended solids

MRERA:

More restrictive ranking of environmental risk assessment

NOEC:

No observed effect concentration

P:

Persistence

PCPs :

Personal care products

PEC:

Predicted environmental concentration

PECSimple :

Simple predicted environmental concentration

PECR :

Refined predicted environmental concentration

PhAC:

Pharmaceutical active compound

PNEC:

Predicted no effect concentration

PPCPs:

Pharmaceutical and personal care products

(Q)SARs:

Quantitative structure–activity relationships

RQ:

Risk quotient

RQS:

Simple risk quotient

RQR :

Refined risk quotient

RQMEC :

Risk quotient calculated with MEC

RQWM :

Risk quotient in WWTPs without metabolization in humans

RQWWTPs :

Risk quotient in the influent of WWTPs considering metabolization in humans

SARs:

Structure activity relationships

T:

Toxicity

WWTP:

Wastewater treatment plant

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by the MAPFRE Foundation of Spain (No. MA/11/AYU/138) and the scholarship grants of the Carabobo University of Venezuela (No. CD-3417 and No. CD-2155).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, University of Valladolid, Calle Dr. Mergelina S/n, 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Sheyla Andrea Ortiz de García & Pedro A. García-Encina

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, University of Valladolid, Paseo del Cauce 59, 47011, Valladolid, Spain

    Rubén Irusta-Mata

  3. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Carabobo, Av. Salvador Allende, Campus Bárbula, Naguanagua, Carabobo, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

    Sheyla Andrea Ortiz de García & Gilberto Pinto Pinto

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  1. Sheyla Andrea Ortiz de García
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  2. Gilberto Pinto Pinto
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Correspondence to Sheyla Andrea Ortiz de García.

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Ortiz de García, S.A., Pinto Pinto, G., García-Encina, P.A. et al. Ecotoxicity and environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aquatic environments and wastewater treatment plants. Ecotoxicology 23, 1517–1533 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1293-8

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