Abstract
Levonorgestrel is one of the active ingredients of oral contraceptives detected in the aquatic environment at concentrations in the order of ng/L. During the past decade, a wealth of new information about levonorgestrel has been produced, with several studies having reported negative effects in the reproduction and growth of aquatic organisms after exposure to this emerging contaminant of concern. In the present study, the data about its levels in water and its effects on aquatic organisms were integrated and used to perform an updated preliminary aquatic risk assessment for levonorgestrel based on the guideline for Environmental Risk Assessment of Medicinal Products for Human Use from the European Medicines Agency. The aim was to investigate if this pharmaceutical has a risk for adverse effects on aquatic organisms (i.e. for organisms residing in surface water and groundwater). The results evidenced that levonorgestrel is likely to pose an environmental risk to surface water (risk quotient >1). Based on these results, a more refined risk assessment for this pharmaceutical is needed. Besides, our findings highlight the need for investigation under the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework, as well as for further studies about toxicological interactions between levonorgestrel and other synthetic steroids.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020, through FCT (Portuguese Foundation for the Science and Technology), and by the REWATER project (FCT/UEFISCDI/FORMAS, WaterJPI/0008/2016) financed under the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015 (Water JPI).
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Oropesa, A.L., Guimarães, L. (2020). Occurrence of Levonorgestrel in Water Systems and Its Effects on Aquatic Organisms: A Review. In: de Voogt, P. (eds) Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 254. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, vol 254. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/398_2020_44
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Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68529-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68530-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)