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Antibiotics in Soil: Routes of Entry, Environmental Concentrations, Fate and Possible Effects

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Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

Abstract

During the past decade pharmaceuticals have been recognised as a new class of ubiquitously occurring persistent contaminants (Halling-Sørensen et al. 1998; Daughton and Ternes 1999; Kämmerer 2001; Boxall et al. 2003; Diaz-Cruz et al. 2003; Thiele-Bruhn 2003). A large number of drugs are used extensively in both human and veterinary medicine. Antibiotics are one of the most important substance classes with a possible environmental impact. Estimations of the European Federation of Animal Health (FEDESA) revealed that approximately 8500 tons of antibiotics were used in human medicine and 4700 tons in veterinary medicine in the European Union (including Switzerland) in 1999 (Anonymous 2001).

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Authors
  1. G. Hamscher
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  2. H. T. Pawelzick
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  3. H. Höper
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  4. H. Nau
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemology, University Hospital Freiburg, Hugstetter Straße 55, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Klaus Kümmerer

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Hamscher, G., Pawelzick, H.T., Höper, H., Nau, H. (2004). Antibiotics in Soil: Routes of Entry, Environmental Concentrations, Fate and Possible Effects. In: Kümmerer, K. (eds) Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-09259-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-09259-0_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-09261-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-09259-0

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