Surface Water is Polluted by Drugs and Other Contaminants

by Maryann Donovan, MPH, PhD, Scientific Director, Center for Environmental Oncology

Although much of the discussion of water quality has remained focused on the "priority" pollutants, over the past decade awareness that drinking and recreational water supplies may contain additional toxic products has grown. In 1999, a review article published in Environmental Health Perspectives, discussed toxic materials in water derived from pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP) and termed these pollutants an international "emerging risk" that was a "major concern of environmental scientists."^[1]

PPCPs represent a challenging collection of chemicals that include: human and animal drugs like hormones (estrogen mimics), antibiotics, blood lipid regulators, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, beta blockers, anti-psychotics, anti-epileptics, anti-cancer drugs, impotence drugs, and tranquilizers; and personal care product active ingredients such as fragrances, including musk, preservatives, disinfectants and antiseptics; UV filters in sunscreens; and herbal remedies. These chemicals are continuously discharged into waterways through domestic and industrial sewage systems.

Since 1999, deformed fish, frogs, and crocodiles that have been damaged by habitat pollution have been identified. Importantly, just as pharmaceutical side-effects cannot always be known or predicted, the effects of PPCPs on aquatic animals are even less well understood. This makes the ecosystem of our waterways, and by extension humans, who drink and bathe in contaminated water, vulnerable to both short- and long-term biological effects, the full consequences of which remain unknown.

Sources:

1. Daughton CG and Ternes TA. 1999. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: Agents of subtle change?. Environmental Health Perspectives 107(Suppl 6): 907-38.