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TYPES AND QUANTITIES OF LEFTOVER DRUGS ENTERING THE ENVIRONMENT VIA DISPOSAL TO SEWAGE - REVEALED BY CORONERS' RECORDS
Citation:
RUHOY, I. AND C. G. DAUGHTON. TYPES AND QUANTITIES OF LEFTOVER DRUGS ENTERING THE ENVIRONMENT VIA DISPOSAL TO SEWAGE - REVEALED BY CORONERS' RECORDS. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 388(1-3):137-148, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
The research focused on in the subtasks is the development and application of state-of the-art technologies to meet the needs of the public, Office of Water, and ORD in the area of Water Quality. Located In the subtasks are the various research projects being performed in support of this Task and more in-depth coverage of each project. Briefly, each project's objective is stated below.
Subtask 1: To integrate state-of-the-art technologies (polar organic chemical integrative samplers, advanced solid-phase extraction methodologies with liquid chromatography/electrospray/mass spectrometry) and apply them to studying the sources and fate of a select list of PPCPs. Application and improvement of analytical methodologies that can detect non-volatile, polar, water-soluble pharmaceuticals in source waters at levels that could be environmentally significant (at concentrations less than parts per billion, ppb). IAG with USGS ends in FY05. APM 20 due in FY05.
Subtask 2: Coordination of interagency research and public outreach activities for PPCPs. Participate on NSTC Health and Environment subcommittee working group on PPCPs. Web site maintenance and expansion, invited technical presentations, invited articles for peer-reviewed journals, interviews for media, responding to public inquiries.
Subtask 3: To apply state-of-the-art environmental forensic techniques to the recognition and characterization of emerging pollutants in the aquatic environment. There is a need for high sensitivity and for a powerful method of structural characterization, advanced mass spectrometric and chromatographic techniques to be employed to meet the challenge of emerging pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, agents of sabotage, and explosives. Ongoing efforts continue to identify previously unrecognized pollutants from a range of problematic samples having importance to regional and state contacts.
Subtask 4: To provide the Agency with a set of practical analytical methods for the selective and sensitive determination of selenium species (organic, inorganic, volatile and non volatile forms) in multiple media to accurately assess and if necessary control the risk of selenium exposure to organisms. This includes development of optimal extraction, digestion, separation and detection approaches.
Subtask 5: To develop and apply an analytical method that can extract and detect synthetic musks. The extent of exposure may be determined by measuring levels of synthetic musks from their potential source (communal sewage effluent). This subtask ends in FY05 with the deliverable of APM 21. Future applications to biosolids will be covered in subtask 6.
Subtask 6: Application, and improvement, of previously in-house developed sensitive, robust, and green, methodologies regarding the use of urobilin and sterols as a possible markers of sewage contamination.
Subtask 7: Adaptation and improvement of previously developed in-house methods, for PPCPs (e.g., antibiotics and musks) to solid materials (e.g. biosolids, sediments).
Subtask 8: Study of the presence of personal care products, incombustible organic compounds from the direct-piping of small engines exhaust in Lake Tahoe, and lake deposition of airborne pollutants from industrial activity
Description:
BACKGROUND: Pharmaceuticals designed for humans and animals often remain unused. Leftover and accumulated drugs represent suboptimal delivery of health care and environmentally unsound disposal, which can pose exposure risks for humans and wildlife.
OBJECTIVES: A major unknown with respect to drugs as pollutants is what fractions of drug residues occurring in the ambient environment result from discarding leftover drugs. To gauge the significance of leftover drugs as potential pollutants, data are needed on the types, quantities, and frequencies with which drugs accumulate. Absence of this data has prevented assessments of the significance of drug accumulation and disposal as a contributing source of drug residues in the environment.
METHODS: One particular source of drug accumulation is those drugs that become "orphaned" by the death of a consumer. An approach on acquiring the data needed to assess the magnitude and extent of drug disposal as a source of environmental pollution is presented by using the inventories of drugs maintained by coroners' offices.
RESULTS: The data from one metropolitan coroner's office demonstrates proof of concept. Coroners' data on leftover drugs are useful for measuring the types and amounts of drugs accumulated by consumers. This inventory also provides an accurate measure of the active ingredients actually disposed into sewerage by coroners.
CONCLUSION: The types of questions these data can address are presented, and the possible uses of these data for deriving estimates of source contributions from the population at large are discussed. The approach is proposed for nationwide implementation to better understand the significance of consumer disposal of medications.