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Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: What are the Big Questions?
Citation:
BOXALL, A. B., M. A. RUDD, B. W. BROOKS, D. J. CALDWELL, K. CHOI, S. HICKMANN, E. INNES, K. OSTAPYK, J. P. STAVELEY, T. VERSLYCKE, G. T. ANKLEY, K. F. BEAZLEY, S. E. BELANGER, J. P. BERNINGER, P. CARRIQUIRIBORDE, A. COORS, P. C. DELEO, S. D. DYER, J. F. ERICSON, F. GAGNE, J. P. GIESY, T. GOUIN, L. HALLSTROM, M. KARLSSON, D. G. LARSSON, J. M. LAZORCHAK, F. MASTROCCO, A. MCLAUGHLIN, M. E. MCMASTER, R. D. MEYERHOFF, R. MOORE, J. L. PARROTT, J. R. SNAPE, R. MURRAY-SMITH, M. R. SERVOS, P. K. SIBLEY, J. O. STRAUB, N. D. SZABO, G. R. TETREAULT, V. L. TRUDEAU, AND G. VAN DER KRAAK. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: What are the Big Questions? ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 120(9):1221-1229, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
To document research results.
Description:
Over the past 10-15 years, a significant amount of work has been done by the scientific, regulatory and business communities into effects and risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment. It is now timely to review the current knowledge and to identify the key issues regarding the impacts of PPCPs in the environment so that future resources can be focused on the most important areas. This paper describes a 20 Question Exercise that was conducted to identify the priority issues that need to be addressed in order to better understand and manage the risks of PPCPs in the environment. Initially, questions were solicited from academic, government and business communities around the globe and a total of 403 questions were obtained. After removal of questions outside the scope of the exercise and redundant questions, a list of 101 questions remained and these were discussed at a 2-day workshop involving experts from academia, governmental/regulatory organisations and the business sector from North America, Europe, Asia 56 and Latin America and a top 20 list was developed. The top 20 questions fell into a number of categories, namely questions around: 1) prioritisation of substances for assessment; 2) routes of exposure; 3) bioavailability and uptake; 4) effects assessment; risk; 5) antibiotic resistance; and 6) risk management. Dissemination of these questions through publications, presentations, meetings with key decision makers, policy briefing notes and other fora, should serve to focus future work on the risks of PPCPs in the natural environment.