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CURRENT ISSUES REGARDING ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING CHEMICALS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
Citation:
Cicmanec*, J L. CURRENT ISSUES REGARDING ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING CHEMICALS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE. Presented at 4th Annual Biosolids Conference/Workshop, Potomac, MD, 6/24-27/2002.
Description:
Recently public concern has increased regarding industrial and environmental substances that may have adverse hormonal effects in human and wildlife populations. This concern has also been expanded to include antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the presence of various antibiotics and pharmaceuticals in surface and ground water. Although the list of potentially harmful substances is still being compiled and more sophisticated laboratory tests for detection of these compounds are still being developed, an initial list of know EDCs has been made and an array of drinking wate treatment processes has been evaluated for their ability to remove EDCs. Alkylphenols, bisphenol A, phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, as well as the pesticides atrazine, methoxychlor, endosulfan, and DDT have been included in the initial list. Although some summary published reports have been made available in which the performance of various wastewater treatment processes are evaluated for their ability to remove EDCs and some antibiotics, this arena of scientific investigation is still in its infancy. Initial studies have been performed to evaluate the efficiency of the conventional wastewater treatment processes of clarification, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion, filtration, nanofiltraion, reverse osmosis, and powdered activated carbon. Consideration of the standard properties of the various EDCs and antibiotics indicate that knowledge of the molecular weight and the water/octanol partition coefficients serve as fairly reliable predictors of the capacity of various processes to remove these pollutants. However, the need for actual laboratory studies and field data for various compounds is sorely needed.