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Activities of the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Pharmaceuticals in Water
Citation:
Conerly, O., J. Laurenson, Jim Lazorchak, L. Backer, L. Baetz, B. Behl, R. Bloom, D. Eignor, M. Fulton, A. Gebhart, K. Lee, C. Williams, J. Martin, B. McIntyre, J. Rogers, J. Strong, L. Strutz, H. Vesper, C. Williams, AND H. Zahner. Activities of the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Pharmaceuticals in Water. SETAC Orlando, Orlando, FL, November 06 - 10, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster will present the responsibilities and activities of the different federal agencies on Pharmaceuticals in Water Workgroup formed at the request of a GAO report asking for these agencies to start working together on this issue
Description:
In 2012, four federal agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing a formal mechanism to improve and sustain federal coordination and collaboration on issues related to pharmaceuticals in water. The MOU is in response to the Government Accountability Office recommendation in its August 2011 report “Action Needed to Sustain Agencies’ Collaboration on Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water.” The signatories are the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA), US Department of Health and Human Services/Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and US Department of Interior/Geological Survey (USGS). As a result of this agreement, an interagency workgroup (EPA, USGS, FDA, USDA, Army Public Health Center (Provisional), National Toxicology Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Center for Disease Control and Prevention) was formed to address issues related to the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in water. This Workgroup provides a forum for the exchange of information on pharmaceuticals in the environment, supports coordination of joint studies on pharmaceuticals in the environment, and facilitates interagency consultation on implications of research and analyses derived from shared information. The Workgroup is currently developing a product that will summarize ongoing federal efforts in this area and describe the process for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting to the public the results of these efforts. The Workgroup has created a database describing known federal research activities related to pharmaceuticals in water. Potential data gaps were identified and grouped based on the Boxall et al. “Big Questions” paper (2012). Examples of current interagency collaboration to address such data gaps include: developing human health benchmarks for pharmaceuticals, which may help identify pharmaceuticals of greatest risk to humans via the environment; identifying classes of drugs that need to undergo an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act regulations; studying the effects of chemical mixtures and monitoring pharmaceuticals and other chemicals of emerging concern in water; and developing USDA’s five-year project plan.
