Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.3. Previous horizon scanning studies for emerging environmental
contaminants
Emerging
contaminant
class
Protection
goal
Exposure
pathways
covered
Parameters used
Study
Veterinary
medicines
Environmental
Soil, surface
water
Usage,
ecotoxicity
Boxall et al.
2003b
Human
medicines
Environmental
Surface water
Usage,
ecotoxicity,
therapeutic
dose
Thomas &
Hilton
2003
Veterinary
medicines
Human
Drinking
water,
vegetables,
meat, fish
Usage, toxicity
Capelton
et al.
2006
Degradates
Human
Drinking
water
Usage, sorption,
persistence,
toxicity
Sinclair
et al.
2006
Human
medicines
Environmental
Usage, exposure,
ecotoxicity
Sanderson
et al.
2003
Dioxin-like
compounds
Human
Sediments,
sludge
Chemical
analysis,
toxicity
Eljarrat &
Barcelo
2003
Horizon scanning exercises have been performed to identify veterinary
medicines that might pose a risk to both environmental and human health
through indirect exposure. Boxall et al.(
2003b
) collated data on the amounts
used and patterns of use of veterinary medicines in use in the UK. These data
were then used to identify those substances that had the greatest potential to
be released to the environment in large amounts. Data on ecotoxicity were
then applied to provide a qualitative indication of risk to organisms in the
environment. For many substances, insufficient data were available for priori-
tisation so conservative default values had to be used. Those compounds
identified as potential high risk are shown in
Table 5.4
.
Capelton et al.(
2006
) built upon this prioritisation work and extended it to
consider potential indirect risks of veterinary medicines in the environment on
human health. The exposure assessment approach was the same as used by
Boxall et al.(
2003a
), but mammalian toxicity data were used instead of ecotoxi-
city data. Data were collated on a wide range of endpoints (including carcino-
genicity, mutagenicity, sensitisation, acute toxicity, reproductive toxicity and
neurotoxicity), and a simple scoring system was then applied to develop a
measure of hazard. The exposure and hazard data were then combined, and
