Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
effects in aquatic organisms, such as feminization and hermaphroditism. The
presence of ethinyl estradiol, the most potent synthetic estrogen known, in a river
sediment has been associated with a striking incidence of carp species with both
macroscopically developed male and female reproductive organs (Gross-Sorokin
et al.
2006
).
Traditionally, drugs were rarely viewed as potential environmental pollutants;
there was seldom serious consideration as to their fates once they were excreted
from the user. On the other hand, until the 1990s, any concerted efforts to search
for drugs in the environment would have met with limited success, because the
requisite chemical analysis tools with sufficiently high separatory efficiencies to
resolve the drugs from the plethora of other (native and anthropogenic) substances
and with sufficiently low detection limits (i.e., nanograms per liter or parts per
trillion) were not commonly available. Examples of major groups of PPCPs found
in the environment follow.
4.4.1 Analgesics and Anti-inflammatory Drugs
This group refers mainly to drugs used primarily as painkillers, although they may
also have anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties. Drugs in this group are
sold in large quantities by prescription and even larger amounts without pre-
scription, as so-called over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Acetaminophen (paraceta-
mol) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin) are the two most popular painkillers
sold as OTC drugs. In Germany, the total quantities of ASA sold per year have
been estimated at [500 tons (Heberer et al.
2002
; Ternes
2001
).
Other examples of analgesics or their metabolites that have been found in the
environment include 4-aminoantipyrine, aminophenazone, codeine, fenoprofen,
hydrocodone, indomethacin, ketoprofen, mefenamic acid, naproxen, propyphe-
nazone, diclofenac, ibuprofen, phenazone, gentisic acid and N-methyl phenacetin.
Many studies have identified these compounds in various locations around the
world and in different water resources (e.g., Heberer et al.
1997
,
2001a
,
b
; Ternes
2001
; Stumpf et al.
1999
; Ahrer et al.
2001
; Sedlak and Pinkston
2001
; Holm et al.
1995
; Ahel and Jelicic
2001
; Sacher et al.
2001
).
4.4.2 Hormones
Synthetic steroids, especially estrogenic drugs, are used extensively in estrogen-
replacement therapy and oral contraceptives, in veterinary medicine for growth
enhancement, and in athletic performance enhancement. In general, large portions
of these endocrine disruptors, used by humans as well as for stimulating beef,
poultry, and fish production, are excreted unchanged in feces and urine. Synthetic
steroids have been found in the environment in very low concentrations (usually
