Abstract
In recent years environmental research has centered on emerging contaminants, outstanding among which are pharmaceutical products. Although pharmaceuticals have been detected in aquatic ecosystems only at trace levels, they have been shown to induce toxic effects in aquatic organisms since they are designed to be biologically active in living organisms and persistent to biodegradation and to have long half-lives. Effluents from domestic, hospital and industrial sources, sewage treatment plant effluent, and the inappropriate disposal of unused or expired medicines are the principal sources of emission of pharmaceuticals into the environment. Conventional methods of wastewater treatment prove insufficient for the complete removal of pharmaceuticals; however, research is now being focused on advanced oxidation processes to remove pharmaceutical products. Information on the fate and effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment provides the groundwork from which to assess their environmental risk and identify possible risk management strategies, as well as for putting in place stricter regulations on the fate of this type of contaminants.
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