Abstract
Pharmaceuticals are highly bioactive compounds now known to be widespread environmental contaminants. However, research regarding exposure and possible effects in non-target higher vertebrate wildlife remains scarce. The fate and behaviour of most pharmaceuticals entering our environment via numerous pathways remain poorly characterized, and hence our conception and understanding of the risks posed to wild animals is equally constrained. The recent decimation of Asian vulture populations owing to a pharmaceutical (diclofenac) offers a notable example, because the exposure route (livestock carcasses) and the acute toxicity observed were completely unexpected. This case not only highlights the need for further research, but also the wider requirement for more considered and comprehensive ‘ecopharmacovigilance’. We discuss known and potential high risk sources and pathways in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems where pharmaceutical exposure in higher vertebrate wildlife, principally birds and mammals, may occur. We examine whether approaches taken within existing surveillance schemes (that commonly target established classes of persistent or bioaccumulative contaminants) and the risk assessment approaches currently used for pesticides are relevant to pharmaceuticals, and we highlight where new approaches may be required to assess pharmaceutical-related risk.
Highlights
In line with the expansion and changing age structure of the human population, total global spending on human medicine has increased by approximately $50 Bn yr21 since 2007, and will reach approximately $1.2 Tn by 2017 [1]
In the European Union (EU) for example, active plant protection products (PPPs) ingredients are authorized by a pan-EU body, but product authorizations and associated risk mitigation strategies remain the preserve of national entities
Information on the national/regional scale of pharmaceutical use is required if monitoring schemes are to establish adequate analytical screening methods
Summary
In line with the expansion and changing age structure of the human population, total global spending on human medicine has increased by approximately $50 Bn yr since 2007, and will reach approximately $1.2 Tn by 2017 [1]. It can be argued that the likelihood of pharmaceuticals causing widespread acute effects in wild higher vertebrates is low This is because extensive safety testing is conducted during the development of modern human and veterinary drugs and because of the existence of regulatory and environmental protection frameworks. Significant adverse effects in terrestrial and aquatic organisms caused by pharmaceuticals have demonstrated inadequacies in current risk assessment and regulatory processes. Two of the most notable cases that have caused global concern are (i) the near extirpation of Gyps vulture populations in large parts of Asia following exposure to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) [18 –20] and (ii) the feminization of wild male fish from exposure to synthetic oestrogen 17a-ethynyloestradiol (EE2), a common ingredient in the human contraceptive pill [21,22], it is not known whether such endocrine effects likewise occur in higher aquatic vertebrates. We focus on environmentally relevant field exposure situations, primarily for birds and mammals, in freshwater and terrestrial habitats worldwide
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