Pharmaceuticals as Environmental Pollutants: The Ramifications for Human Exposure

Abstract

Pharmaceutical active ingredients continually enter the environment as trace pollutants largely resulting from their intended use in human and veterinary medical practices, agriculture, and personal care. The primary route is their unintentional and largely unavoidable release via excretion and bathing. A secondary route is purposeful disposal to sewerage and trash of leftover, unwanted medications which also poses acute poisoning risks due to intentional or accidental diversion of unused drugs to others. Humans can be inadventently and chronically exposed to trace residues of pharmaceuticals from the environment by consuming contaminated drinking water (or plant and animal tissues), or from dermal or pulmonary exposure during bathing. These exposure risks (and supporting data), as well as possible approaches for reducing exposure, are discussed.