Pharmaceutical ingredients in the environment: their occurrence and effect to biota

Abstract

The following paper highlights concerns about pharmaceutical pollution of the environment. Currently, pharmaceuticals play an important role in human life. People use them in the human and veterinary medicine. These chemicals are designed to treat illnesses of living organisms. However, there is lack of data on the fate and effect of medicines after discharge them to the environment. Recent studies of researchers found various concentration of drugs in sewage systems and surface waters in Europe and United States of America (USA). However, the occurrence of drugs in the environment is still poorly studied. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that pharmaceutical ingredients can have adverse effect to biota, and especially to marine environment. Aquatic organisms can be vulnerable even at low concentration of medicines. Analgesics, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics are the most detected therapeutic class of pharmaceuticals in the world and they can have the most inimical impact to the environment. It is significant to continue the study about contamination of drugs on the environment and conduct ecotoxicological studies on the effect of them to biota.