Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, GAIA, Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, 75, Kallipoleos, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2011 Jan;399(1):251-75. doi: 10.1007/s00216-010-4300-9. Epub 2010 Nov 10.
Pollution from pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment is now recognized as an environmental concern in many countries. This has led to the creation of an extensive area of research, including among others: their chemical identification and quantification; elucidation of transformation pathways when present in wastewater-treatment plants or in environmental matrices; assessment of their potential biological effects; and development and application of advanced treatment processes for their removal and/or mineralization. Pharmaceuticals are a unique category of pollutants, because of their special characteristics, and their behavior and fate cannot be simulated with other chemical organic contaminants. Over the last decade the scientific community has embraced research in this specific field and the outcome has been immense. This was facilitated by advances in chromatographic techniques and relevant biological assays. Despite this, a number of unanswered questions exist and still there is much room for development and work towards a more solid understanding of the actual consequences of the release of pharmaceuticals in the environment. This review tries to present part of the knowledge that is currently available with regard to the occurrence of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic matrices, the progress made during the last several years on identification of such compounds down to trace levels, and of new, previously unidentified, pharmaceuticals such as illicit drugs, metabolites, and photo-products. It also tries to discuss the main recent findings in respect of the capacity of various treatment technologies to remove these contaminants and to highlight some of the adverse effects that may be related to their ubiquitous existence. Finally, socioeconomic measures that may be able to hinder the introduction of such compounds into the environment are briefly discussed.
水环境污染中的药品污染现在在许多国家被认为是一个环境问题。这导致了广泛的研究领域的创建，包括但不限于：它们的化学鉴定和量化；阐明在废水处理厂或环境基质中存在时的转化途径；评估它们的潜在生物效应；以及开发和应用先进的处理工艺来去除和/或矿化它们。药品是一类独特的污染物，因为它们具有特殊的特性，它们的行为和命运不能用其他化学有机污染物来模拟。在过去的十年中，科学界已经接受了这一特定领域的研究，其成果是巨大的。这得益于色谱技术和相关生物测定的进步。尽管如此，仍有许多悬而未决的问题存在，仍有很大的发展空间和工作空间，以更深入地了解药品在环境中释放的实际后果。本综述试图介绍目前关于水生基质中药物残留的知识的一部分，以及在过去几年中，在痕量水平下识别这些化合物方面所取得的进展，以及新的、以前未被识别的药物，如非法药物、代谢物和光产物。它还试图讨论各种处理技术去除这些污染物的主要最新发现，并强调与它们普遍存在相关的一些不利影响。最后，简要讨论了一些可能能够阻止这些化合物进入环境的社会经济措施。
