ENVIRPHARMA European Conference on human and veterinary pharmaceutical products in the aquatic environment: fate, effects and regulation : knowledge and future needs.

Country: EU Projects
Start Date:   30/11/2002         Duration: 9 months         Project Type: Other
Contract Number: EVK1-CT-2002-80020
Organisation Type:  EC Project
Topics: 
Contaminated land-->Contaminants-->Others
Diffuse pollution-->Sources
Groundwater protection-->Groundwater protection overview
Soil-->Soil Overview
Water and sanitation-->Water and sanitation Overview
Water resources and their management -->Water resources and their management Overview
Project objectives:
The main objectives of the event were:    
   
To define a state of the art profile,    
   
To transfer to end-users and to interested parties the available information dealing with veterinary and human pharmaceuticals in the environment,    
   
To identify the future needs and gaps for research investigations,    
   
To discuss the aims for an European research network focusing on the environmental risk management of these substances. 
            
Project Summary:
The proposals aims to organise an European conference devoted to the problem ofhuman and veterinary pharamaceuticals in the environnement. This initiative 
istaken into close relationship with three on-going European projects dealing withthe fate and the effects of these products in aquatic and terrestrial environmentas
well as the removal technologies. European and non European scientistsend-users, industrials and regulators will be invited to present their works inthese
fields. The Conference will be held in Lyon, France, at the end ofDecember, and should be an important opportunity to define the future new areas ofinvestigation
necessary to improve the environmental risk assessment of thepharmaceuticals,and their removal, and to prepare a network of excellence on thistopic
Achieved Objectives:
(From all the results presented during Envirpharma and obtained from several national monitoring programs, it is now well established that a great number 
of pharmaceuticals belonging to various therapeutic classes, including hormones, and several other personal care products (e.g. musk fragrances and contrast media) are widely present in our aquatic and terrestrial environments. An important research effort has been carried
out to study the fate of HMPs in these systems. Other systems, such as bank filtration for pre-treating drinking water, can remove compounds, but other times some compounds will pass through and contaminate the drinking water. For such cases, oxidation has shown to be a useful
tool for post-treatment. Veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) are more associated with contaminating terrestrial ecosystems, even though they can just
as well enter surface and ground water due to runoff and leaching. The class of compounds mostly studied and used for treating live-stock are antibiotics (e.g.
oxytetracycline and sulfachloropyridazine) and anti-parasiticides. Live stock excrements (faeces and urine) and manure spreading are the more common
exposure pathways of these compounds to soils and to leachates, making them prime evaluation areas. Some of the antibiotic compounds studied have shown to be degradable in slurry. However the sorption of the substances to soils and the soil type are a concern, especially under rainfall conditions which
transport them to aquatic systems. (Theme II). Knowing that various medicinal compounds are present, even at environmental concentrations, has brought up questions and opened areas of study
for toxicologists. Some of the ecotoxicological tests used to respond to such questions have included the use of standard tools or more sophisticated systems
such as microcosms. Toxicologist have studied the effects on different organisms, especially those in soil-based microcosms, which contain multi-species.
Even more, one of their main goals is to determine sensitive endpoints for risk assessment guidelines for pharmaceuticals. Efforts have been made to develop
new approaches which target specific concerns and reproduce exposure conditions. Although the results were few, some works investigated mixture effects, but the development of models and interpretation must be encouraged. (Theme III). Another aspect of the conference integrated the issues
on environmental risk assessments (ERA). Currently, the guidelines for ERA of VMPs and HMPs are under discussion. On the same principles as for other chemical compounds (pesticides, biocides …), these ERA procedures are based on the calculation of PEC, PNEC and a risk quotient
calculation. Parts of these guidelines (Exposure assessment or Effect Assessment) are now available and discussed. The environmental risk of new VMPs is assessed in the frame of marketing authorisations. Importantly enough, pharmaceutical industries run
various actions (eg CYCLAMED which aims to collect medicinal wastes from patients) to reduce the environmental intake. For removal technologies, treatment
of waste waters (including those from hospitals, and drinking waters have included different oxidation processes (e.g. ozonation, photolysis and microwave treatment) for reducing HMPs. As an alternative for or in addition to drinking water production, activated carbon adsorption and combined
membrane filtration were used with extremely promising results. However treatment costs and knowledge on the toxicity of metabolites and degradation products after wastewater treatments need more consideration. (Theme V). Other various gaps of knowledge lie within these topics covered on HMPs and VMPs in the environment. A few examples include: the levels of sediment
contamination in freshwater and estuarine ecosystems; more knowledge on degradation in manure and STPs and on the sorption-desorption of pharmaceuticals;
the persistence of these compounds in estuarine and marine waters. Chronic effect data is lacking as well as standard assay procedures of non target organisms
such as dung insects. In order to prevent risks, information and educational campaigns are useful. Also, beneficial mitigation measures and a tiered classification
system for the environment and for accepting medicines should be included in the framework of authorisation. Nevertheless, the 6th Research programs in the
EU will provide several opportunities to fill such gaps of knowledge to improve pharmaceutical ERA in the EU. Other non European countries, such as Canada, are developing wide scale monitoring and research
programs dealing with exposure levels and biological effects of PPCPs.
Product Descriptions:
The main objectives of the event were:    
   
To define a state of the art profile,    
   
To transfer to end-users and to interested parties the available information dealing with veterinary and human pharmaceuticals in the environment,    
   
To identify the future needs and gaps for research investigations,    
   
To discuss the aims for an European research network focusing on the environmental risk management of these substances.    
   
The available resources are:   
   
-Posters   
-Oral Presentations   
-Abstract Book 
            
Additional Information:

            
Project Resources:

ENVIRPHARMA European Conference on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment 14-16 April 2003 Lyon, France Abstract Book

Envirpharma: Oral presentations of the European Conference
Weblink:
http://www.envirpharma.org/index.php?p_section=proceedings&p_lang=en
Funding Programme(s): 
EC Framework Programme 5
Link to Organisations:
Submitted by: EUGRIS Team Prof Paul Bardos  Who does what?  03/07/2003 17:48:00
Updated by: EUGRIS Team Professor Paul Bardos  Who does what?  03/10/2006 11:32:00