Potential risks associated with the release of pharmaceuticals
into the aquatic environment are an important issue for
environmental regulators and for the pharmaceutical industry.
Pharmaceuticals predominantly enter the aquatic
environment via the effluent from hospital and wastewater
treatment plants and as landfill leachates, and to a minor
extent in discharge from the pharmaceutical industry. Due to
the ubiquitous presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment
that has arisen from their continual input into the
aquatic compartment, they are considered as ‘pseudo’-
persistent pollutants (Hernando et al., 2006). The concentrations
of the residues of pharmaceuticals in the environment
are relatively low compared to other pollutants, which has led
to the belief that these compounds have no environmental
impact on living organisms. Also, with ecotoxicological data
often based on acute toxicity at high concentrations, these
have been considered to be far greater than the actual concentrations
in the environment. However, based on their
therapeutic functions and mechanisms of action, certain
groups of pharmaceuticals are suspected to represent risks for
non-target organisms, even at concentration of a few nanogrammes
per litre, particularly under conditions of chronic
exposure (Johnson et al., 2008).