Human Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Current and Future Perspectives (Emerging Topics in Ecotoxicology: Principles, Approaches and Perspectives, Vol. 4) (Emerging Topics in Ecotoxicology, 4)

Human interaction with the environment remains one of the most pervasive facets of modern society. In a world characterized by rapid population growth, unprecedented global trade and digital communications, energy security, natural resource scarcities, climatic changes and environmental quality, emerging diseases and public health, biodiversity and habitat modifications are routinely touted by the popular press as they canvas global political agendas and scholarly endeavors. Fish on Prozac. Drugs found in drinking water. India’s drug problem. Chances are you’ve seen these headlines. Human pharmaceuticals represent environmental contaminants of emerging concern, and receive unprecedented attention from the scientific, regulatory and public sectors. This timely contribution, prepared by international experts in the field, synthesizes and critically examines topics ranging from regulations, environmental chemistry and exposure analysis, to comparative pharmacology, environmental toxicology, water treatment technologies and pharmaceutical take back programs. Compared to historical contaminants, chemical and biological attributes of human pharmaceuticals present unique challenges to environmental management, but lessons learned from the study of pharmaceuticals promise to advance prospective and retrospective approaches to assess the impacts of industrial chemicals. Students and environmental scientists, managers, regulators, and public health professionals will benefit from this forward-thinking treatment of human pharmaceuticals in the environment. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Perspectives on Human Pharmaceuticals in the Environment....Pages 1-16 Environmental Risk Assessment for Human Pharmaceuticals: The Current State of International Regulations....Pages 17-47 Regulation of Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: The USA....Pages 49-61 Environmental Fate of Human Pharmaceuticals....Pages 63-83 Environmental Comparative Pharmacology: Theory and Application....Pages 85-108 A Look Backwards at Environmental Risk Assessment: An Approach to Reconstructing Ecological Exposures....Pages 109-137 Considerations and Criteria for the Incorporation of Mechanistic Sublethal Endpoints into Environmental Risk Assessment for Biologically Active Compounds....Pages 139-165 Human Health Risk Assessment for Pharmaceuticals in the Environment: Existing Practice, Uncertainty, and Future Directions....Pages 167-224 Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Technologies....Pages 225-255 Pharmaceutical Take Back Programs....Pages 257-285 Back Matter....Pages 287-302 Human pharmaceuticals represent environmental contaminants of emerging concern. This book examines topics ranging from regulations and exposure analysis to comparative pharmacology and pharmaceutical take back programs.