Drugs and medications are characterised by their strong effect and wide-ranging benefits in certain areas of application. Some of them may affect organisms in the environment and ecosystems. Moreover, antibiotic agents and disinfectants in particular can impair biological wastewater treatment. From the point of view of environmental hygiene, the contamination of groundwater and drinking water is highly undesirable, even if the compounds involved have a low acute human toxicity.
This chapter is a result of the discussions within the ESF-workshop “Pharmaceuticals in the Environment”, held on July 14–16, 1999, in Freiburg, Germany. Thank you to all participants.