TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental side effects of pharmaceutical cocktails

T2 - What we know and what we should know

AU - Vasquez, M. I.

AU - Lambrianides, A.

AU - Schneider, M.

AU - Kümmerer, K.

AU - Fatta-Kassinos, D.

N1 - Funding Information: This work has been prepared in the framework of the research project PENEK/0609/24, funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation through Desmi 2009–2010, which is co-funded by the Republic of Cyprus and the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union. This work was also co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation (Project NEA YΠOΔOMH/ΣTPATH/0308/09).

PY - 2014/8/30

Y1 - 2014/8/30

N2 - Cocktails of pharmaceuticals are released in the environment after human consumption and due to the incomplete removal at the wastewater treatment plants. Pharmaceuticals are considered as contaminants of emerging concern and, a plethora of journal articles addressing their possible adverse effects have been published during the past 20 years. The emphasis during the early years of research within this field, was on the assessment of acute effects of pharmaceuticals applied singly, leading to results regarding their environmental risk, potentially not realistic or relevant to the actual environmental conditions. Only recently has the focus been shifted to chronic exposure and to the assessment of cocktail effects. To this end, this review provides an up-to-date compilation of 57 environmental and human toxicology studies published during 2000-2014 dealing with the adverse effects of pharmaceutical mixtures. The main challenges regarding the design of experiments and the analysis of the results regarding the effects of pharmaceutical mixtures to different biological systems are presented and discussed herein. The gaps of knowledge are critically reviewed highlighting specific future research needs and perspectives.

AB - Cocktails of pharmaceuticals are released in the environment after human consumption and due to the incomplete removal at the wastewater treatment plants. Pharmaceuticals are considered as contaminants of emerging concern and, a plethora of journal articles addressing their possible adverse effects have been published during the past 20 years. The emphasis during the early years of research within this field, was on the assessment of acute effects of pharmaceuticals applied singly, leading to results regarding their environmental risk, potentially not realistic or relevant to the actual environmental conditions. Only recently has the focus been shifted to chronic exposure and to the assessment of cocktail effects. To this end, this review provides an up-to-date compilation of 57 environmental and human toxicology studies published during 2000-2014 dealing with the adverse effects of pharmaceutical mixtures. The main challenges regarding the design of experiments and the analysis of the results regarding the effects of pharmaceutical mixtures to different biological systems are presented and discussed herein. The gaps of knowledge are critically reviewed highlighting specific future research needs and perspectives.

KW - Chemistry

KW - Combined effects

KW - Concentration addition

KW - Independent action

KW - Mixture

KW - Mode of action

KW - Pharmaceutical

KW - Combined effects

KW - Concentration addition

KW - Independent action

KW - Mixture

KW - Mode of action

KW - Pharmaceutical

KW - Combined effects

KW - Concentration addition

KW - Independent action

KW - Mixture

KW - Mode of action

KW - Pharmaceutical

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904739776&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/4becea04-92b5-39a9-820a-353939c63c9c/

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.06.069

DO - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2014.06.069

M3 - Scientific review articles

C2 - 25061892

AN - SCOPUS:84904739776

VL - 279

SP - 169

EP - 189

JO - Journal of Hazardous Materials

JF - Journal of Hazardous Materials

SN - 0304-3894

ER -