Poster Presentation Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Australasia 2021

  Mixture toxicity assessment of Pharmaceuticals released into Urban Waterways       (#193)

Helena Souza 1 , Anu Kumar 2 , Dayanthi Nugegoda 1
  1. School of Science, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Bundoora, VIC, Australia
  2. Land and Water Business Unit, CSIRO, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Technological progress which has resulted in new and more potent medications being released, has enabled the world’s population to become healthier and live longer. However, an ageing population becomes more susceptible to a variety of diseases, increasing drug consumption. Many pharmaceuticals find their way into the aquatic environment through several routes including raw faeces and urine, hospital effluent, uncontrolled drug disposal (e.g. discarding drugs down the toilet), aquaculture and livestock treatments, and treatment of domestic animals. The primary concern is that wastewater treatment stations are not properly equipped to remove 100% of these chemicals from the water, exposing the aquatic environment and its organisms to a broad range of chemicals.

Amid the numerous pharmaceuticals daily used around the world, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most consumed therapeutics which are available without  prescriptions. This class of pharmaceuticals are frequently used in several health treatments in Australia, and despite several studies confirming their occurrence in the aquatic environment, few have analysed the effects of these chemicals on aquatic organisms and thus possible impacts on freshwater ecosystems.

In this research project, Ibuprofen and Naproxen were selected to quantify and assess the hazard and risk that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) drugs poses to the environment, and predict how these pharmaceuticals mixtures, in terms of composition and concentration, affect aquatic biota. The standard test organism, the freshwater crustacean Daphnia carinata was used in the toxicity tests. Daphnid were exposed to the chemicals in single and binary mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations. The bioassays included acute and chronic (sub-lethal) and tests incorporating growth physiological and biochemical endpoints.

 

 

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