Announcements
IEAM Special Issue: Environmental Risk Assessment of Pharmaceuticals (ERAPharm)
The widespread detection of pharmaceuticals in the environment has raised concern about the potential impact of these bioactive substances. During the past few years, our understanding of the effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment has progressed significantly. However, there are a number of uncertainties concerning the assessment of potential exposure and the effects of pharmaceuticals on the environment that must be addressed before risks can be fully evaluated.
To further explore these uncertainties, in a special supplement to the July 2010 issue of IEAM, participants in the ERAPharm program published papers on the potential risks that drugs pose to the environment.
Click here to read the Special Supplement from IEAM on ERAPharm’s research
New Research Reveals Hurricane Katrina's Impact on Ecological and Human Health
Scientists studying the environmental impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans have revealed the ecological impact and human health risks from exposure to chemical contaminants. The findings, published in a special issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, demonstrate how Hurricane Katrina caused significant ecological damage by altering coastal chemistry and habitat.
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Wildlife Still Exposed To Exxon Valdez Oil 20 Years After Disaster
Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by wildlife more than 20 years after the disaster. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how the consequences of oil spills are measured in decades rather than years.
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Special issue of SETAC journal examines how personal care products affect global environment
In the past decade, there has been a great deal of research on the environmental effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products—also known as PPCPs—such as medicines, shampoo, and makeup. However, to date there has been no integrated publication of recent data on the fate and effects of these contaminants of emerging concern. A special issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry focuses on how these substances degrade and travel through water, soil, and ecosystems and suggests how they should be assessed and managed.
The issue includes recent studies that have explored exposure and transportation of both human PPCPs and veterinary medicines in biosolids, soils, sediments, biota, and drinking water. Articles discuss the impacts of PPCPs on wildlife and water resource quality, as well as processes to remove PPCPs from aquatic environments. This research represents a broadening of the scope of the environmental concern that has traditionally focused on the impact of PPCPs on aquatic environments. It brings to light that pharmaceuticals released into soil could affect crops and that this foodborne exposure might be more significant than exposure through drinking water.
Bryan W. Brooks, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, served as the guest editor for the special issue.
The entire special issue is available online with open access.
SETAC Journals
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
