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Ecopharmacovigilance pp 255–264Cite as

Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Pharmaceuticals

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 66))

Abstract

In recent years environmental research has centered on emerging contaminants, outstanding among which are pharmaceutical products. Although pharmaceuticals have been detected in aquatic ecosystems only at trace levels, they have been shown to induce toxic effects in aquatic organisms since they are designed to be biologically active in living organisms and persistent to biodegradation and to have long half-lives. Effluents from domestic, hospital and industrial sources, sewage treatment plant effluent, and the inappropriate disposal of unused or expired medicines are the principal sources of emission of pharmaceuticals into the environment. Conventional methods of wastewater treatment prove insufficient for the complete removal of pharmaceuticals; however, research is now being focused on advanced oxidation processes to remove pharmaceutical products. Information on the fate and effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment provides the groundwork from which to assess their environmental risk and identify possible risk management strategies, as well as for putting in place stricter regulations on the fate of this type of contaminants.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Toxicología Ambiental, Facultad de Química, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Nely SanJuan-Reyes, Leobardo Manuel Gómez-Oliván & Hariz Islas-Flores

  2. Departamento de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

    Lucila Isabel Castro-Pastrana

Authors
  1. Nely SanJuan-Reyes
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  2. Leobardo Manuel Gómez-Oliván
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  3. Hariz Islas-Flores
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  4. Lucila Isabel Castro-Pastrana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nely SanJuan-Reyes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Química, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico

    Leobardo Manuel Gómez-Oliván

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SanJuan-Reyes, N., Gómez-Oliván, L.M., Islas-Flores, H., Castro-Pastrana, L.I. (2017). Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Pharmaceuticals. In: Gómez-Oliván, L. (eds) Ecopharmacovigilance. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 66. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2017_152

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