Are Veterinary Medicines Causing Environmental Risks?

Recently, low levels of veterinary medicines have been detected worldwide in soils, surface waters, and groundwaters (1,2). Although the impacts of selected compounds – most notably anthelmintics and selected antibacterial compounds – have been extensively investigated (3,4), many other substances found int the environment are less publicly well understood. As a result, researches have raised questions about the impact of veterinary medicines on organisms in the environment and on human health. Several key questions will be addressed in this article. What other veterinary medicines might be in the environment, and should we be concerned about these? How do these substances behave in the environment, and do they differ from other chemical classes (e.g., pesticides)? What are the effects of long-term, low-level exposure to these medicines? Do their degradation products present environmental risks? What subtle human and environmental effects may be elicited by these drugs? Do medicines in the environment play a role in antibacterial resistance? How do these substances interact in the environment with other veterinary medicines and other contaminants

Bioaccumulation of LAS in feral fish studied by a novel LC-MS/MS method

The extent of bioaccumulation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in feral organisms is presently unknown. To enable LAS determination in biota samples, LAS and its coproducts (methylbranched LAS, dialkyltetralin sulfonates) are extracted from tissues using matrix solid-phase dispersion, isolated by strong anion exchange chromatography and determined by HPLC-electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry. All analytes were quantified in sediment dwelling Tubifex so. with the sum of the concentrations exceeding 1 mumol/g. Since a portion of LAS was present adsorbed to solids in the guts, the actual body residue was lower than reported lethal LAS body residues. The concentrations of individual constituents in bream muscle samples from the river Saar and fathead minnows caged in the river Arrone ranged up to 2 nmol/g. The apparent bioaccumulation factors in the caged fish are consistently higher than laboratory data, presumably due to a combination of LAS present in the guts adsorbed to suspended material, coingestion of LAS with bacterial detritus, and depressed metabolic activity due to sublethal effects. Given the small deviation between laboratory and field bioaccumulation data and the high detection frequency (>90%) of C-13-2- and C-13-iso-LAS, the latter two constituents are suitable markers for LAS contamination in fish

Pollution-Induced Community Tolerance of Soil Microbial Commuinities Caused by the Antibiotic Sulfachloropyridazine.

Abstract not availableJRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra