Screening Method for Ecotoxicological Hazard Assessment of 42 Pharmaceuticals Considering Human Metabolism and Excretory Routes
Abstract
We assessed the ecotoxicological hazard potential of 42 pharmaceuticals from 22 therapeutic groups, including metabolites formed in humans. We treated each parent drug and its metabolites as a mixture of similarly acting compounds. If physicochemical or effect literature data were missing, we estimated these with quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). Additionally, we estimated micropollutant removal efficiency of urine source separation using pharmaceutical information. On average, 50% of a parent drug was metabolized, and 70% was excreted with urine, albeit with large variations among drugs. Metabolism reduced the toxic potential of all but eight drugs. The subsequently modeled risk quotient was mostly below the threshold of one. However, ibuprofen and its metabolites in a mixture could pose an ecotoxicologal risk; and possibly also acetylsalicylic acid, bezafibrate, carbamazepine, diclofenac, fenofibrate, and paracetamol. Lipophilicity and sale quantities of parent drugs alone were insufficient to estimate their ecotoxicological risk. Urine separation could decrease the ecotoxicological risk of some, but not all drugs. The estimated risk quotients were equal in urine and feces, again with large variations among compounds. Because of scientific limitations of the model and inconsistent literature data the results are somewhat uncertain. However, this new approach allows first tier screening of single drugs, thus supporting decision-making.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
Kolpin, D. W., Furlong, E. T., Meyer, M. T., Thurman, E. M., Zaugg, S. D., Barber, L. B., & Buxton, H. T. (2002) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es011055j · Cited by 7,953 · see citing works
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Agents of Subtle Change?
Daughton, C. G., & Ternes, T. A. (1999) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.99107s6907 · Cited by 4,703 · see citing works
Heberer, T. (2002) · Toxicology Letters · doi:10.1016/s0378-4274(02)00041-3 · Cited by 2,995 · see citing works
Joss, A., Żabczyński, S., Göbel, A., Hoffmann, B., Löffler, D., McArdell, C. S., Ternes, T. A., Thomsen, A., & Siegrist, H. (2006) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2006.02.014 · Cited by 1,162 · see citing works
Disposition of Toxic Drugs and Chemicals in Man
Barceloux, D. G. (2014) · Clinical Toxicology · doi:10.3109/15563650.2014.987396 · Cited by 1,034 · see citing works
ROBERTS, P., & Thomas, K. V. (2005) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.04.031 · Cited by 920 · see citing works
Ferrari, B. J. D., Mons, R., Vollat, B., Fraysse, B., Paxēaus, N., Giudice, R. L., Pollio, A., & Garric, J. (2004) · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · doi:10.1897/03-246 · Cited by 562 · see citing works
Household Disposal of Pharmaceuticals as a Pathway for Aquatic Contamination in the United Kingdom
Bound, J. P., & Voulvoulis, N. (2005) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.8315 · Cited by 554 · see citing works
Sanderson, H. (2003) · Toxicology Letters · doi:10.1016/s0378-4274(03)00257-1 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
Are pharmaceuticals potent environmental pollutants?
Carlsson, C., Johansson, A.-K., Alván, G., Bergman, K., & Kühler, T. C. (2005) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.06.035 · Cited by 432 · see citing works
Environmental risk assessment of human pharmaceuticals in Denmark after normal therapeutic use
Stuer‐Lauridsen, F., Birkved, M., Hansen, L., Lützhøft, H. H., & Halling‐Sørensen, B. (2000) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/s0045-6535(99)00453-1 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Assessing the Ecotoxicity of Pesticide Transformation Products
Sinclair, C. J., & Boxall, A. B. A. (2003) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es030038m · Cited by 267 · see citing works
How to avoid pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment
Larsen, T. A., Lienert, J., Joss, A., & Siegrist, H. (2004) · Journal of Biotechnology · doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2004.03.033 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Self-citationSeparate management of anthropogenic nutrient solutions (human urine)
Larsen, T. A., & Gujer, W. (1996) · Water Science & Technology · doi:10.2166/wst.1996.0420 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Escher, B. I., Bramaz, N., Richter, M., & Lienert, J. (2006) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es052572v · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Self-citationHuschek, G., Hansen, P., Maurer, H. H., Krengel, D., & Kayser, A. (2004) · Environmental Toxicology · doi:10.1002/tox.20015 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Peer Reviewed: Re-engineering the toilet for sustainable wastewater management
Larsen, T. A., Peters, I., Alder, A. C., et al. (2001) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es012328d · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Risk analysis under uncertainty, the Precautionary Principle, and the new EU chemicals strategy
Rogers, M. D. (2003) · Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/s0273-2300(03)00030-8 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Nakano, E., Watanabe, L. C., Ohlweiler, F. P., et al. (2003) · Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis · doi:10.1016/s1383-5718(03)00042-1 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The EU-project ERAPharm - Incentives for the further development of guidance documents? (4 pages)
Knacker, T., Duis, K., Ternes, T. A., et al. (2005) · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · doi:10.1065/espr2005.02.238 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Biotransformation der Arzneimittel
Beyer, K. (1990) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-74386-3 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Farré, M. L., Pérez, S., Kantiani, L., & Barceló, D. (2008) · TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.trac.2008.09.010 · Cited by 1,009 · see citing works
Yang, Y., Lu, X., Jiang, J., Ma, J., Liu, G., Cao, Y., Liu, W., Li, J., Pang, S., Kong, X., et al. (2017) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.054 · Cited by 637 · see citing works
Removal of pharmaceutical compounds in water and wastewater using fungal oxidoreductase enzymes
Naghdi, M., Taheran, M., Brar, S. K., Kermanshahi-pour, A., Verma, M., & Surampalli, R. Y. (2018) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.060 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Leusch, F. D. L., Neale, P. A., Busetti, F., Card, M., Humpage, A., Orbell, J. D., Ridgway, H. F., Stewart, M. B., van de Merwe, J. P., & Escher, B. I. (2019) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.106 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Self-citationHan, E. J., & Lee, D. S. (2017) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.044 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Hof, M. A. J., de Haan, H., Stepanovic, S., Bakker, S. J. L., Hak, E., Hopfgartner, G., Klont, F., & Investigators, T. (2025) · Metabolites · doi:10.3390/metabo15070473 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“This understanding has led to the inclusion of so-called excretion fractions in many environmental studies, often relying on pharmacokinetic data reported by pharmaceutical companies [2,17–19].”
- Authors
- Lienert, J., Güdel, K., & Escher, B. I.
- Affiliations
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Lienert, Judit
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2007-05-16
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 4471-4478
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W1983491855
- Cited by
- 329
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 22.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DORA Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Bundesamt für Umwelt
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Environmental Chemistry and Analysis
- Keywords
- pharmaceuticals, ecotoxicological risk assessment, urinary excretion, micropollutant removal, source separation, risk quotient, ibuprofen, paracetamol, diclofenac, carbamazepine, aspirin, fenofibrate, bezafibrate, QSAR, lipophilicity, micropollutants
- MeSH terms
- Pharmaceutical Preparations, Environmental Exposure, Feces, Humans, Pharmacokinetics, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Water Purification, Risk Assessment
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
