Environmental Pharmaceuticals in Latin America, are a relevant issue today?

CARRIQUIRIBORDE, P.

Vila Real

Congreso; 10th Iberian and 7th Iberoamerican Congress on Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (CICTA 2015); 2015

Iberoamerican Congress on Environmental Contamination and Toxicology

The scientific concern about the potential environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals and personal care products on aquatic ecosystems has risen since the beginning of the new century. However, in Latin America this issue still is lagged. Most of the cities still dump raw, or luckily primary treated, wastewaters to rivers and lakes. However, the occurrence profile and concentrations of pharmaceuticals in wastewater effluents and receiving waters are not far from those reported for other regions of the world. Studies with local fish species, for example, showed lethal acute toxicity levels for NSAIDs, psychiatric/anticonvulsants and antibiotics, frequently observed in wastewaters, comprised within moderately to slightly toxic. In the case of sublethal responses, the effects depend on the pharmaceuticals and the assessed endpoints. Generic biomarkers seems no to be informative, but some specific responses are sensitive enough to detect effects at concentrations similar to that observed in receiving waters. However, levels of organic matter, dissolved oxygen and ammonia found in many places of Latin American close to discharges still hide the environmental relevance of pharmaceuticals.