Chemical Fate and Partitioning Behavior of Antibiotics in the Aquatic Environment-A Review.

Antibiotics in the aquatic environment is a major problem because of the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The long-term ecological impact on the aquatic environment is unknown. Many sources allow entry of antibiotics into the environment, including wastewater-treatment plants (WWTPs), agricultural runoff, hospital effluent, and landfill leachate.

Identification of the acid-induced degradation products of omeprazole and 5-hydroxyomeprazole by high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Rationale: Omeprazole is used to treat gastric disorders and is one of the most commonly consumed drugs in the western world. It forms several metabolites but is mostly excreted unchanged and as 5-hydroxyomeprazole. Since omeprazole is widely prescribed, its excretion from the body has a potential environmental effect.

Ranking prescribed pharmaceuticals in terms of environmental risk: Inclusion of hospital data and the importance of regular review.

A newly available dataset on pharmaceuticals used in Scottish hospitals enabled an environmental risk assessment that includes hospital consumption of pharmaceuticals, as previous United Kingdom rankings have been based on community prescriptions only. Although health and the environment are devolved issues for the Scottish government, it is merited to consider a Scottish ranking separately; regional differentiation is particularly relevant in the spatial context of the European Commission's Water Framework Directive. Nine pharmaceuticals are identified as having a risk quotient greater than 1.