Assessing the risk of exogenously consumed pharmaceuticals in land-applied human urine.
Once separated, the use of urine as fertilizer is a particular attractive proposition and can significantly mitigate the release of nutrients and pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) to the environment. In the current study, a simple methodological framework is proposed for assessing risks that are posed by the land application of urine, which contains PhACs, in terms of 6 selected environmental and human-health endpoints. In total, 25 commonly used PhACs were conservatively assessed using the proposed methodology and results indicated that 14 of them may pose a risk with respect to either eco-toxicological or human-health endpoints. The receiving terrestrial environment was identified as the most susceptible of the eco-toxicological endpoints and hazard to human-health was most significant through food-chain transfer. The results highlight the need to consider the potential impacts associated with pharmaceuticals and the need to pre-treat urine to address the presence of problematic PhACs before it is applied on land.
Khan
U
U
Department of Civil Engineering & Applied Mechanics, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal QC H3A 2K6, Canada. usman.khan@mail.mcgill.ca
Nicell
J A
JA
D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis* / Q000652:urine; D011634:Public Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical