“Emerging” means “newly formed or just coming into prominence.” Emerging contaminants is a collective term for a group of newly recognized, not regulated contaminants. There are no defined regulatory concentration limits for these chemicals and analytical procedures were also not yet standardized. Emerging contaminants comprise diverse classes of contaminants including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), and other organic wastewater-related compounds (OWCs). U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported the existence of these compounds in American streams. One or more pharmaceuticals, hormones and other organic wastewater contaminants were detected in 80 percent of the 139 streams that were sampled. Thus, there is an increasing body of evidence that common drugs and components of consumer products are present at detectable concentrations in society-impacted waters worldwide; thus far there is no firm evidence of direct causal associations between very low-level exposures to emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceutically active compounds, and adverse human health outcomes. This final report has compiled the following specific information on PPCPs: (1) drug usage (including amount imported and used), (2) environmental occurrence and fate, (3) environmental risk assessment, (4) regulatory instruction from developed countries. In addition, this report includes our analytical results on sixteen selected PPCPs, including antibiotics and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) at specific contamination sources. The target analytes are sulfadimethoxin (SDM), sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), sulfinpyrazone (SFZ) , tylosin (TYL) and erythromycin (ERM), tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), chlortetracycline (CTC), ampicillin (AMP), penicillin G (PENG), ibuprofen (IBU), ketoprofen (KET), Naproxen (NAP), and Acetaminophen (ACE). IBU, ACE, SMX, ERM, and TC were detected most frequently, and the highest concentration ups to 98.5 µg/L. The max detected frequency for ACE is 92%, and the frequency of detection of SFZ is zero. Based on regulatory instruments what have been studied from developed countries, such as US, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Australia, and Germany, we recommend the following regulatory instrument for decreasing risk: reduce use and consumption, disposed safety, develop environmental friendliness, develop alternative and optimal delivery mechanisms, educate pharmacy community and common people, minimize misuse and overuse, and increase removal efficiency in wastewater treatment units.

Emerging contaminants, Contamination source, Parmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), antibiotics, NSAIDs, LC/MS/MS