Medicines, shaken and stirred: a critical review on the ecotoxicology of pharmaceutical mixtures

  Department for Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.438v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Ecotoxicology, Environmental Sciences
Keywords
Mixture toxicity, pharmaceuticals in the environment, Concentration Addition, Independent Action, Response Addition, something from (almost) nothing, ecotoxicology
Copyright
© 2014 Backhaus
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Backhaus T. 2014. Medicines, shaken and stirred: a critical review on the ecotoxicology of pharmaceutical mixtures. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e438v1

Abstract

Analytical monitoring surveys routinely confirm that organisms in the environment are exposed to complex multi-component pharmaceutical mixtures. We are hence tasked with the challenge to take this into consideration when investigating the ecotoxicology of pharmaceuticals. This review first provides a brief overview of the fundamental approaches for mixture toxicity assessment, which is then followed by a critical review on the empirical evidence that is currently at hand on the ecotoxicology of pharmaceutical mixtures. It is concluded that, while the classical concepts of Concentration Addition and Independent Action (Response Addition) provide a robust scientific footing, several knowledge gaps remain. This includes in particular the need for more and better empirical data on the effects of pharmaceutical mixtures on soil organisms as well as marine flora and fauna, and exploring the quantitative consequences of toxicokinetic, toxicodynamic and ecological interactions. Increased focus should be put on investigating the ecotoxicology of pharmaceutical mixtures in environmentally realistic settings.

Author Comment

This is the pre-print of a manuscript currently under review. Any feedback is welcome at thomas.backhaus@gu.se