Abstract
The presence of emerging micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, personal care products, nanomaterials and perfluorinated substances in the environment remains a great threat to the health and safety of humans and aquatic species. These micropollutants enter the environment via anthropogenic activities and have been detected in surface water, groundwater and even drinking water at nanogram per liter to microgram per liter concentration. To date, limited information exists on the fate, behaviors, and pathways of these micropollutants in the environment. The potential ecotoxicological effects on the receptors due to exposure to individual or mixture of these chemicals still remain unknown. This review provides an overview on pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupting compounds, personal care products, nanomaterials and perfluorinated pollutants, with emphasis on their occurrences, effects, environmental fates, and potential risk of exposure in water, soil or sediment. Based on the literature survey, it was found that in spite of an extensive research and different developmental efforts on the challenges of emerging micropollutants, the solution to the problem of emerging micropollutants in the environment is far from being solved. The needs for behavioral change among citizens, strong political will and policy formulation on the part of government are identified as possible panacea for combating the growing influence of these potential damaging substances. Suggestions on proactive and precautionary measures that must be taken to protect the environment as well as guarantee the health and safety of humans and aquatic species are provided. Future research should concentrate on the development of a risk-based screening models and framework that can predict the sources, fate and behaviors of emerging contaminants in the environment is recommended.
Recommended Citation
J. O. Tijani et al., "Pharmaceuticals, Endocrine Disruptors, Personal Care Products, Nanomaterials and Perfluorinated Pollutants: A Review," Environmental Chemistry Letters, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 27 - 49, Springer, Mar 2016.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-015-0537-z
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Emerging chemical contaminants; Endocrine disrupting compounds; Environmental fate; Exposure risk
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1610-3661; 1610-3653
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Mar 2016
Comments
National Research Foundation of Korea, Grant None