[Pharmwaste] Epinephrine

[Catherine Zimmer]

Hi all,
Has anyone seen or done studies regarding the fate of epinephrine in 
waste or surface waters?

Thanks much for your help!

Catherine Zimmer
Health Care Specialist

Minnesota Technical Assistance Program
University of Minnesota
612/624-4635, 800/247-0015
http://www.mntap.umn.edu

Helping Minnesota businesses maximize resource efficiency, prevent pollution and reduce costs.



Tenace, Laurie wrote:
> http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/jul/science/as_barbitura
> tes.html
>
> Barbiturates' environmental legacy
> Pharmaceuticals can persist in the environment, even after a sharp decline in
> use.
> Although the use of barbiturates peaked more than 3 decades ago, the drugs
> are still being detected in surface water and groundwater in Germany,
> according to new research published today on ES&T's Research ASAP website
> (DOI: 10.1021/es052567r). Scientists report that some pharmaceuticals can
> linger in the environment well past their date of use. Furthermore, the data
> suggest that manufacturers should consider a product's potential to degrade
> when they develop new pharmaceuticals.
>
> "This is the first time that anyone has systematically looked for
> barbiturates in the environment," says corresponding author Thomas Knepper of
> the Europa University of Applied Sciences Fresenius (Germany). "Since these
> compounds are polar-therefore don't adsorb to soils-and are hardly
> biodegradable, we suspected that they could still be around," he adds.
>
> All barbiturates are derivatives of pyrimidine heterocycle barbituric acid
> and depress the central nervous system. For decades, these drugs were
> extensively used as hypnotics, anesthetics, anticonvulsants, and sedatives
> (e.g., Veronal). Concern about addiction and the increasing number of deaths
> through accidental overdose led to the replacement of most barbiturates in
> the 1970s with benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium). Doctors still prescribe
> barbiturates as anesthetics and antiepileptic drugs, but their use has
> declined dramatically.
>
> For the study, Knepper and colleagues screened various wastewater, river, and
> groundwater samples for barbiturates with a newly developed gas
> chromatography/mass spectrometry method. Not surprisingly, they detected
> several barbiturates, including phenobarbital, in groundwater samples at
> sites that had been infiltrated by wastewater several decades ago. However,
> the researchers were amazed when they also found pentobarbital, butalbital,
> and phenobarbital at concentrations of up to several micrograms per liter in
> the Mulde, a tributary of the Elbe in Germany.
>
> "Our results strongly indicate a point source from either a defective
> landfill or, possibly, current production," Knepper says. As a result, the
> researchers recommend monitoring aquifers next to landfills for barbiturates.
> Knepper and colleagues also found that none of the barbiturates was degraded
> biotically or abiotically.
>
> "We just cannot say that pharmaceuticals whose use has been curbed are no
> longer relevant as environmental pollutants," says Knepper.
>
> Recently, barbiturates have also been detected in groundwater and surface
> water adjacent to old landfills used by chemical plants in Basel,
> Switzerland, says Michael Oehme, a professor of analytical chemistry at the
> University of Basel. Oehme has helped chemical companies in the Basel region
> monitor and control water leaching from these landfills.
>
> "The potential contribution of landfills to the release of drugs into the
> environment has been widely recognized," says Andreas Hartmann, head of
> Global Pharma Environment at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel. He says that many
> companies have reduced or halted the landfilling of pharmaceutical waste.
> However, Oehme says that large quantities of pharmaceutical waste were also
> landfilled at non-industrial sites, and he recommends more widespread
> monitoring.
>
> The barbiturate concentrations reported in the study are too low to be of
> immediate concern for humans or the environment, says ecotoxicologist Thomas
> Knacker. Knacker is the coordinator of a large EU research project, ERAPharm,
> which is concerned with the risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in the
> environment. He cautions that no data appear to exist on the chronic
> ecotoxicity of barbiturates.
>
> "We really don't know enough about chronic effects of pharmaceuticals in the
> environment," adds Hartmann.
>
> Hartmann predicts that the situation will improve in the near future because
> of new guidelines [140KB PDF] authorized by the European Medicines Agency,
> which evaluates and supervises medicinal products throughout the EU. These
> new environmental guidelines for pharmaceuticals, which become effective on
> December 1, 2006, are considered the strictest in the world. Extensive data
> on chronic toxicity and environmental behavior are mandatory for all newly
> registered or re-registered human pharmaceuticals.
>
> "If we don't consider environmental persistence in new pharmaceuticals, we
> may run into the same problems with other compounds in another 30 or 40
> years," Knepper warns. -ANKE SCHAEFER
>
> Laurie J. Tenace
> Environmental Specialist
> Florida Department of Environmental Protection
> 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
> Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
> PH: (850) 245-8759
> FAX: (850) 245-8811
> Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us  
>  
> view our mercury web pages at: 
> http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm 
>
> Please Note:  Florida has a very broad public records law.  Most written
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> communications and may therefore be subject to public disclosure.
>
>
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