[Pharmwaste] Barbiturates' environmental legacy

gressitt gressitt at uninets.net
Sun Jul 30 09:15:40 EDT 2006


Here's the link for the new European guidelines that the article references:

http://www.emea.eu.int/pdfs/human/swp/444700en.pdf

Stevan Gressitt, M.D.


-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Tenace,
Laurie
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:27 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Barbiturates' environmental legacy

http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2006/jul/science/as_barbitur
a
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  
 
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http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm 

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