Prioritizing Pharmaceuticals for Environmental Monitoring in Greece: A Comprehensive Review of Consumption,...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Ecotoxicology
• Water Quality Management

Background:

• Pharmaceuticals are emerging contaminants with increasing environmental concern.
• Current monitoring strategies in Greece do not align with consumption patterns or ecological risks.
• High pharmaceutical use and fragmented data in Greece highlight the need for a comprehensive assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To integrate pharmaceutical consumption, environmental occurrence, and ecotoxicity data in Greece.
• To calculate risk quotients (RQs) for pharmaceuticals, metabolites, and transformation products.
• To identify monitoring gaps and assess ecological risks posed by pharmaceutical contaminants.

Main Methods:

• Reviewed 359 pharmaceuticals, metabolites, and transformation products from Greek water monitoring studies.
• Integrated consumption data (OECD), environmental occurrence (55 studies), and ecotoxicity thresholds (NORMAN Database).
• Calculated risk quotients (RQs) for 241 compounds to assess ecological risk and monitoring gaps.

Main Results:

• Identified 38 high-risk (16%), 60 medium-risk (25%), and 143 low-risk (59%) pharmaceutical compounds.
• High-risk substances include NSAIDs, antibiotics, hormones, contrast agents, and triclosan.
• Observed under-monitoring of widely consumed pharmaceuticals and disproportionate targeting of others; metabolites often had higher RQs but were rarely analyzed.

Conclusions:

• Significant mismatches exist between pharmaceutical use, environmental occurrence, and ecological risk in Greece.
• Current monitoring practices require revision to prioritize high-risk pharmaceutical contaminants.
• Findings support a risk-based prioritization for environmental monitoring, aligning with EU water policy updates.