Assessment of pharmaceutical residues in watersheds of Auvergne (France) (Poster)

The emerging issue of pharmaceutical products in water environment is getting a growing attention from scientists, agencies in charge of health security and populations. Knowledge is growing fast, but remains still partial and sparse. Consequently, health security institutions (i.e., the French Regional Health Agencies, which represented the Health Ministry in administrative parts of France) may have some difficulties to answer questions on specific local situations.

In this context, a study has been initiated to assess the specific flux of pharmaceuticals in the different territories of Auvergne (France). The first step of this study was to identify the main pharmaceuticals and their origins of emission (by general population, health care facilities, agricultural practices, industries …), their relative importance and the major regional flows arising from these different sources. The second step of this study was to better understand the health issues associated with the detected pharmaceutical residues, and to identify the priorities of actions to be taken (in terms of interest of analytical campaigns, sanitary survey… ).

The assessment of pharmaceuticals in the different watersheds of Auvergne were obtained by modeling the data of pharmaceutical consumption by the population of Auvergne (i.e., assessed by the reimbursement data provided by the French Health Insurance) and the analysis of the quantitative data of pharmaceuticals used in the different hospitals of Auvergne.

In accordance with the French National Plan on Drug Residues, this approach helped to determine the predictable environmental concentrations (PEC) of forty seven molecules in the different watersheds of Auvergne. These PEC can be used to assess exposure indicators and in a second time, the health risk assessment. The worse-case method used for this study (i.e., persistence in the environment, without metabolism), has overestimated the concentrations of pharmaceuticals in watersheds. Furthermore, for each pharmaceutical, calculated concentrations (PEC) were at the nano- or microgramme per liter and the health effects seems poorly probable at these levels.