Emerging Perspectives on Contaminants 1
Dr. Debabrata Kanungo Former Additional Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Chairman, Panel for Pesticides and Antibiotic Residues, FSSAI 2
Emerging Contaminants (ECs) What are they? EU Definition: – New chemicals produced to offer improvements in industry, agriculture, medicine, and common conveniences. – New reasons for concern for existing contaminants. – New capabilities enabling improved examination of contaminants. …applying science & technology to protect water quality 3
EMERGING CONTAMINANTS (Broadly defined by the scientific community) Pollutants Currently not included in routine monitoring programs May be candidates for future regulation, depending on -research on their toxicity, -potential health effects, -occurrence in various environmental matrices, -public perception 4
EMERGING CONTAMINANTS WIDE VARIETY OF CHEMICALS ➢ Pharmaceuticals ➢ Household chemicals ➢ Fragrances, ➢ Antimicrobials, ➢ Surfactants, ➢ Fluorescent whitening agents. ➢ Endocrine Disrupting Substances(EDS) ➢ Impurities 5
Emerging Contaminants in Food through Water * Pathogens Pharmaceuticals PFOA and Personal Care Prions (Perfluorooctanoic acid) Products Nanomaterials Endocrine Disrupting Pesticides Compounds PBDEs ( Poly Brominated Diphenyl Ether) 6 *Not an exhaustive list.
Estimating the Universe of ECs Chemicals CAS Registry* ➢ 31 million organic and inorganic substances ➢ Updated daily with ~4000 new substance records …applying science & technology to protect * American Chemical Society ’ s Chemical Abstracts Service water quality 7
So Why the Interest? • ECs illustrate the connection of individuals’ activities with their environment • A large number of chemicals are getting into the environment with known and unknown concentrations and effects • Detection of these chemicals is likely to increase – Analytical methods are developed • Numerous reports of intersex fish and other species have triggered Congressional and public interest • No evidence of adverse human health effects …applying science & technology to protect water quality 8
• Term “ emerging ” has led to a common misconception: • As if Chemicals recently released into the environment. • In reality, these chemicals have likely been entering the environment as long as they have been in use. • “Emerging” is the awareness in both the scientific community and general public • These chemicals are being released into the environment through household wastewater, • Can be detected in water, sediment, soil and biota. 9
Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) • Pharmaceuticals are emerging contaminants in the environment • Environmental persistence of main active metabolite of the blood lipid regulators (clofibrate erofibrate and theofibrate), clofibric acid, - 21 years (Díaz-Cruz et al., 2003) . • In recent years, because of the continuously increasing amounts of drugs and advanced ultra- trace detection technologies, considerable human and veterinary drugs have been detected in the environment, especially in water 10
• Main pathway through which pharmaceuticals enter the surface water is human intake, followed by subsequent excretion in municipal wastewater, hospitals, pharmaceutical waste, and land fills • After long periods of enrichment, high concentrations of drug residues will threaten human health and the ecosystem 11
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Veterinary Antibiotics (VAs) • Large number of antibiotics used in animal food production • Inefficiently adsorbed in the animal’s gut, • 30 – 90% of these drugs are excreted. • Considerable percentage of the veterinary antibiotics spread into the surroundings in bioactive forms, • May cause long-term adverse effects on the soil, water, microorganisms, plants, and animals and naturally affect human health through the food chain. 13
Esiobu et al. reported a 70% enhancement in resistance to certain antibiotics including streptomycin, penicillin, and tetracycline after using soil manure from animals in a dairy farm. 14
Personal Care Products as Exposure Sources for Conventional Contaminants • Ayurveda and folk remedies- lead and other metals • Skin lightening creams and disinfectant soaps- Mercuric iodine in soaps and ammoniated mercury in skin lightening cream • Dermal products- Phthalates(esp.diethyl & dibutyl), solvents,dyes,parabens(4-hydroxybenzoic acid alkayl esters),cyclosiloxanes(e.g.octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane,D4) • Lice and Tick control shampoos- Lindane,permethrin • Shampoos and soaps- alkylphenolic surfactants • Impregnated Mosquitoe nets and clothes 15
RAMIFICATIONS • • Exposure at therapeutic doses is not the concern. • Exposure at sub therapeutic/over therapeutic doses may be the concern • Aquatic organisms can suffer continual exposure and enter human food chain. • Exposure to non-target organisms could be significant. • Potential exists for subtle effects(e.g.neurobehavioural changes) even at ppb level. • Pose may challenges for the outer enevelope of toxicology- especially the many unknowns associated with effects from simultaneous exposure to multiple chemical stressors over long period of time. • Potential for additive(cumulative) and interactive(synergistic) effect from multiple exposure. 16
Community Challenge Voluntary vs. Involuntary The public sees voluntary risk differently than involuntary risk Voluntary ▪ Ingestion ▪ Bathing Use ▪ ▪ Disposal …applying Involuntary: finding them in our environment in trace amounts science & technology to protect water quality 17
Community Challenge We All Contribute Behavior: – Ingest / use – Excretion – Bathing – Disposal May make their way into soil and water: – Wastewater – Biosolids – Irrigation …applying – Effluent science & technology to protect water quality 18
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What portion of overall Risk is contributed by unregulated contaminants 20
Further Truism in EC Monitoring • What one finds usually depends on what one aims to search for • Only those compounds targeted for monitoring have the potential for being identified and quantified. • Those compounds not targeted will elude detection. • The spectrum of contaminants identified in a sample represent but a portion of those present. • They are of unknown overall risk significance 21
Can risk be assessed in a truly holistic manner without knowing the actual exposure universe? 20 22
Einstein on: Environmental Monitoring “ Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. “ (oft attributed to Albert Einstein) corollary for environmental monitoring Not everything that can be measured is worth measuring, and not everything worth measuring is measurable. 23 28
14 - Pathway Risk Assessment HUMAN HUMAN HUMAN HUMAN GROUND GARDENER WATER AIR PLANT 14 13 1 PLANT WATER 2 12 CHILD A S o i l 3 HUMAN N + I 11 4 PLANT DUST M B i o s o l i d s A 10 SOIL L 5 BIOTA 9 ANIMAL HUMAN 6 8 SOIL 7 PLANT BIOTA HUMAN A N I M A 24 L
Key Message Focus on Source Control Everyone contributes Clear linkages between individual behaviors and the presence of trace constituents We all should strive to minimize the amount of material we introduce into the water environment Think about product choices and source control …applying science & technology to protect water quality 25
Key Message Strategic Risk Communication We need better expertise in communicating complex technical material to citizens Process of scientific methods and strategies • Someone verse in ‘ best practice ’ SRC: • Up on the research literature o Analysis of information needs o Empirical evaluation of SRC impacts o SRC success is satisfaction of the people involved that they have been adequately informed within the …applying limits of available knowledge, and their needs are science & technology met. to protect water quality 26
Emergency Regulatory Issues Food Industry & Regulators should be aware • Children health early life susceptibility assessment • Endocrine Disrupter Substances(EDS) • Nanomaterial- Risk vs Benefits • Impurities 27
Thank you for your kind attention Dr. Debrabata Kanungo kanungo294@gmail.com 28
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