Prof. Dr. Jörg Oehlmann
Fachbereich Biowissenschaften
Effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are key factors for the well-being of modern societies. Their use will further increase in the next decades with increasing health-related quality of life, especially in aging societies in central Europe and in other industrialised areas in the world. Because many PPCPs are persistent and therefore often not or only to a low degree eliminated during wastewater treatment, already their current use results in a wide distribution of these highly active compounds in the aquatic environment. Though these chemicals occur only in traces, typically in the µg/L and ng/L range, effects on non-target-organisms are possible as these substances are designed to be effective at low concentration levels.
The lecture will provide case studies of effects of PPCPs on aquatic organisms and will highlight difficulties in assessing the environmental risks originating from such highly active compounds. Furthermore, recent approaches to mitigate potential environmental impacts of PPCPs will be addressed.