Pharmaceutical contamination, as a research topic, concerns the presence and behavior of active pharmaceutical ingredients, metabolites, and excipients in environmental or biological matrices where they are unintended. It encompasses sources such as human and veterinary excretion, improper disposal, manufacturing discharges, and hospital effluents, and addresses fate processes including sorption, transformation, and bioaccumulation. Studies focus on occurrence at trace to ultra-trace concentrations, mixture effects, and modes of action that may induce ecotoxicological or sublethal impacts, including endocrine disruption and antimicrobial resistance selection. The topic also covers analytical detection methods, environmental risk assessment frameworks, and mitigation strategies like advanced wastewater treatment and source-control policies.
Raw cow and sheep milk is frequently contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could pose a threat to human and animal health, reports a new study led by Tahir Usman of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 12, 2025
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30
A comprehensive Hungarian study has revealed that the behavior of pharmaceutical residues in soil does not depend on a single factor, but is shaped by several interacting processes. The researchers emphasized that, based ...
Environment
Nov 6, 2025
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19
The antimicrobial triclosan is widely used in personal hygiene products, textiles and plastics, but when it enters the environment via wastewater, it poses a significant threat to aquatic organisms.
Nanomaterials
Oct 23, 2025
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83
Beta-blockers are widely prescribed pharmaceuticals used to manage cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension, arrhythmias, and post-heart attack recovery. Among them, atenolol (ATL) and metoprolol (MTL) are particularly ...
Environment
Oct 15, 2025
0
26
New research has shown, for the first time, how mixtures of commonly used medications that end up in our waterways and natural environments might increase the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 14, 2025
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20
A comprehensive review of scientific literature has identified nanofiltration (NF) membrane technologies as the most effective method for removing pharmaceutical contaminants from water sources, according to researchers from ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 13, 2025
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25
A two-year research investigation led by QUT has revealed horses can be exposed to a banned anabolic steroid through hay and pasture weeds, potentially causing positive drug tests for innocent riders and horses.
Veterinary medicine
Oct 1, 2025
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21
Municipal wastewater treatment plants are ineffective at removing Prozac (fluoxetine) and other common pharmaceuticals in wastewater, causing the drugs to be discharged into lakes, rivers and streams where they pose a risk ...
Environment
Sep 24, 2025
2
263
Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing as fast as—or faster than—any other class of animals around the world, succumbing to a variety of threats, like emerging infectious diseases. According to new ...
Ecology
Sep 15, 2025
0
28
Wastewater from aircraft toilets could provide a critical warning system for the global spread of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) superbugs, a silent pandemic that threatens to kill more people than cancer by 2050.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 18, 2025
0
22
