Personal Care Products in the Aquatic Environment in China

Cosmetic Preservatives: Hazardous Micropollutants in Need of Greater Attention?

In recent years, personal care products (PCPs) have surfaced as a novel class of pollutants due to their release into wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and receiving environments by sewage effluent and biosolid-augmentation soil, which poses potential risks to non-target organisms. Among PCPs, there are preservatives that are added to cosmetics for protection against microbial spoilage. This paper presents a review of the occurrence in different environmental matrices, toxicological effects, and mechanisms of microbial degradation of four selected preservatives (triclocarban, chloroxylenol, methylisothiazolinone, and benzalkonium chloride). Due to the insufficient removal from WWTPs, cosmetic preservatives have been widely detected in aquatic environments and sewage sludge at concentrations mainly below tens of µg L-1. These compounds are toxic to aquatic organisms, such as fish, algae, daphnids, and rotifers, as well as terrestrial organisms. A summary of the mechanisms of preservative biodegradation by micro-organisms and analysis of emerging intermediates is also provided. Formed metabolites are often characterized by lower toxicity compared to the parent compounds. Further studies are needed for an evaluation of environmental concentrations of preservatives in diverse matrices and toxicity to more species of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and for an understanding of the mechanisms of microbial degradation. The research should focus on chloroxylenol and methylisothiazolinone because these compounds are the least understood.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the seawater around a typical subtropical tourist city of China and associated ecological risk

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the sea area surrounding a densely populated tourist city in southeastern China were investigated. In total, 32 PPCP pollutants classified into 23 categories were detected. Different spatial distribution patterns of PPCPs indicated possible contamination from runoff and multiple local sources. The labile-to-conservative ratios of PPCPs showed the influence of untreated domestic sewage. In addition, increased concentrations of ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and erythromycin around aquaculture farms imply that aquaculture cannot be neglected as a source. The concentrations of oxytetracycline, ranitidine, ciprofloxacin, miconazole, and sulfamethizole were higher in the wet season than those in the dry season, and the difference in pharmaceutical consumption was suspected to be the main driving factor of this seasonal variation. The risk quotients calculated with the maximum concentrations of miconazole, triclosan, dehydronifedipine, and triclocarban exceeded 0.1, indicating potential moderate or high risks. Antibacterial agents in daily chemicals and azole broad-spectrum antifungals were associated with the highest risks in this study; this might be another significant pollution characteristic in the sea area around this subtropical tourist city.

Occurrence of organic UV filters and metabolites in lebranche mullet (Mugil liza) from Brazil

UV filters (UV-Fs) constitute a heterogeneous group of chemicals used as protection against the effects of UV radiation, widely used in all sort of goods and ubiquitous in the environment. The presence of these chemicals in fish is a matter of concern, because many UV-Fs display hormonal activity. In this study, muscle, gills, and liver from 11 Mugil liza individuals from the highly urbanized Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) were analysed in order to detect eight UV-Fs and metabolites (4-dihydroxybenzophenone [BP1] (2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone [BP3], 4-methylbenzylidiene camphor [4MBC], ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate [EHMC], ethylhexyl dimethyl p-aminobenzoic acid [ODPABA], octocrylene [OC], 4-hydroxybenzophenone [4HB], and 4,4'-dihydroxybenzophenone [4DHB]) using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Results showed that both target UV-Fs and metabolites were ubiquitous in the analysed tissues. Lower concentrations were observed in muscle and gills (3.07-31.6ngg^-1 dry weight (dw)), whereas in liver significant amounts of metabolites (5.47-451ngg^-1 dw) were present. With the concentrations determined in the fish, an estimation of the daily intake revealed that consumption of muscle in the diet represent from 0.3 to 15.2ng UV-Fs (kg body weight^-1) d^-1, higher than those reported in fish for selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs).