Environmental Science & Technology
August 6, 2008
Maria Huerta‐fontela, Maria Teresa Galceran, Francesc Ventura
218 citations
Psychoactive stimulatory drugs, including cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine, were detected in raw surface waters supplying a Spanish drinking water treatment plant, with mean concentrations ranging from 4 to 350 ng/L. Nicotine, caffeine, and their metabolites were present at microgram-per-liter levels. During treatment, amphetamine-type stimulants (except MDMA) were completely removed by prechlorination, flocculation, and sand filtration. Ozone treatment partially eliminated caffeine (76%), and granulated activated carbon filtration removed cocaine (100%), MDMA (88%), benzoylecgonine (72%), and cotinine (63%). Postchlorination eliminated cocaine and nicotine completely, though caffeine, cotinine, and benzoylecgonine persisted, with reductions of 90% for caffeine and benzoylecgonine and 74% for cotinine.
Environmental Science & Technology
December 29, 2011
Barbara Kasprzyk‐hordern, David R. Baker
145 citations
Chiral drugs, such as amphetamines, ephedrines, venlafaxine, and atenolol, break down differently depending on their mirror-image forms during wastewater treatment and in rivers. Monitoring at seven wastewater treatment plants (using activated sludge or trickling filters) and six river sites over nine months showed that the extent of this enantiomer-specific fate varied by drug, treatment method, and season. Atenolol and MDMA showed high stereoselectivity, activated sludge produced more stereoselectivity than trickling filters, and stereoselectivity in the environment was higher in spring and summer.
Environmental Science & Technology
May 6, 2025
Si-Ying Li, Dongdong Ma, Wen-Jun Shi et al.
3 citations
Esketamine (ESK), a hallucinogenic new psychoactive substance found in surface waters worldwide, causes developmental toxicity and endocrine disruption in zebrafish. Zebrafish embryos exposed to low and medium concentrations (0.12 and 1.02 μg/L) showed increased embryo area, yolk sac size, and upregulated vitellogenin (vtg) gene expression, while the highest concentration (10.6 μg/L) produced opposite effects. After 14 days, ESK altered circadian rhythm, DNA repair, and estrogen signaling pathways, and elevated vitellogenin protein levels, consistent with its binding affinity for estrogen receptors. These findings indicate that environmentally relevant ESK concentrations pose ecological risks to fish.