Pharmaceuticals, personal care-products and current-use pesticides: a review of the available data from European seas.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) as well as current-use pesticides (CUPs) are considered to be contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), but there is limited information that exists about their occurrence and impact in the marine environment. A database of these CECs has been created as an overview of their occurrence and distribution in European marine waters by the ICES Marine Chemistry Working Group (MCWG) and collaborators from various European countries. The majority of the compiled data corresponded to pharmaceuticals in seawaters, but much less data were available for other matrices (biota and sediment) and CEC groups. Generally, concentrations were characterized for a limited spatial area and/or a small number of species/organisms. A Total Occurrence Index (TOI) was developed, taking into account the number of data available, the maximum concentrations and the frequency of detection together as indicators. The TOI provided estimates for the CECs in the database and has been used to identify the most relevant PPCPs and CUPs. The highest TOIs were found for the pharmaceuticals salicylic acid, hydrochlorothiazide, gemfibrozil, mefenamic acid, paracetamol and diclofenac; the PCPs 2-ethylhexyl-4-methoxycinnamate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, octocrylene, galaxolide, benzophenone-3 and tonalide; and the CUPs chlorpyrifos, chlorthal-dimethyl, simazine and irgarol. It is noted that additional data are required, particularly in the sediment and the biota matrices, to more fully understand the distribution and impact of these CECs in the marine environment, when considering the wide geographical distribution areas covered in this review. Further assessment is also required, to prioritise those CECs, based on which of them are expected to cause the most adverse toxic effects to marine ecosystems.