4-Epitetracycline
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4-Epitetracycline is a breakdown product of the pharmaceutical Tetracycline.
Contents
As a Pollutant
Because humans and animals often do not fully metabolize pharmaceuticals in their body, they can excrete drugs or their breakdown products, which may the enter the environment.[1]
In Sewage Sludge
4-Epitetracycline has been found in sewage sludge. In the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey, a 2009 test of 84 samples of sewage sludge from around the U.S., the EPA found 4-Epitetracycline in 80 samples (95%) in concentrations ranging from 47.2 to 4,380 parts per billion.[2] There are no federal regulations governing how much of this drug may be present in sewage sludge applied to land as fertilizer.
Articles and resources
Related SourceWatch articles
References
- ↑ O.A.H. Jones, N. Voulvoulis, and J.N. Lester, Human Pharmaceuticals in Wastewater Treatment Processes, Environmental Science and Technology, 2005.
- ↑ Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey Report, US EPA website, Accessed August 28, 2010.
External resources
External articles
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