United States                  Office of Water              EPA-820-F-13-004
                         Environmental Protection Agency       4305T                  September 2013

                             Contaminants of  Emerging

                                  Concern (CECs)  in  Fish:

                          Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs)

About PPCPs

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a diverse group of chemicals that include all
drugs (both prescription and over-the-counter medications) and non-medicinal consumer chemicals,
such as the fragrances (musks) in lotions and soaps and the ultraviolet filters in sunscreens. PPCPs
have only recently received attention as potential environmental pollutants. Results from studies in
the past several years provide evidence that many PPCPs enter aquatic systems because they persist
through wastewater treatment processes and are subsequently discharged from wastewater treatment
plants into surface water or groundwater. New developments in technology have led to improvements
in detecting and quantifying PPCPs  in water, sediments, and fish tissue. However, despite recent
advances in PPCP research, the full extent, magnitude and consequences of their presence in aquatic
environments are still largely unknown.

Why Is Studying PPCPs in Fish Important?
 PPCPs are persistent in aquatic environments  due to their continual release from discharges of treated and
 untreated wastewater. By the mid-2000s, there were increasing reports of the occurrence of PPCPs in surface
waters and  sediments,  but data  on their accumulation in fish tissue  were scarce. Available data suggest
that effects of these chemicals may be subtle because PPCPs generally occur at low concentrations in the
environment, but these subtle effects may accumulate and become significant. Current concerns associated
with PPCP contamination include increases in resistance to antibiotics and endocrine system disruption.

How Is EPA Responding?
 In 2006, EPA responded to  the PPCP data gap by initiating a pilot study to investigate the occurrence of PPCPs
in fish tissue. This was the first screening study of PPCPs in fish from a variety of locations distributed across the
country. Based on results from the  pilot study, EPA expanded its effort to characterize PPCP contamination in U.S.
fish by planning and conducting a national-scale  study of fish from urban rivers under EPAs National Rivers and
Streams Assessment. The urban river study generated data on concentrations of musks in fillets from freshwater
fish.  Musks are fragrances added to personal care products, such
as soaps and lotions.  EPA  established partnerships to conduct the
following studies:
 • National Pilot Study of PPCPs in  Fish Tissue (2006-2009)
 • National Rivers and Streams Assessment (2008-2014)

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                National Pilot Study of PPCPs in Fish Tissue
                                (PPCP Fish Pilot Study)
                  First broad screening-level study of PPCPs in U.S. fish
  PPCP Fish Pilot Study Design
Design Elements
Number of Sites
Site Selection
Sampling Period
Fish Samples/Site
Fish Tissue Samples
Chemical Analysis
Total Samples Analyzed
Pharmaceuticals
Personal Care Products
5 Effluent-dominated streams + 1 reference site
Targeted
2006
6
Fillets and Livers
24
72
Targeted
2006
6
Fillets only
12
36
PPCP Results
• Seven of the 24 Pharmaceuticals and two of
  the 12 personal care product chemicals were
  detected in the fish tissue samples; antihistamines,
  antidepressants, and musks were the most
  prevalent PPCPs.
• Most Pharmaceuticals occurred at concentrations
  in the low parts per billion (ppb), while the musks
  commonly occurred at concentrations in the low
  parts per million (ppm).
• Fewer PPCPs were detected in fish from discharge
  areas where facilities apply advanced wastewater
  treatment technologies, such as ozonation.
PPCP Fish Tissue Pilot Study Sampling Locations
                                              Publications
                                              • PPCP Fish Pilot Study Article (Environmental
                                                Toxicology and Chemistry, 2009)
                                              • National Pilot Study of PPCPs in Fish Tissue
                                                (Final Report, 2013)
                                               Collaborators with EPA
                                               • Baylor University Center for Reservoir and
                                                 Aquatic Systems Research
                                               • Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of
                                                 Greater Chicago
                                               • New Mexico Environment Department

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                  National Rivers and Streams Assessment
                CEC and Legacy Fish Tissue Contamination Studies
  First statistically based national assessment of contaminants in fish from U.S. rivers

                NRSA Fish Sampling Locations (542)
                Sites
                  • Urban Rivers (164)
                  • Non-urban Rivers (378)
Study Design
• 164 randomly selected urban river segments
  sampled in the lower 48 states during 2008 and
  2009
• Five fish collected per site to form one composite
  sample for fillet analysis because people typically
  consume fillets
• Fillets analyzed for 6 musks
• Fillet results for other CECs (PFCs) from the
  164 urban river sites
• Additional fillet results for PBDEs and legacy
  contaminants (mercury, selenium, PCBs, and
  pesticides) from the full set of 542 river sites
  sampled for fish
                                 Report
                                 Musk
                                 Results
 Future Musk
 Milestones
                   Complete Analysis of
                     Musk Data
                             For additional information contact:
                                    Leanne Stahl at stahl.leanne@epa.gov
                          or access http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishstudies/

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