Environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants This section is an excerpt from Environmental impact of pharmaceuticals and personal care products.[edit]
The environmental effect of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) is being investigated since at least the 1990s. PPCPs include substances used by individuals for personal health or cosmetic reasons and the products used by agribusiness to boost growth or health of livestock. More than twenty million tons of PPCPs are produced every year.[21] The European Union has declared pharmaceutical residues with the potential of contamination of water and soil to be "priority substances".[3]