Category: Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Products (PPCPs)

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Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Environment Conference

pills spilling out of a pill bottleWant to learn more about latest research on emerging contaminants in the environment? Come check out the Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the Environment Conference hosted by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), in conjunction with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG), which will be held on April 4, 2016, in Champaign, IL. Funding for the conference is provided through a grant from University of Illinois Extension.

 

The conference will feature presentations and posters on the latest in PPCP research and education as well as plenty of opportunities for discussion with those interested in all aspects of PPCPs in the environment.

 

ISTC and IISG encourage researchers, teachers, businesses, local and state government, environmental groups, and members of the general public to attend this conference. Registration will open on Feb. 8, 2016. The regular registration fee will be $40 and student registration will be $20 for the one-day event which includes lunch.

 

The call for abstracts is now open:

 

Meet the Keynote Speakers

 

Rabecca Klaper - Keynote speaker at the PPCPs in the Environment ConferenceRebecca Klaper is professor and director of the Great Lakes Genomics Center in the School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research is examining the impact of various emerging contaminants (e.g., nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals) as well as natural stressors on freshwater organisms. Her lab is using genomic data as a tool to investigate the impacts of these various potential stressors and to develop biomarkers of exposure and effect to be used as tools for ecological risk assessment. One of the goals of her research is to determine which chemicals may cause environmental damage and how we might change either our design, use, or treatment of chemicals to make them more environmentally sustainable. She received her B.S. degree in biology (honors) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.S. in entomology from the University of Georgia, and her PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia.

 

Dana Kolpin - Keynote speaker at the PPCPs in the Environment ConferenceDana Kolpin is a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Iowa City, Iowa, and has been the project chief of the USGS Toxic Program’s Emerging Contaminants Project since its inception in 1998. His research interests include the fate and transport of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other emerging contaminants in the environment. He has published over 100 papers and reports on environmental contaminants. He received his B.S. degree from Iowa State University and his M.S. from the University of Iowa, both in geology.

 

 

 

Additional keynote speakers will be announced soon!

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Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Products in the Environment Consortium Meeting

The Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products Consortium is hosted by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and is open to anyone who is conducting research on pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and/or hormones in the environment or related topics. Meetings are held quarterly at ISTC (1 E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign, IL) in the SJW conference room. The next meeting will be on Dec. 8 from 11 AM to 1 PM and a light lunch will be served with time for networking. If you are interested in attending the Dec. 8th meeting or learning more about the consortium, please email Nancy Holm (naholm@illinois.edu). There is no cost to attend.

 

December’s meeting will include 20 min. webinar presentations from:

  • Dr. Ruth Marfil-Vega from American Water with a talk titled, “Overview of American Water’s Innovation and Environmental Stewardship Group and its Studies on the Fate of Emerging Contaminants.” Combined application of targeted chemical analysis (by gas or liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry) with modern analytical techniques based on advanced mass spectrometry, such as quadruple-time of flight, into environmental monitoring provides insightful information to environmental specialists to determine the behavior of the ever-growing list of emerging (ECs) and other unregulated contaminants (i.e. pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, disinfection by-products)  throughout water treatment. An overview from different projects being conducted by the American Water’s Innovation and Environmental Stewardship Group utilizing a combined approach (using targeted and untargeted analysis) to study the impact of drinking water and wastewater treatment operations on the fate of ECs identified as treatment performance and health base indicators (i.e., sucralose, estradiol, caffeine, triclosan, iopromide, DEET, gemfibrozil, atrazine) and nitrosamines (unregulated disinfection by-products) will be provided.
  • Dr. Helen Goeden from MN Dept. of Health with a talk titled, “Minnesota Department of Health’s Drinking Water Contaminants of Emerging Concern Program.” Dr. Goeden will give an overview of Minnesota Dept. of Health’s program activities including their chemical review process for developing human health-based drinking water guidance and their special pharmaceutical project.
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Take a Good Look at the Bad Old Days, and How Science Saved the Future

bttf-30thThe 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) gathered together many of the original leaders of the effort to get a handle on hazardous pollution in the environment.

 

It was a valuable window into the spirit of the times before 1985 that convinced Illinois lawmakers to create a center for research, industry assistance and public information. Thousands had been killed in Bhopal, Love Canal had blighted whole neighborhoods, the Cuyahoga River had burned, and in Illinois, contamination at Waukegan Harbor and Lake Calumet had brought home to citizens the need for scientific evidence about the threats.

 

ISTC took the opportunity to tell this story at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Nov. 9. It was a proud moment for the original players who participated in the event, and for ISTC’s parent Prairie Research Institute, and all of their current researchers who continue to drive sustainable economic development in Illinois. Videos on the presentations will be made available soon at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/news/30anniversaryhome.cfm.

 

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ISTC hosts Events on Environmental Effects of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products

As P2 Week kicks off this week, we are reminded of the important legislation of the past that has helped achieve cleaner waters in the U.S.; however, there is still work to be done. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 in response to the growing awareness that raw sewage, industrial wastes, and other pollutants were regularly being dumped into waterways. The goal of the Clean Water Act was to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our nation’s waters.” The law called for “zero discharge of pollutants into navigable waters” and water quality was to be improved so waters were both fishable and swimmable again. Progress has been made, but even after more than 40 years, water pollution is still a problem in many areas of the U.S. with excess nutrient runoff, mine drainage, oil or chemical spills, overflow of sewage during high rain events, etc.

 

In the past 10 years, the widespread occurrence of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and steroid hormones, in waterways has been recognized as a critical environmental issue. To learn more about new research in that area and to provide opportunities for collaborations, ISTC is arranging a meeting on Thurs., Sept. 24 from 11 a.m.- noon for U of I faculty and staff from campus units studying PPCPs to discuss their projects. At noon, Dr. Wei Zheng from ISTC will present a talk on his PPCP research work. The talk will be broadcast live and also archived on the ISTC website. To register for the Sept. 24th webinar, visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6647723536738560514.

 

In addition, on April 4, 2016, ISTC is organizing a conference, along with IL-IN Sea Grant and funded by the U of I Extension, titled ”PPCPs in the Environment”. The event will be held at the I-Hotel Conference Center in Champaign. The call for abstracts will be announced in December. More information on the conference will be available on the ISTC website at that time.

 

 

 

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ISTC @ iSEE Water Congress Sept. 14-16, 2015

iSEE Water Planet, Water Crisis? graphicISTC will participate next week in the U of I’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) second annual international conference titled  “Water Planet, Water Crises? Meeting the World’s Water-Food-Energy Needs Sustainably”.  The iSEE Water Congress is set for Sept. 14-16, 2015, in the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Registration is free for the event.

 

ISTC will have three posters in the Water Congress poster sessions showcasing various projects they are involved with on water quality and conservation:

Continue reading “ISTC @ iSEE Water Congress Sept. 14-16, 2015”

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PPCPs and the Environment

pills spilling out of a medicine bottleHave you ever wondered what happens to your medicine, face cream, or shampoo after you use them? The human body absorbs some of these pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), but not all. What goes unused after we use the toilet or take a shower ends up in the sewer. Leaky sewer systems and heavy rains can speed up the transport time of PPCPs from the bathroom to lakes and streams. The recent article “What to do about the antidepressants, antibiotics and other drugs in our water” and our recent blog post “Could meat production cause pharmaceutical and hormone pollution in lakes and streams?” both sum up the issues surrounding PPCPs in the environment. ISTC researchers are working on several projects to discover the fate and transport of PPCPs in the environment as well as to develop an effective wastewater treatment method that could remove PPCPs from both human and animal wastewater.

 

What can you do?

 

Do you have questions?

IISG and ISTC will be at the Illinois State Fair through August 21, 2015, to answer any questions about PPCPs and medicine disposal. We are located in the Fisheries Tent in Conservation World at the Illinois State Fair.  You can also contact Laura Kammin at the IISG with questions.

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Could meat production cause pharmaceutical and hormone pollution in lakes and streams?

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy eating a big juicy steak as much as the next person. But you’ve got to wonder: How was this animal raised? Where does its waste go as it is creating that delicious steak? What impact does it have on the environment? Can we improve the “system”?

 

lots of pigs are crammed into small pens in a long large warehouse style barn

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation

A recent Science Friday episode, “Tales from ‘Big Pig’,” discussed a new book by Barry Estabrook, titled, “Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat.” In it he discusses the environmental and social impacts of raising animals on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) for mass meat consumption. Included in the discussion are the differences in the regulations for treating animal waste versus human waste. He pointed out that there are little to no regulations requiring animal farmers to treat wastewater runoff from their farms.

Continue reading “Could meat production cause pharmaceutical and hormone pollution in lakes and streams?”

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Now’s The Time to Recycle Ag-Chemical Containers

pesticide container recyclingThe state Agriculture Department is accepting empty agrichemical containers for recycling this month.

 

Each weekday through Aug. 28, you can drop off empty pesticide containers at daily locations around the state. This Friday, Aug. 14, the collection site will be United Prairie in Tolono. For a list of the other drop off locations, visit http://www.aiswcd.org/agrichemical-recycling/.

 

This is a great opportunity to keep these wastes out of our landfills. Instead the containers will become shipping pallets, fence posts and other useful stuff. Only clean and dry #2 plastic agrichemical containers are eligible.

 

Thanks to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Container Recycling Council, GROWMARK, Inc., Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, Container Services Network, Illinois Farm Bureau, and the University of Illinois Extension for helping keep these contaminants out of our waste stream.

 

Also remember to take old or unwanted medicines to collection points in your area.

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World Water Day (or rather Water Month!)

As population increases, the demand for clean, fresh water will also rise, making existing supplies a very precious resource in Illinois and other parts of the US. Groundwater supplies are being depleted and rivers and lakes cannot keep up with the demand for water.  Though 71% of the Earth is covered with water, only 2.5% of the world’s water is freshwater.  Of that, 70% is in ice and snow cover in mountainous regions, 30% is ground water, and only 0.3% is in rivers and lakes. ISTC is helping to mitigate water scarcity by researching water quality issues such as fate and transport pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment and encouraging businesses, organizations, and people of Illinois to save water though its Billion Gallon Water Challenge.

The Nile Project: Woman dancing and list of events (see PDF flyer for events list)

 

ISTC participated in the  Community Water Day: Civic Engagement and Water Resources Management on Saturday, March 7 at the Champaign Public Library to spread the word about its research and water savings challenge. And will be participating in the Illinois Water Day 2015: Let’s Talk about Water on Friday, April 10, ISTC at NCSA. Both these events are free and open to the public and are part of a larger group of water issues events hosted by the University of Illinois and the Krannert Center (PDF flyer).