The use of antibiotics in animal farming — a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance — is expected to grow by 8% between 2020 and 2030 despite ongoing efforts to curtail their use, according to an analysis.
Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is thought to be a major driver of the rise in humans of bacterial infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics. Although antibiotics can be necessary to treat infections in livestock, they are often used to speed up animal growth and prevent diseases among animals in crowded, unsanitary conditions.
Many governments have struggled to make or enforce rules to decrease antibiotic usage. For instance, although a number of countries, including the United States and much of Europe, ban the use of antibiotics that promote growth, manufacturers can just say they are marketing the drugs to prevent disease.
Reusable and refillable packaging is one of the most dynamic sectors of the packaging market in 2022, with rapid growth fueled by innovative formats and the need to enact more planet-friendly business models, says a new targeted market study from Smithers – The Future of Refillable and Reusable Packaging to 2027.
A recent article published in Toxicological Research examines the potential impact of shampoo, conditioner, facial cleansers, etc., on the environment after they are used and the remaining chemicals spiral down the drain. This work responds to concerns by regulators and consumer groups, among others, over the potential for such rinse-off personal care products to be detrimental to ecosystems, most predominantly aquatic life.
After a bombshell study came out last summer showing that a number of cosmetics contained PFAS, a class of compounds linked to cancer and reproductive problems, small-scale Oregon beauty company Axiology sent a suite of its products for testing.
The results showed no indicators for PFAS.
But last fall, testing from the consumer wellness blog Mamavation found that one of Axiology’s lip balms and dozens of makeup products from other brands contained organic fluorine, an indicator for PFAS.
“We were absolutely stunned,” Lauren Evashenk, sustainability consultant for Axiology, told EHN. “The results were not slightly different [from Axiology’s testing] — they’re astronomically different.”
On first blush, the Mamavation testing appeared to indicate widespread contamination — and in a few cases, the intentional addition — of the harmful compounds in beauty products marketed as clean or green, which are ill-defined terms in this space but indicate brands that market themselves as selling toxic-free products. A few brands whose makeup initially had the PFAS, which stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, indicator worked to reformulate their products or remove the contamination from packaging and supply chains.
But clean beauty brands and some experts say that inconsistencies in testing and a lack of transparency from ingredient suppliers and manufacturers creates challenges for companies who are trying to keep PFAS out of their makeup.
“It’s very easy for PFAS to get into the supply chain accidentally in many different places,” Lydia Jahl, science and policy associate at the Green Science Policy Institute, told EHN. “Even the most well-intentioned brands could experience PFAS problems.”
The debate continues: how much risk to human health is the transfer of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) through soils to food plants when biosolids, sewage effluents, and animal wastes are applied to fields? As scientists speculate and study the factors that affect risk, researchers at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) are finding innovative solutions to remove PPCPs before they contaminate the vegetables and fruits we consume.
PPCPs are the chemicals that make up fragrances, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, and veterinary medicines. These chemical residues in the environments are considered emerging contaminants because they are not yet regulated by state and federal agencies.
Organic wastes like biosolids, sewage effluent, and animal waste contain PPCP residues. When these are applied to farm fields, some of the chemicals may degrade, while others may transfer from soils to roots of vegetables and fruits, and then possibly accumulate in edible plant tissues.
Field studies have shown that pharmaceutical concentrations in soils were lower than predicted because PPCPs may degrade in soils, latch on to soil particles, or run off/leach into surface and groundwater. Yet continued and long-term application of PPCP-containing biosolids, animal wastes, and wastewater effluents may increase their concentration levels in plants, according to Wei Zheng, ISTC scientist.
“There has been much argument and debate if PPCPs derived from organic waste application in crop fields can cause risks on public health,” Zheng said. “This issue will become even more at the forefront as the use of biosolids and sewage effluents in crop production systems increases. More studies are necessary because PPCPs vary in their toxicity and physicochemical properties in the environment. In particular, the compounds that are highly persistent and toxic will be a concern.”
Zheng reviewed the literature, summarized the research findings, and made recommendations for future research in a recent article published in Current Pollution Reports.
Factors affecting PPCP transfer
In his review, Zheng reiterated that the factors that have the greatest effect on PPCP transfer are the properties of the PPCPs and soils as well as plant species. Plants grown in sandy soils have higher levels of PPCPs than those grown in high organic matter and clay soils. For certain PPCPs that are destroyed in soils, the process breaks down the original compound into metabolites that may be more toxic and mobile. Metabolites with lower molecular weights could be taken up by plant roots more readily.
Studies have also found that leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and cabbage, tend to have a higher potential to take in PPCPs than root vegetables. Furthermore, certain chemicals accumulate in the roots and have little effect on human health, while others can be transferred to leaves. Further research is needed to develop thresholds for accumulations of PPCPs in food crops when biosolids, effluents, and animal manure are used on fields.
Mitigation efforts
At ISTC, Zheng and colleagues are studying several technologies to remove PPCPs, either before they reach the soils or after sewage waste application. The study is being supported by a project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In the project, Zheng is studying the feasibility of using inexpensive oils to capture hydrophobic PPCPs from wastewater effluents. The treatment, which would be used at water treatment plants, is especially low cost when applying used cooking oils, such as those from restaurants.
One advantage of this process is that oils remove PPCPs from rural sewage water while leaving behind the nutrients that fertilize crops. After capturing PPCPs, the spent oils can be used as fuel for diesel engines. The process can eliminate the captured contaminants.
In addition, carbon-rich biochar produced from forest and agricultural residues is used as a filter to absorb PPCPs from sewage water. Also, biochar as a soil amendment can be directly applied to soils.
Studies found that the average PPCP concentrations in lettuce leaves decreased by 23 to 55 percent when biochar was used in the soil compared with the soils without biochar. Biochar can also be composted with solid waste to immobilize PPCPs and reduce their transfer in soil-plant systems.
In the USDA project, scientists will conduct laboratory, field, and numerical modeling studies to better understand the transfer of PPCPs to crops when rural sewage effluents are applied to agricultural lands. The results will help federal and state agencies and farmers evaluate their current nutrient management and nontraditional water-use practices, inform science-based regulatory programs, and suggest best management strategies to minimize risks and promote the safe and beneficial use of nontraditional water in agriculture.
Land application of organic wastes such as sewage effluent, biosolids, and animal wastes can introduce pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into soils. Food plants grown in soils receiving organic wastes may take up PPCP contaminants and accumulate them in the edible tissues. The purpose of this review is to summarize the latest findings on root uptake of PPCPs and their transfer in soil–plant systems, aiming to identify potential risks associated with organic waste application in crop production systems.
Recent Findings
The processes and mechanisms of root uptake of PPCPs and their subsequent transfer in plants are intensively discussed in the present review. Soil properties, PPCP physicochemical properties, and plant species are demonstrated as the most important factors influencing the uptake and transfer of PPCPs in soil–plant systems. The metabolism processes and mechanisms of PPCPs in plant tissues are further elucidated with exemplification of commonly used PPCPs. The estimated daily intake is employed to assess the potential risks of consuming PPCP-containing foods based on their accumulation in edible plant tissues. Two innovative treatment techniques are proposed as cost-effective practices to reduce PPCP transfer into plants from organic wastes.
Summary
Accumulation of PPCPs in edible plant tissues is governed by the combined processes of their root uptake, translocation, and metabolism in plants. This paper reviews the latest research advances in understanding the transfer of PPCPs in soil–plant systems, proposes mitigation practices to minimize PPCP entry into food chains, and identifies research challenges.
Salmon frantically jumping around on a fish farm in Germany may have been on cocaine, according to a report released by German environmental officials.
Officials from the State Environmental Agency of North Rhine-Westphalia (also known as Lanuv) noticed the strange and erratic behavior from the Atlantic Salmon in June of 2020 while overseeing a species conservation project.
Illicit drug use is a growing global health concern that causes a financial burden of hundreds of billions of dollars in the US alone. But hidden beneath the societal costs of this human epidemic is a potential ecological crisis. As methamphetamine levels rise in freshwater streams, fish are increasingly becoming addicted.
Earthworms improve the soil by aerating it, breaking down organic matter and mineralizing nutrients. Now, researchers have dug up another possible role: reducing the number and relative abundance of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) in soils from diverse ecosystems. These results imply that earthworms could be a natural, sustainable solution to addressing the global issue of antibiotic resistance, the researchers say.
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