Ecopharmacology

Introduction & scope

• Ecopharmacology — (environmental pharmacology / pharmacoenvironmentology) — the study of the entry, environmental fate and adverse ecological effects of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites released into the environment, together with strategies to minimise that impact. [Daughton 1999]
• Ecopharmacovigilance (EPV) — the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment — the environmental analogue of pharmacovigilance. [STOTEN 2019]
• Drug ↔ toxicant asymmetry — unlike drugs (deliberate agents whose benefit should outweigh risk), environmental toxicants are usually only harmful and exposure is involuntary; a medicine becomes an involuntary toxicant once excreted or discarded, so it is assessed by the toxicant paradigm — low-dose, chronic, non-target — not the therapeutic one.
• Toxicological root — the governing science is environmental toxicology; pharmaceuticals are a recognised but unregulated water contaminant class — no maximum contaminant level (MCL) has been set for them.
• Exam & One-Health relevance — a recurring MD-level theme (RGUHS Sep 2025: adverse impact of drug in the ecosystem and preventive measures) sitting at the human–animal–environment interface.