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Investigation of pharmaceuticals in water, fish, and ospreys nesting in Delaware River and Bay

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

Exposure of wildlife to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) is likely to occur but evidence of hazard and risk is limited. One exposure pathway that has received attention is trophic transfer of APIs in a water-fish-osprey food chain. Samples of water, fish plasma and osprey plasma were collected from Delaware River and Bay, and analyzed for 21 APIs. Only 2 of 21 analytes exceeded Method Detection Limits (MDL) in osprey plasma (acetaminophen and diclofenac) with plasma levels typically 2-3 orders of magnitude below human therapeutic concentrations (HTC). We built upon a screening level model used to predict osprey exposure to APIs in Chesapeake Bay and evaluated whether exposure levels could have been predicted in Delaware Bay had we just measured concentrations in water or fish. Use of surface water and bioconcentration factor (BCFs) did not predict API concentrations in fish well, likely due to fish movement patterns, and partitioning and bioaccumulation uncertainties associated with these ionizable chemicals. Input of highest measured API concentration in fish plasma combined with pharmacokinetic data accurately predicted that diclofenac and acetaminophen would be the APIs most likely detected in osprey plasma. For the majority of APIs modeled, levels were not predicted to exceed 1 ng/mL or method detection limits in osprey plasma. Based on the target analytes examined, there is little evidence that APIs represent a risk to ospreys nesting in Delaware Bay. If an API is present in fish orders of magnitude below HTC, sampling of fish-eating birds is unlikely necessary. However, several human pharmaceuticals accumulated in fish plasma within a recommended safety factor for HTC. It is now important to expand the scope of diet-based API exposure modeling to include alternative exposure pathways (e.g., uptake from landfills, dumps and wastewater treatment plants) and geographic locations (developing countries) where API contamination of the environment may represent greater risk.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/a173f98d60b78b06e45a481da49e4fc2
Identifier USGS:5907355ae4b0fc4e448ea803
Data Last Modified 20200827
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id bdff72b2-9bf4-4e61-9832-d8d1ea2d1def
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -75.627136231027,38.593699979251,-74.830627441996,40.12262059144
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash f4173c254ffd4d06df197484ba214a398d5cb5181b0a9a6a164a4671f30416ad
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -75.627136231027, 38.593699979251, -75.627136231027, 40.12262059144, -74.830627441996, 40.12262059144, -74.830627441996, 38.593699979251, -75.627136231027, 38.593699979251}

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