This Dialogue explores the legal and regulatory implications of the discovery, through more precise detection technology, of the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)¹ and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the environment, particularly in surface water and public water supplies. The effects of drugs and hormones and other PPCPs on aquatic life, and the effects of unintended human exposure, are largely unknown.²

Drugs for treating infection, depression, seizure, and heart disease are being detected in surface waters around the United States. Synthetic estrogens are also being found, as are veterinary antibiotics and growth hormones. Although environmental pathways include point sources and nonpoint sources, researchers hypothesize that the main pathway of human treatment drugs and compounds into the water supply is through municipal sewage.³ This is thought to be because most drugs are not completely metabolized so the excess and metabolites are excreted in urine and feces,⁴ and because municipal treatment technology, much of it a century old, was not designed to remove these compounds.⁵