Pharmaceutical compounds represent a class of emerging contaminants present in the environment. Their intense (and increasing) use in human and veterinary medicine leads to their discharge, mainly via human excretion, into wastewater treatment plants where their removal is inefficient. A specific class of pharmaceuticals used to fight cancer, known as antineoplastic or anticancer drugs, has gained increased attention regarding their possible environmental hazard due to their pharmacological properties, which include the nonselective targeting of DNA replication mechanisms and cell division processes, potentially inducing cell apoptosis. To date, there is limited information concerning the effects of anticancer drugs and/or their metabolites in species inhabiting freshwater environments, let alone marine and estuarine compartments. In the present review, we aimed to assemble information regarding the impact that anticancer drugs have on biological traits of marine species, to identify gaps in the current environmental hazard assessment, and to make recommendations to promote an efficient environmental hazard assessment of anticancer drugs in the marine environment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1793-1807. © 2022 SETAC.
Keywords: Antineoplastics; Cisplatin; Hazard assessment; Marine environment; Pharmaceuticals; Risk assessment; Tamoxifen.
© 2022 SETAC.