Project: Presence, behavior and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in marine ecosystems
| Acronym | PHARMASEA (Reference Number: ID 328) |
| Duration | 01/09/2021 - 31/08/2024 |
| Project Topic | PHARMASEA integrates international expertise to answer key research questions on fate and biological effects of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), well recognized contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) for marine ecosystems. The project will allow in-depth studies on APIs distribution, effects and risks in four European coastal areas, targeting (1) occurrence, uptake and trophic transfer along regional marine food webs; (2) bioaccumulation/excretion kinetics, potential ecotoxicological effects from molecular to individual levels, and characterization of modes-of-action in model and selected marine species; (3) development of specific risk assessment procedures for APIs. The communication and connection with industries, private and public stakeholders as well as citizen engagement are important aims to promote public awareness, pre-normative research and implementation into European Directives. The project is expected to have a major impact enhancing the scientific knowledge and awareness on interactions between human and environmental health. The results could influence prescribing and disposal practices of domestic medicines and increase market opportunities and competitiveness of European pharma industries investing on environmental sustainability of their products. |
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Project Results (after finalisation) |
One of the aims of PHARMASEA is to measure (Theme 1 of the present Joint Transnational Call) the presence, distribution, fate of APIs in marine ecosystems, the transfer from inland sources and their behavior (Theme 1) unravelling relationships between their occurrence in the water column, sediments as well as biota and the trophic transfer along food webs. These aspects will be investigated at a European-wide geographical scale including the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The project will a l s o c h a r a c t e r i z e t h e m a i n f a c t o r s t h a t m o d u l a t e t h e b i o a v a i l a b i l i t y a n d f a t e o f A P I s , including uptake/excretion kinetics, biotransformation and tissue translocation, biological effects and modes-of-action (Theme 2). Such studies will allow the development of an integrated risk assessment procedure (Theme 2) with identification of priority APIs, long-term adverse alterations and cumulative effects of API mixtures (Sub-Theme 1.2). Raising public awareness on the ecological risk of APIs is within the core experience of all partners, who are actively involved in both the above research initiatives and science communication to guarantee the achievement of scientific objectives, and also sound advisory support to political and territorial agencies at both national and European levels. |
| Network | AquaticPollutants |
| Call | 1st AquaticPollutants Joint Call 2020 |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polytechnic University of Marche | Coordinator | Italy |
| 2 | University of Heidelberg | Partner | Germany |
| 3 | University of Stavanger | Partner | Norway |
| 4 | Universidade da Coruña (UDC) | Partner | Spain |
| 5 | Spanish Institute of Oceanography | Partner | Spain |