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(M/MF169) Environmental risk of veterinary medicines to soil fauna. Jensen, John1, Krogh, Paul Henning1, Sverdrup, Line2,3, 1 2 3 ABSTRACT- Veterinary medicinal products are licensed for use by regulatory authorities if they comply with scientific criteria on quality, efficacy and safety. The authorities consider safety to the treated animal, to the consumer, and to the individuals handling the product during treatment. In addition to these criteria the environmental risk of veterinary medicinal products has recently become a matter of increasing public scrutiny and legal requirements. Veterinary medicines, biological active substances designed to harm organisms such as bacteria, vira and parasites, are also potentially hazardous for non-target species, such as those in soil. Some, medicines, for example antibiotics and anthelmintics, are used in large amounts and may enter the soil environment through animal excrement. Harmful effects on indigenous soil organisms have been observed in controlled experiments. The effect of five antibiotics (oxytetracycline, tylosin, tiamulin, metronidazol and olaquindox) and one anthelmintic (Ivermectin) was investigated using mortality and reproduction of springtails and enchytraeids as endpoints. The antibiotics did generally not affect the survival of either of the test species below 1000 mg kg-1. The springtails were generally the most sensitive of the two species and reproduction was typically affected (EC10) by antibiotics in the range of 100 mg kg-1. Ivermectin was very toxic, especially to springtails, with 50% lethality and 10% reduction in reproduction in the range of 10 and 0.5 mg kg-1, respectively. A comparison of the observed effect concentrations with estimated environmental concentrations (PEC values) reveal that direct effect of antibiotics on soil fauna is unlikely, whereas ivermectin may locally pose a significant risk to the soil fauna community. Key words: Antibiotics, Antiparasitics, Soil fauna, Ecotoxicity |
