Pharmaceuticals and additives in personal care products as environmental pollutants – Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland

The application of pharmaceuticals and personal care products is substantial in industrialized and high-income north-western European societies. Faroe Island, Iceland and Greenland are part of this modern society, although some areas are more suffused by technology and modern living than others.

This also pertains to the standards of the local solutions for waste water treatment systems, but not so much to the health services. The present report summarises the results of screening analyses of pharmaceuticals and additives in personal care products in presumed hotspots in Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.

The study focuses on sewage lines from households and industry in general, and from hospitals. In all 38 pharmaceuticals or metabolites of pharmaceuticals and 7 personal care products were analysed.