Hélène Budzinski

Aquatic environments are the final receptors of human emissions and are therefore contaminated by molecules, such as pharmaceuticals. After use, these compounds and their metabolites are discharged to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). During wastewater treatment, compounds may be eliminated or degraded into transformation products (TPs) or may be persistent. The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method based on high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for the identification of six psychotropic drugs that are widely consumed in France and present in WWTPs, as well as their potential associated metabolites and TPs. Four out of six psychotropic drugs and between twenty-five and thirty-seven potential TPs were detected in wastewater, although this was based on full scan data. TPs not reported in the literature and specific to the study sites and therefore to the wastewater treatment processes were tentatively identified. For the selected drugs, most known and present TPs were identified, such as desmethylvenlafaxine or norcitalopram. Moreover, the short fragmentation study led rather to the identification of several TPs of carbamazepine as ubiquitous persistent TPs.

The PESTIPREV study has been designed to investigate residential exposure to pesticides applied to vines and ultimately propose mitigation measures. A feasibility study was carried out to validate a protocol for measuring six pesticides in three houses located near vineyards in July 2020. Samples included indoor and outdoor surfaces sampled with wipes (n = 214), patches on the resident’s skin (n = 7), hand or foot washing (n = 5), and pets sampled using wipes (n = 2). Limits of quantification for wipes ranged between 0.02 ng for trifloxystrobin and 1.50 ng for pyraclostrobin. Tebuconazole and trifloxystrobin were quantified in nearly 100% of the surface samples, whereas the other fungicides were less frequently found (from 39.7% for pyraclostrobin to 55.1% for boscalid). The median surface loadings ranged from 3.13 ng/m2 for benalaxyl to 82.48 ng/m2 for cymoxanil. The pesticides most frequently quantified in hand washing, patch samples, and pet wipes were the same as those quantified on surfaces. Finally, the analyses proved to be successful. The tools developed to collect information on determinants were well completed. The protocol was well received by the participants and appeared to be feasible and relevant to the objective of the PESTIPREV study, although some improvements have been identified. It was applied on a larger scale in 2021 to study the determinants of pesticide exposure.