Risk Ranking of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds, Pharmaceuticals, and Personal Care Products in the Aquatic Environment of the Yangtze River Basin

Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs) have been of great concern as emerging contaminants of aquatic environments. In this study, the risks of EDCs and PPCPs in the Yangtze River Basin were ranked, based on their environmental exposure datasets and ecotoxicity datasets. The prioritized chemicals were then identified. The results found that EDCs and personal care products were deemed to represent higher risks to aquatic organisms, for example, estrone, estriol, 17β-estradiol, bisphenol S, atrazine, triclocarban, and triclosan, while the risks of pharmaceuticals were 500-fold lower. Among the pharmaceuticals, antibiotics posed relatively higher risks. The Xiangjiang River and Honghu Lake with its surrounding rivers were hotspots where more chemicals were found with the highest concentrations, followed by Taihu Lake, Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River Delta. When comparing with algae and worms, fish were the most sensitive taxa to 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethynylestradiol. The results of this work provide sound guidance for the future monitoring and management of chemicals in China. © 2020, Science Press. All right reserved.