Biodegradability of the anti-tumour agent ifosfamide and its occurrence in hospital effluents and communal sewage

A portion of administered pharmaceuticals are excreted unmetabolised by patients and can be found in hospital effluent and municipal sewage. Some pharmaceuticals such as anti-tumour agents are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and fetotoxic. Little is known about their environmental impact. Therefore, the biodegradability of the widely used anti-tumour agent ifosfamide (IF) was assessed with the modified Zahn-Wellens test (OECD 302 B) and a test simulating biological sewage treatment. The biodegradation was monitored by DOC and GC/MS. The concentration of IF in hospital effluent, communal sewage and the effluent from a communal sewage treatment plant (STP) was analysed as well as calculated by the amounts of water and IF used in hospitals. The expected concentration of IF in German surface waters was calculated. IF was not biodegradable in the Zahn-Wellens test and the STP simulation test. It was not adsorbed by the sewage sludge. The concentrations measured in the hospital effluents, the STP influent and the STP effluent were of the same order of magnitude as the calculated ones, indicating that no adsorption, biodegradation or other elimination of IF took place to any noticeable extent.