Medicines play an important role in the treatment and prevention of disease in humans and animals, but residues from these medicines can be released into the environment through a number of routes during their manufacture, use and disposal. It is only recently that the potential environmental impacts of this exposure to pharmaceuticals are being considered.

The book explores where pharmaceutical residues can be found, e.g. in surface waters, drinking water, sediments and the marine environment; the sources of these residues, from manufacture through to disposal of unused medicines; how these residues break down; and how this all impacts on wildlife and human health.

In reviewing the current position and examining further possible impacts, this book is an important reference for researchers working in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as for environmentalists, policy makers and students on pharmacy and environmental science courses wanting to better understand the impacts of pharmaceuticals on the environment.

The series has been edited by Professors Hester and Harrison since it began in 1994.

Roy Harrison OBE is Queen Elizabeth II Birmingham Centenary Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Birmingham. In 2004 he was appointed OBE for services to environmental science. Professor Harrison's research interests lie in the field of environment and human health. His main specialism is in air pollution, from emissions through atmospheric chemical and physical transformations to exposure and effects on human health. Much of this work is designed to inform the development of policy.

Ron Hester is an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of York. In addition to his research work on a wide range of applications of vibrational spectroscopy, he has been actively involved in environmental chemistry and was a founder member of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Environment Group. His current activities are mainly as an editor and as an external examiner and assessor on courses, individual promotions, and departmental/subject area evaluations both in the UK and abroad.

The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Future of Drug Development; Distribution of Pharmaceutical Residues in the Environment; Pharmaceuticals in the Marine Environment; Sources of Residues in the Environment and their Control; Persistence of Pharmaceutical Residues both in Sewage Treatment Works and the Receiving Environment; Ecotoxicology, Environmental Risk Assessment and Potential Impact on Human Health; Impacts of Pharmaceuticals on Terrestrial Wildlife; Veterinary Pharmaceuticals.