Dehydronifedipine

Dehydronifedipine is the main metabolite of the pharmaceutical Nifedipine, a pharmaceutical taken to treat high blood pressure and angina (chest pain). Dehydronifedipine has been found in sewage sludge.

As a Pollutant
Because humans and animals often do not fully metabolize pharmaceuticals in their body, they can excrete drugs or their breakdown products, which may the enter the environment.

In Sewage Sludge
Dehydronifedipine has been found in sewage sludge. In the Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey, a 2009 test of 84 samples of sewage sludge from around the U.S., the EPA found dehydronifedipine in 19 samples (23%) in concentrations ranging from 3.48 to 24.6 parts per billion. There are no federal regulations governing how much of this drug may be present in sewage sludge applied to land as fertilizer.

In Drinking Water
An Associated Press investigation found that, of 62 metropolitan areas in the U.S., only 28 tested for pharmaceuticals, and 24 found pharmaceuticals in the drinking water when they tested it. Of those tested, Northern New Jersey and Tucson, AZ both tested positive for dehydronifedipine.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Biosolids
 * Sewage sludge
 * Food Rights Network
 * Pharmaceuticals

External articles

 * "Survey: Three pharmaceutical drugs are found in Tucson water", Associated Press, March 10, 2008.
 * Elena Nilsen, Robert Rosenbauer, Edward Furlong, Mark Burkhardt, Stephen Werner, Lisa Greaser, Mary Noriega, "Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products and Anthropogenic Waste Indicators Detected in Streambed Sediments of the Lower Columbia River and Selected Tributaries"