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Environmental Pollutants and Contaminants of Emerging Concern: An African Perspective
Summary
This review examines contaminants of emerging concern in Africa — including pharmaceuticals, plastics, pesticides, and personal care products — documenting their presence in sediments, sludge, drinking water, and surface water across the continent. The authors highlight growing evidence of ecotoxicological impacts and call for stronger monitoring and regulatory responses in African contexts.
This review focuses on the environmental pollutants and contaminants of emerging concern in Africa. There is increasing reports and identification of ecotoxicological impact of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as plastic, pharmaceutical products, modern pesticides, and personal care products, in terrestrial and aquatic environment within Africa. Identification of CECs, including pharmaceuticals, plastic wastes, pesticide residues, fungal toxins, and personal care products, have been documented in African region including in sediments, sludge, treated drinking water, surface water, wastewater, groundwater, land, solid deposits, etc. Some of the emerging pollutants of concern to environment and humans include lindane, heptachlor, endrin, endosulfan, dieldrin, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), benzaldehyde, aldrin, bisphenol A, phthalates, bisphenol S, etc. There is need for more studies to identify and quantify the existing and more emerging pollutants.
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