Resumo:
The environmental degradation arising from contaminants of emerging concern, especially
endocrine disruptors, is a safety and sustainability problem affecting drinking water treatment
and supply systems. One of the most important effects of endocrine disruptors is estrogenic
activity, caused by compounds capable of imitating the activity of the natural female hormone
17β-estradiol (E2). This work aimed to analyze human health risks (non-carcinogenic) and the
risk of estrogenic activity (non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic) resulting from contamination
by estrogenic compounds via the consumption of human water supply. For this, a database
was constructed with the concentration of the compounds, quantified in real environmental
samples of human water supply systems collected in some countries through a systematic
review of the literature, using StArt as an aid tool. Among the 398 scientific papers identified
in the databases Web of Science®
, SCOPUS®
and PubMED®
, 130 presented concentrations of
estrogenic compounds in samples of human water supply system, and it was possible to
extract the concentration of 24 papers, which attended to the eligibility criteria. Sixteen
compounds were selected for risk analysis: E2, 17-ethinylestradiol, estrone, atrazine,
simazine, terbuthylazine, caffeine, carbamazepine, triclosan, bisphenol A, nonylphenol,
octylphenol, tolyltriazole, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, dibutyl phthalate and diethyl phthalate.
Human health risk was classified as high for 17-ethinylestradiol and di(2-ethylhexyl)
phthalate, medium for dibutyl phthalate, low for bisphenol A and insignificant for the other
compounds. For the same concentrations, the risk of estrogenic activity was classified as low
only for the compound di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and insignificant for the other compounds.
For none of the studies, the carcinogenic risk was not unacceptable. Risk analysis indicated
that the risk of estrogenic activity was lower than the risk of the compound for most
compounds, except for estrone and triclosan. Overall, the study identified that the calculated
risks were insignificant for most compounds in the countries considered in the review.
However, with regard to estrogenic activity, it is important to calculate and evaluate the risk
of estrogenic activity considering the mixture since the presence of more than one compound
can change the actual risk.
