4. Conclusion

Improvements in the performance of analytical techniques in recent years, and particularly in detection thresholds, have made it possible to address issues that may be long-standing. However, given the considerable number of substances detected, it is important to take this issue into consideration. The control of their presence, their transformation and the fate of pharmaceutical products in the environment pose three major challenges:

• development and optimization of analytical methods for various environmental samples. Around 150 pharmaceutical compounds have already been detected in the environment, mainly in aqueous media. The range of pharmaceuticals and metabolites covered by analytical methods needs to be extended, particularly for environmental samples with more complex matrices. The sensitivity of methods needs to be optimized to...