A rapid evidence assessment of the potential risk to the environment presented by active ingredients in the UK's most commonly sold companion animal parasiticides
Author(s)
Wells, Clodagh
Collins, CM Tilly
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A number of parasiticides are commercially available as companion animal treatments to protect against parasite infestation and are sold in large volumes. These treatments are not intended to enter the wider environment but may be washed off or excreted by treated animals and have ecotoxic impacts. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify the existing evidence for the toxicity of the six most used parasiticides in the UK: imidacloprid, fipronil, fluralaner, afoxolaner, selamectin, and flumethrin. A total of 17,207 published articles were screened, with 690 included in the final evidence synthesis. All parasiticides displayed higher toxicity towards invertebrates than vertebrates, enabling their use as companion animal treatments. Extensive evidence exists of ecotoxicity for imidacloprid and fipronil, but this focuses on exposure via agricultural use and is not representative of environmental exposure that results from use in companion animal treatments, especially in urban greenspace. Little to no evidence exists for the ecotoxicity of the remaining parasiticides. Despite heavy usage, there is currently insufficient evidence to understand the environmental risk posed by these veterinary treatments and further studies are urgently needed to quantify the levels and characterise the routes of environmental exposure, as well as identifying any resulting environmental harm.
Date Issued
2022-04-24
Date Acceptance
2022-04-08
Citation
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022, 29 (30), pp.45070-45088
ISSN
0944-1344
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
45070
End Page
45088
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume
29
Issue
30
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000785938800003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Environmental Sciences
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Imidacloprid
Fipronil
Fluralaner
Afoxolaner
Selamectin
Flumethrin
Ecotoxicity
Dog
Cat
NEONICOTINOID INSECTICIDE
WASTE-WATER
ENANTIOSELECTIVE TOXICITY
BRACHIONUS-CALYCIFLORUS
MACROCYCLIC LACTONES
POPULATION-GROWTH
P-GLYCOPROTEIN
FIPRONIL
SELAMECTIN
EXPOSURE
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-04-24