Cholesterol-lowering drugs, antidiabetics, antiarrhythmics, antidepressants, and antibiotics belong to the most prescribed drugs worldwide. Because of the manufacture, excretion, and improper disposal of leftover drugs, the drugs enter waste waters and, subsequently, surface waters. They have been detected in surface waters all over the world, from concentrations of ng/l to concentrations several orders of magnitude higher. Since pharmaceuticals are designed to be both biologically and chemically stable, photochemical degradation by sun radiation represents a way of transformation in the natural environment. This review provides a survey of how selected drugs of the above-mentioned classes affect aquatic organisms of different trophic level. The emphasis is on the harmful effects of phototransformation products, an area of scientific investigation that has only attracted attention in the past few years, revealing the surprising fact that products of photochemical degradation might be even more toxic to aquatic organisms than the parent drugs.

• Klíčová slova
• Pharmaceuticals, Photodegradation, Toxicity of photoproducts,
• MeSH
• antibakteriální látky MeSH
• chemické látky znečišťující vodu * toxicita   analýza   chemie   MeSH
• léčivé přípravky MeSH
• odpadní voda MeSH
• vodní organismy MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH
• Názvy látek
• antibakteriální látky MeSH
• chemické látky znečišťující vodu * MeSH
• léčivé přípravky MeSH
• odpadní voda MeSH