Banca de DEFESA: RAFAELA DOS SANTOS COSTA

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : RAFAELA DOS SANTOS COSTA
DATE: 27/02/2023
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Vídeo Conferência no Google Meets (https://meet.google.com/twg-antp-owo)
TITLE:

EMERGING CONTAMINANTS: AN ECOLOGICAL, HEALTH AND SOCIAL APPROACHES TO PHARMACEUTICAL POLLUTION

KEY WORDS:

Pharmaceuticals; cyanobacteria; risk perception; inadequate disposal of pharmaceuticals; scientific dissemination; environmental justice

PAGES: 321
BIG AREA: Outra
AREA: Ciências Ambientais
SUMMARY:

Among the numerous compounds that are considered emerging pollutants, pharmaceuticals have gained prominence, as they have begun to be detected in small concentrations in different environmental matrices. These substances are widely used in veterinary and human medicine. In the pandemic context of COVID-19, there was an increase in the consumption of these compounds and consequently in the environmental and health impacts. These contaminants have a life cycle and can be introduced into the environment through different pathways. Given this scenario, it is essential to understand the consequences of drugs on different organisms, as well as the causes that lead to their occurrence at the environmental level, and the reasons that increase the need to consider them as environmental threats. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of pharmaceuticals on cyanobacteria as an ecological and health representation of this problem, in addition to analyzing the perception and habits of the Brazilian population as the main actors contributing to this environmental condition, as well as investigating the quality and ways of disseminating scientific information on this subject. Additionally, the subject matter is used as a means of contextualizing the environmental injustices observed in the Brazilian territory. The first chapter of this thesis aimed to describe the effects and risks of these compounds in the environment, having as a representative the cyanobacteria, due to their role as primary producers and implications on human health. It was evidenced that different therapeutic classes, depending on the concentrations tested, can affect their physiology and have consequences on the ecological services provided by these microorganisms, as well as the potential effects on public health as a result of cyanotoxin production. Furthermore, to understand the consequences at the ecological level, it is necessary to understand the causes that favor the incorporation of pharmaceuticals into the environment. Thus, the second chapter aimed to describe how the Brazilian population perceives and acts on the life cycle of pharmaceuticals from an environmental perspective through a study conducted online. The results pointed out that the main way to dispose of medicines for both human and veterinary use is common garbage. The information obtained also revealed the habit of self-medication of the interviewees and that the therapeutic classes of drugs most consumed could have an association with the pandemic situation of COVID-19, the period in which the research was conducted. The work also highlighted the incipient implementation of reverse logistics laws and the need to understand how the issue of emerging contaminants is reaching society. Thus, the third chapter of the thesis aimed to investigate, through an analysis of Brazilian scientific dissemination websites, how scientific information was conveyed and the quality of this information, considering the lay public as the final destination. The results obtained showed limitations in the dissemination process since the educational issue needs to be worked on to detriment of the current speed of content sharing. Moreover, education is essential for the reader to have a solid foundation that enables the identification and quality of the information disclosed, establishing a critical view on issues of environmental relevance, such as those involving the theme of emerging contaminants. There is also a lack of texts aimed at children and teenagers, who are the pillars for the construction of a sustainable future as a way to minimize the impact of anthropic activities on the environment. As a result, the fourth chapter of the thesis is composed of two articles of scientific dissemination on themes covered in this research, focusing on children, as a way to remedy one of the gaps previously found. Finally, and aiming at the findings obtained in the course of this research, the problem of pharmaceutical contamination was fully approached from the standpoint of environmental justice and used as a representation of social inequities already observed in the Brazilian context. The critical review brought out issues such as the lack of basic sanitation, educational quality, lack of enforcement and/or implementation of environmental legislation, food insecurity, and public health in a segregationist, ethnic-racial context, with mainly ideological implications, associated with pollution by these substances, and aggravated by the pandemic condition of COVID-19. The historical issue of social inequities in Brazil is reaffirmed by the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment and its implications on marginalized and susceptible social groups. Given the above, it is clear that the Pharmaceutical contamination needs to be understood from a transdisciplinary view of its effects on the environment, going through legal issues in environmental issues and including the social sphere not only as waste generators but also as vulnerable beings of the consequences of their actions, aggravated especially by the lack of environmental education at all educational levels as well as other factors of socio-environmental inequalities already observed.

SDGs to which the thesis is linked: 4- Quality education; 6- clean water and sanitation; 12- responsible consumption and production; 14- life below water

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - NOELIA GONZALES VIDAL - UNS
Externo ao Programa - 1451225 - DANIEL DURANTE PEREIRA ALVES - nullInterna - 1279472 - ELIANE MARINHO SORIANO
Presidente - ***.819.324-** - JULIO ALEJANDRO NAVONI - UFRN
Externa à Instituição - MARIA CRISTINA BASÍLIO CRISPIM DA SILVA - UFPB