A Green Sorbent to Remove Antibiotics in the Environment

CSA News 15 Veterinary antibiotics (VAs) are used in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) for the purpose of protecting animal health and as a feed supplement to improve animal growth rate. Livestock producers in the United States use more than 5,000 tons of VAs annually. However, they are also considered emerging contaminants of concern. Either as manure piles in the CAFOs, or as manure applied to the agricultural field, VAs pose a threat to the ecosystem—in soil, groundwater, and surface water—and, ultimately, to humans. The major concern with VAs is that harmful pathogens exposed to them gain resistance with time. Therefore, in the long run, antibiotics lose their potential to treat diseases caused by these resistant pathogens. Other concerns are based on toxicological effects on human health, aquatic organisms, and plants.