European hospitals as a source for platinum in the environment in comparison with other sources

The concentration of platinum in the sewage of five European hospitals originating from excreted antineoplastic drugs, cisplatin and carboplatin, was analyzed in a short term study to provide an order of magnitude of Pt emissions from hospitals into aquatic environments. These emissions were compared with a rough estimation of emissions by cars. The average daily concentrations in the hospital effluents were approximately < 10-601 ng l(-1) Pt (20-3580 ng l(-1) in 2-h mixed samples). As expected from consumption data, the daily average concentrations should range from < 10-710 ng l(-1) Pt. Platinum emitted by hospitals is 3.3-22.3% (1.3-14.3 kg per year) the estimated amount emitted by cars equipped with catalytic converters in the different European countries. Compared to platinum emissions from other sources, the effluents of hospitals are a minor source of platinum in municipal sewage, but they should not to be disregarded. Other possible sources for the emission of platinum into the environment should be considered in further investigations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.