An important symposium was presented on "Veterinary Pharmaceuticals in the Environment" at the 233rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society on March 25-26, 2007, in Chicago, IL. The excellence and timeliness of the presentations indicated the need for an ACS Symposium Series book addressing the environmental chemistry and toxicology of this group of emerging contaminants.

The purpose of this symposium was to bring together scientists from academia, government, and industry to discuss and present data relevant to the significance of veterinary pharmaceuticals in the environment. A broad range of topics was covered, including environmental chemistry studies focusing on transport, mobility, sorption, persistence, and bioavailability of the compounds, as well as development of analytical techniques relevant to detection of the pharmaceuticals in environmental matrices, discussion of ecotoxicological studies of veterinary pharmaceuticals, and information relevant to ecological risk assessments. The primary classes of drugs addressed herein are veterinary antibiotics and synthetic