Environmental life cycle of fentanyl: From the cradle to an unknown grave

Abstract

The lack of available information on the presence and persistence of fentanyl in the environment is a significant gap in the technical literature. Although the origins of the opioid in the environment are well-known because they follow the same pathways of other drug-related environmental contaminants, the downstream effects of fentanyl in the water supply and its retention in soil are less understood. The characterization of fentanyl and its potential degradation products in complex environmental samples such as soil is severely understudied. Very few articles are available that work to identify fentanyl and its degradation products in complex samples or name the possible hazards that may result from environmental exposure and degradation. Therefore, the objectives were to identify available articles focused on environmental fentanyl and its pathways and highlight quantifiable research or results that included specific degradation products or downstream effects. Research articles focused on fentanyl between 2000 and 2024 were identified and reviewed and then filtered using Boolean search terms for environmental parameters. Various studies have determined that trace levels of fentanyl can be found in a variety of environments, and additional data suggest preferential partitioning into soils from water and long-term persistence. Despite this knowledge, very little data exists on the long-term downstream effects of fentanyl or its analogs. As the chronic effects from low-level fentanyl exposure are currently unknown, this lack of insight brings to the forefront the need for further research to improve our understanding of fentanyl persistence, degradation, and toxicity within the environment.

FIGURE 1

Environmental fentanyl originates predominantly from households, pharmaceutical companies, illicit producers, and healthcare facility waste products. Solid and liquid remnants used in production end up in landfills or as fertilizers. Ultimately, water runoff and waste treatment plants distribute the contaminant into the water table, where it contaminates agriculture and livestock, making its way into the food chain. (The figure was created in BioRender; https://BioRender.com/).

FIGURE 2

Fentanyl‐related publications graphed by year and by topic. Primary large graph shows all fentanyl‐related publications for a given year between 2000 and 2024. Inset graph (lower right) depicts a reduced y‐axis range to facilitate improved visualization of a breakdown of the specific environmentally related fentanyl publications over time.

FIGURE 3

Fentanyl publications by country between 2000 and 2024. (A) Countries with >200 fentanyl publications between 2000 and 2024. (B) Breakdown of fentanyl publications relating to the environment or water in the same countries seen in plot A.