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Ecopharmacostewardship – A Pharmaceutical Industry Perspective

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Green and Sustainable Pharmacy

Abstract

Until the late 1990s, the environmental impact of the pharmaceutical industry was universally considered to be very minor. Any environmental impact was considered to arise from manufacturing facilities and these were relatively small in size with well controlled emissions. It was appreciated that the pharmaceuticals themselves were biologically active, but in view of the small quantities being manufactured and the high cost of production, releases to the environment from manufacturing were expected to be very small.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Knowledge and need assessment of pharmaceutical products in environmental waters [http://www.knappe-eu.org].

  2. 2.

    Prions cause a number of diseases in a variety of animals and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.

  3. 3.

    However, unlike the situation with veterinary pharmaceuticals, a human pharmaceutical cannot be denied marketing authorisation because of adverse environmental effects. The environmental authorities may, of course, use the data to impose strict discharge limits into the environment.

  4. 4.

    Vitamins, electrolytes, amino acids, peptides, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids are exempted because they are unlikely to result in significant risk to the environment. Similarly, vaccines and herbal medicinal products are also exempted due to the nature of their constituents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. WCA Environment Limited, Oxfordshire, SN7 7YR, UK

    David Taylor

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  1. David Taylor
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Correspondence to David Taylor .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Umweltmedizin und, Krankenhaushygiene, Universitätklinikum Freiburg, Hugstetter Str. 55, Freiburg, 79106, Germany

    Klaus Kümmerer

  2. Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, An der Bornau 2, Osnabrück, 49090, Germany

    Maximilian Hempel

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Taylor, D. (2010). Ecopharmacostewardship – A Pharmaceutical Industry Perspective. In: Kümmerer, K., Hempel, M. (eds) Green and Sustainable Pharmacy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05199-9_7

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