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PHARMACEUTICALS AND SUSTAINABILITY: CONCERNS AND OPPORTUNITIES REGARDING HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Citation:
DAUGHTON, C. G. AND I. RUHOY. PHARMACEUTICALS AND SUSTAINABILITY: CONCERNS AND OPPORTUNITIES REGARDING HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Chapter 1, A Healthy Future- Pharmaceuticals in a Sustainable Society. Stockholm County Council (Stockholms läns landsting), Stockholm, Sweden, , 14-39, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
Clean and Safe Water – by providing water quality research and methods development at multiple scales, utilizing landscape ecology and associated techniques
Description:
The design of pharmaceuticals and the practices surrounding the lifecycle of their usage are central for minimizing their impacts on the environment and increasing the sustainability of healthcare. Cradle-to-cradle design, as conceptualized by McDonough and Braungart, could play a key role in redesigning healthcare and reducing its environmental footprint (Daughton 2003). Of great significance, however, in the process of reducing environmental liabilities, significant advancements and improvements in medical and economic outcomes for healthcare could be natural collateral benefits. Key questions include: Can environmental sustainability be designed into the existing pharmacopeial, pharmacy, and healthcare systems so that considerations of potential environmental impacts feed back into improvements for healthcare and human well being? What are the major factors that will mold the sustainability of healthcare for the future? A confluence of advancements is currently at work in bringing ustainability in quality healthcare closer to reality. These include information technology, personalized medicine, medical genetics (and epigenetics), green chemistry (e.g., applied to drug design, formulation, manufacturing, and packaging), targeted drug delivery, and the worldwide initiatives called “medications management” and “pharmaceutical care.” Together, these areas will largely dictate the shape and size of the environmental footprint for tomorrow’s armamentarium of medications.