{"id":20290,"date":"2019-10-03T10:06:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T10:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/?p=20290"},"modified":"2019-10-03T10:06:37","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T10:06:37","slug":"greener-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/greener-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Greener Drugs- Environmentally Friendly Medicines"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-fullwidth-1  fusion-parallax-none nonhundred-percent-fullwidth\" style=\"border-bottom-width: 0px;border-top-width: 0px;border-bottom-style: solid;border-top-style: solid;padding-bottom:20px;padding-top:20px;padding-left:;padding-right:;\"><style type=\"text\/css\" scoped=\"scoped\">.fusion-fullwidth-1 {\r\n                            padding-left: px !important;\r\n                            padding-right: px !important;\r\n                        }<\/style><div class=\"fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-center fusion-title-size-one\"><div class=\"title-sep-container title-sep-container-left\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-double sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#5f80a0;\"><\/div><\/div><h1 class=\"title-heading-center\"><span style=\"color: #5f80a0;\">The importance of Environmentally Friendly Medicines &#8211; Greener Drugs<\/span><\/h1><div class=\"title-sep-container title-sep-container-right\"><div class=\"title-sep sep-double sep-solid\" style=\"border-color:#5f80a0;\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">With the development and easy access to medicine and drugs, we have been witnessing a phenomenon that has been gaining attention: the <strong>considerable increase of pharmaceutical waste<\/strong>. The followings can all be considered as such: therapeutic drugs, veterinary drugs, cosmetics, supplements, vitamins, utensils used in pharmacies and even hospitals (like gloves, bottles, tubes) etc. Those wastes can be introduced into the environment in the early stages of production but also when they are used or disposed. These different situations require distinct solutions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Therefore, the <strong>pharmaceutical industry<\/strong> has a considerable <strong>environmental responsibility<\/strong> and an essential role when it comes to processing its waste. But it is mandatory that <strong>society<\/strong> is <strong>aware of their role<\/strong> in this matter as well, since we are equally producers of pharmaceutical waste. Consequently, <strong>recycling education<\/strong> is key to decrease waste.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To help people process their pharmaceutical waste, some <strong>local pharmacies<\/strong> started <strong>collecting and forwarding<\/strong> wastes to the proper places to be <strong>recycled<\/strong>. It is urgent to understand that drugs are not common waste, and obviously should not be treated like it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some <strong>analyses <\/strong>made on <strong>river waters<\/strong> showed they contain a small percentage of drugs. Even though it is <strong>not harmful<\/strong>, it is a way to alert people of the consequences of pharmaceutical waste and the importance of producing greener drugs i.e. products with a lower environmental risk. When we take a pill, there is a part of it that is used for the <strong>therapeutic effect<\/strong>, but another part is eliminated by the body and end up in the waters. These waters are treated on a treatment station, which sometimes <strong>cannot exclude<\/strong> all the substance, resulting in consequences for the environment, such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resistant fungi, fishes with difficulties in surviving, new resistant microorganisms etc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A way to help us <strong>prevent<\/strong> pharmaceutical waste could include, for example, the <strong>rational use<\/strong> of medications. Drugs should be consumed in a conscious way, without exaggeration and following the instructions given by doctors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pharmaceutical companies have been trying to <strong>develop effective ways<\/strong> to progressively diminish their <strong>environmental footprint<\/strong>. Gradual changes are being made and some labs and scientists are even trying to switch to more environmentally friendly and sustainable chemicals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is crucial to discuss how we can have more <strong>eco-friendly medicines<\/strong>. One of the strategies is to apply a <strong>Benign-By-Design approach<\/strong>, which is typically implemented during the development phase of the drug. It is a possible way to develop or even redesign the medicine, so it gets eco-friendlier. Usually, scientists try to add or withdraw some key elements from the complex composition of the drugs so it can get more <strong>environmentally sustainable<\/strong>. The challenge is to develop drugs which will <strong>biodegrade<\/strong> easily. Some scientists also defend that it is essential to develop drugs which are <strong>absorbed<\/strong> by our body on a higher percentage. A potential downside of the situation is that, all these changes in the drug can cause some <strong>instability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A <strong>new EU Regulation<\/strong> was introduced regarding veterinary medicinal products and an <strong>EU communication <\/strong>&#8211; the \u00ab\u00a0Strategic Approach to Pharmaceuticals in the Environment\u00a0\u00bb, to show an evolution on the Pharmaceutical waste control. Thanks to the introduction of more innovative solutions and the sustainable development goals set for 2030 by the EU it is expected that pharmaceutical waste will decrease even more.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; font-size: 10pt;\">References:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Environmentally benign by design, August 2017, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chemistryworld.com\/earth\/environmentally-benign-by-design\/3007842.article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ChemistryWorld<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Pharma and the environment: pollution continues despite public pressure, October 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pharmaceutical-technology.com\/features\/pharma-and-the-environment-pollution-trend\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pharmaceutical Technology<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Recycling Mystery: Medication, December 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/earth911.com\/living-well-being\/health\/recycling-mystery-medication\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eath911<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Types of Pollution: Have You Considered Pharmaceutical Waste?, February 2018,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologynetworks.com\/applied-sciences\/articles\/types-of-pollution-have-you-considered-pharmaceutical-waste-297177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #454545;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Technology Networks<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","myguten_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strammer.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}