By integrating environmentally conscious approaches into prescribing practices, doctors can actively help reduce the entry of pharmaceuticals into the environment while ensuring high-quality patient care.
Do NOT dispose of drugs via the toilet or sink to protect water bodies and drinking water. With proper disposal, pharmaceuticals are destroyed through waste incineration and no longer pose a threat to the environment.
In matters of health, too, it is important to act in an environmentally conscious way. Patients can help prevent the negative environmental effects of pharmaceuticals. For example, disease prevention, considering non-medicinal treatments, and the responsible use of medicines all contribute to environmental protection.
Residues of human medicinal products for human use enter the environment primarily through wastewater. Pharmaceutical substances are highly biologically active and can have harmful effects on living organisms, particularly in aquatic environments.
The "European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals" (PARC) was developed with the overall aim of improving knowledge about chemical substances in order to better protect human health and the environment. This goal is to be achieved within seven years together with 200 organizations from Europe.
Resilience in the face of multiple crises – Pathways and obstacles toward a resilient sustainability transformation, 12th - 14th December 2022, Dessau-Roßlau, Germany.
In 2013, the Common Agricultural Policy was reformed with the aim of reducing negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Accordingly, farmers had to comply with certain environmentally friendly farming measures, the so-called "greening", to receive the EU subsidies. Despite high costs, however, the effects of the reform have remained small. This has been shown by a recent paper by UBA.
