18. Regulation and the Market-Incentives

Pharmaceutical products (PPs) have been detected in surface, ground and drinking waters in Europe and worldwide. This has raised concerns about potential impacts on humans and organisms in the environment. Regulators are now acting on these concerns. For example, Sweden’s Stockholm County Council has been working toward the assessment and classification of pharmaceuticals according to their environmental impact (see Wennmalm and Gunnarsson, Chap.​ 16, this book). An environmental label is being introduced in Sweden with the assistance of the pharmaceutical industry, which would enable the physician and the patient, where medications of similar action and efficiency are available, to select the treatment that is more environment friendly. The European Union is proposing more extensive environmental testing for product registrations while others are investigating mitigation measures such as take-back schemes, water treatment upgrades and labelling revisions (Wennmalm and Gunnarsson 2009). Other ideas involve incentives for development and market introduction of “green” pharmaceuticals and raising public awareness of the issues surrounding the environmental impacts of pharmaceutical products need strong support (Knappe 2008).