Regulations on Green Pharmacy in European Countries – A Comparative Study

Abstract

Green pharmacy is a policy of protecting the environment from the risk of contamination with medicines. The aim of the paper was to compare relevant regulations from European countries in order to find solutions for such a policy in Romania. Official texts from five countries were analysed using methods of legal interpretation and the comparative method. Each country has specific regulations, but the responsibility of each stakeholder is different, from regulating, to collecting or funding. In Finland, expired medicines are collected by pharmacies and municipalities, which fund their disposal. In France, Spain and Hungary, expired medicines are collected by pharmacies, but the pharmaceutical industry is responsible for managing and funding the waste disposal. In Romania, only pharmacies and drugstores are responsible for collecting and disposing expired medicines from patients. Regulations on sharing the responsibility among all types of pharmaceutical enterprises are needed in order to develop a green pharmacy policy in Romania. Rezumat Farmacia verde e o politică de protecţie a mediului faţă de riscul contaminării cu medicamente. Scopul lucrării a fost de a compara reglementări relevante din ţări europene, căutând soluţii pentru o astfel de politică în România. Texte oficiale din cinci ţări s-au cercetat folosind metodele interpretării juridice şi metoda comparativă. Fiecare ţară are reglementări specifice, dar responsabilitatea celor implicaţi e diferită, de la reglementare, la colectare sau finanţare. În Finlanda, medicamentele expirate sunt colectate de farmacii şi municipalităţi, care finanţează eliminarea lor. În Franţa, în Spania şi în Ungaria, farmaciile colectează de la pacienţi medicamentele expirate, dar industria farmaceutică e responsabilă de gestionarea şi eliminarea lor. În România, doar farmaciile şi drogheriile sunt responsabile de colectarea şi eliminarea medicamentelor expirate de la pacienţi. Reglementări privind responsabilitatea comună a tuturor tipurilor de unităţi farmaceutice sunt necesare pentru a dezvolta farmacia verde în România.

Household Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal as a Global Problem—A Review

“…In this system, wholesale distributors are responsible for delivering empty containers to pharmacies and picking up filled containers, while pharmacies are responsible for the free-of-charge collection of unused medicines from patients. Medical waste disposal is financed by Cyclamed through contributions from pharmaceutical companies [ 44 ]. Cyclamed succeeds in collecting 62% of unused medications [ 45 ].…”

“…In 2002, an integrated system for the collection and management of unused and expired drugs, called SIGRE (Sistema Integrado de Gestión y Recogida de Envases—Integrated Packaging Management and Collection System), was developed by the Spanish National Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry [ 50 ]. The pharmaceutical industry finances the work of SIGRE, which is responsible for the management of pharmaceutical waste and for the implementation of ecological campaigns [ 44 ]. The pharmacies with SIGRE collection points play a major role in the system [ 51 ].…”

“…The pharmacies with SIGRE collection points play a major role in the system [ 51 ]. However, wholesale distributors are responsible for the collection of pharmaceutical waste from pharmacies and its storage until disposal [ 44 ].…”

Pesticide Indirect Photodegradation Database: A Data-Sharing Platform for Screening Existing and Discovering New Agrochemicals

“…Even active ingredients (AIs) in agricultural products, which are produced at volumes ca. 20-fold higher than medicinal products, − cost only a fraction of pharmaceuticals in development and registration feeslow hundreds of millions of dollars on average . This number can be seen both as too high to innovate frequently (compounded by rising unaffordability of agricultural products and their declining global cost–benefit ratio) and too low to compete with the rigor of the pharmaceutical sector’s development process to ensure high probability of safety and adequately characterized trade-offs.…”

Developing the Role of the Romanian Community Pharmacy in Environmental Protection

“…Environmental pollution with active pharmaceutical ingredients is the object of numerous studies, from the assessment of the medicines impact on the environmental factors to the identification and development of adequate solutions for preventing contamination at all stages of medicines life, issues we have also investigated in our previous studies [36][37][38][39][40]. A domain less researched is the development of environmental protection practices within the activity of community pharmacy.…”