Pharmaceutical pollution
is a worldwide threat to
humans and the environment
More than 770 pharmaceuticals and their metabolites have been found in the environment worldwide. Pharmaceutical residues can enter the environment at all stages of their life cycle. They can accumulate in fish, vegetables, livestock, and end up in drinking water.
This website brings together key information and materials about pharmaceutical pollution, recommendations for stakeholders, and an overview of flagship EU regulatory developments. It also features a free-to-access database of initiatives to tackle pharmaceuticals in the environment and pharmaceutical waste.
It is hosted by Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe, a non-profit network of European hospitals and healthcare providers, healthcare systems, local authorities, research/academic institutions and environmental and health organisations.
HCWH Europe’s mission is to transform the European healthcare sector so that it reduces its environmental footprint, becomes a community anchor for sustainability, and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice.
This website follows on from the Safer Pharma campaign that ended in 2020. You can find more information about the campaign here.
Find out more about HCWH Europe here.
Pharmaceutical residues can enter the environment during production, consumption, and disposal. We need to achieve zero discharge from the manufacturing plants.
Medicines also enter into the environment through human excretion via wastewater and animal excretion via runoff from agricultural areas and discharges from aquaculture.
Another route is through improper disposal (unused medicine should never be disposed of in a toilet or sink). Current wastewater treatment plants are unable to completely destroy or remove pharmaceuticals.
Consequently, pharmaceutical residues can re-enter terrestrial systems, spread to surface waters and agricultural lands, and can ultimately end up in drinking water, and build up in vegetables and fish.
Pharmaceuticals can enter the environment at all stages in their life cycle. When present in the environment, their active substances can have unintended effects on ecosystems. In the case of antimicrobials, they can also be a driver for the development of antimicrobial resistance in the environment.
2017. Subtitles available: EN/DE/FR/ES
Pharmaceutical pollution can occur during the manufacturing process. European companies that market medicines often produce their active substances outside Europe, therefore outsourcing the problem. They should implement higher manufacturing standards to ensure zero discharge from production.
2019. Subtitles available: EN/DE/FR/ES
Tackling pharmaceutical pollution requires a multidisciplinary approach, in which medical doctors have a key role to play.
Medical doctors can reduce unnecessary pharmaceutical emissions and waste by adopting simple prescription practices, educating patients, and leveraging their trusted voice to change procurement and prescription practices.
2021. Subtitles available: EN/DE/FR
Doctors control the duration and dosage of individual prescriptions, and are well positioned to help reduce the risk for accumulation of unused pharmaceuticals that become waste and can end up in the environment.
Doctors can also help educate patients about pharmaceutical pollution and on ways to reduce waste and unnecessary emissions.
This timeline gives an overview of key regulatory developments on pharmaceuticals in the environment in the EU.
What do you know about pharmaceuticals in the environment?
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Funded by the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and the German Environment Agency (UBA). Views and opinions expressed are however those of Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, CINEA, BMU or UBA. The European Union, CINEA, BMU, and UBA cannot be held responsible for them.