Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

More on public procurement

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I have written about Public Procurement and green perspectives of that several times here at the blog. See for instance my blog post from Dec 1. The ongoing Public Procurement Committee (in Swedish: Upphandlingsutredningen) is very interesting to follow when it comes to the issues I have discussed over the years. And earlier today in the daily newsletter MiljöRapporten Direkt, Anders Wijkman from the Public Procurement Committee gave some very interesting comments on some gaps he feels exist in today’s processes. One of the things he stresses is follow-up of green requirements. This is well in line with the comments the industry have had over the years. As you know, the official LIF position is that industry welcomes green and social requirements but they have to be followed up!

 From MiljöRapporten Direkt:

“… Enligt Anders Wijkman som leder upphandlingsutredningen handlar problemet även om uppföljning.
– Det är helt centralt att tuffa miljökrav ställs. Lika viktigt är dock att följa upp kraven och kunna verifiera att man fått vad man efterfrågat. Där har det brustit mycket hittills. Jag är övertygad om att vi kommer med ett vasst betänkande när utredningen är klar till slutet av året…”

More on the new Swedish PiE data…

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On January 10, I gave some comments here at the blog to the press release and report regarding IVL’s, Umeå University’s, and Swedish EPA’s new data regarding pharmaceutical residues in incoming waste water to waste water treatment facilities, in the effluent from those facilities, and in receving water bodies as well as in some cases also in fish. The study is “breaking news” in today’s issue of one of Sweden’s most influencal science and engineering weekly news magazines, NyTeknik. Ny Teknik presents, in addition to a very similar discussion as was found in the original press release, also an interesting article on new waste water treatment technology experiments at Sjöstadsverket performed by scientists from IVL and KTH.

One thing that I also want to comment is that both on the front page of the NyTeknik newspaper that arrived in my mailbox this morning as well as on their website, another news article regarding pharmaceuticals is highlighted just next to the worrying news about presence of pharmaceutical residues in the environment. But this article is presented in a very “positive” way: “Take a pill - and skip your work-out training”. “The work-out pill is soon a reality“…

I do often find it somewhat disturbing that reports about pharmaceuticals are either “scary alarms” or “magical innovative news”. It has however rarely been as clearly shown as on the front page of today’s NyTeknik… I would prefer a more balanced discussion, both regarding the worrying reports as well as the promising innovations. Life is very rarely completely black or white!

News re Pharma and the All-Party Committe on Env Objectives

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The expert group on Pharmaceuticals and the Environment, working to support the All-Party Committee on Environmental Objectives, met last Friday for a final discussion on the recommendations for objectives to be delivered to the All-Party Committee. I participate in the discussions representing LIF (the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden) and I have to say that I really feel that the discussions have been open, honest, interesting and sometimes challenging. Exactly as it is supposed to be when different stakeholders meet!

Pretty much the same topics as were discussed on our meeting on November 14 were on the agenda now, and the final wording of the different proposals for objectives are being laborated upon. We will now all receive a final draft of the report including all proposed objectives allowing for our final comments. On February 1, the chairperson of the expert group, Christina Rudén, will give a presentation to the All-Party Committee. It will be very interesting to see what will remain unchanged, what will have been altered to some extent and what might even have been deleted completely when the All Party Committee publish its final report regarding the environmental objective “A Non-Toxic Environment” on June 15…

Stay tuned… This document, together with the outcome from ongoing environmental initiatives such as the ones in the National Pharmaceutical Strategy, will be very important to set the “Pharmaceuticals and the Environment” agenda for the coming years.

CSR trends in 2012

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 In the beginning of the year it is always interesting to “look for the trends” in different areas. When it comes to CSR and sustainability I recommend that you take a look upon the views presented by Niclas Ihrén in the Swedish on-line newsletter CSR-i-praktiken, and by Susan McPherson in her blog post in Harvard Business Review.

Their comments have helped me in my thought process regarding CSR platforms and programs. And as you know if you read my blog post from Jan 9, during 2012 I will both work on a further development of Pfizer’s CSR-programs and, within my part-time assignment at LIF, the development of a CSR-platform for LIF. Niclas’ and Susan’s comments are of course welcome in that work process!

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment - some new Swedish data

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A press release was issued yesterday from IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, in collaboration with Umeå University and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, regarding a study on pharmaceutical resudues, from 101 active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), in water. The study has also been commented upon in several news media, e.g. Dagens Apotek. The study looks upon incoming waste water to waste water treatment facilities, on the effluent from those facilities, and on concentrations in receving water bodies as well as in some cases also the concentration of APIs in fish (perch).

The results show that 92 out of 101 APIs could be detected in incoming waste water, 85 APIs were found in treated effluent leaving the treatment plant. 23 APIs were also found in fishes investigated and 26 APIs were found in drinking water.

Jerker Fick, at Umeå University, says to Dagens Apotek that the identified concentrations in drinking water are extremely low compared to therapeutic doses. Hence, there is no known risk for humans consuming drinking water. The study however states that the concentrations of some of the APIs in surface water could potentially impact water living organisms such as fishes.

As has been discussed for several years now, the type of impact, the degree of that impact to water living organisms, and potential consequences (especially on an ecosystem level) are however not known. I hope that MistraPharma and similar research initiatives could help us to understand these matters better, and also help society to identify, and specify, any potential further investments in the waste water treatment facilities.

Jan Christiansson, at the Swedish EPA, states in the press release that in addition to upgraded waste water treatment plants there is also a need for industry to design the APIs in a more “environmentally adapted” way, hence for instance allowing for faster biodegradation of the substances. I have commented on this matter of “green design” previously and I couldn’t agree more in principle, however huge difficiulties exist… It is not an easy task for our scientists to both make substances with good therapeutic effects, without severe adverse health effects, and simultaneously perfectly control the degradability. The substance should not degrade until it has given it’s intended medical effect, but preferentially directly afterwards. Not easy, but something industry tries to accomplish…

So I agree with Jan Christiansson that upgrades of certain waste water treatment plants will most likely be necessary, but we should also never forget to strongly communicate to the public, to all users of pharmaceuticals, that un-used medicines should never be thrown into the toilet! Un-used medicines should be brought back to a pharmacy for controlled disposal.