idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Grafik: idw-Logo

idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft

Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instanz:
Teilen: 
05.09.2023 13:45

Taxpayers should foot the bill if EU demands efficient removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters

Press Contact at the University of Gothenburg: Margareta G. Kubista, tel. +46 705 30 19 80, press@sahlgrenska.gu.se Kommunikationsavdelningen / Communications Department
Schwedischer Forschungsrat - The Swedish Research Council

    Public sector should pay if EU demands efficient removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewaters, according to researchers at the Centre for Antibiotic Research, CARe, at the University of Gothenburg. Their argumentation analysis, published in the journal Public Health Ethics, raises important questions of responsibility.

    As the use of medication increases, the problem of pollution and associated environmental impact grows as well. Pharmaceutical residues in urine and faeces are increasingly released into the environment via municipal wastewaters, posing risks to both public health and ecosystems.

    Therefore, determining who should manage risks and bear the cost for more advanced wastewater treatment is a critical question. In the European Union, the guiding principle is that the polluter should pay, but researchers at CARe conclude that it would be more reasonable to let costs be borne by water consumers or taxpayers rather than pharmaceutical companies.

    The European Union is expected to impose requirements for more efficient removal of pharmaceuticals at all major municipal treatment plants in Europe. Companies manufacturing medicines are often identified as those who should bear the cost, following the “polluter pays” principle. However, researchers at CARe highlight both ethical and practical limitations with this principle.

    Who is the true polluter?

    The core of the “polluter pays” principle is simple yet powerful: those causing pollution should bear the financial and administrative responsibility to counteract it. This not only encourages responsible behaviour, but it also seems fair that those contributing to creating a problem also contribute to its solutions. However, a crucial challenge is to identify the true polluter.

    Pharmaceuticals are different from most other goods. Supranational systems approve them, states subsidize them, and regional councils and doctors decide on prescriptions before individuals can use them. Both society and individual consumers demand pharmaceuticals and thus contribute to emissions in different ways. Therefore, the justification for placing the burden of potential sewage purification solely on the manufacturer of a medicine can be questioned.

    Significant societal consequences

    If pharmaceutical companies are compelled to bear the costs of advanced sewage treatment, there is a substantial risk that, for purely economic reasons, they would rather refrain from selling medications in a given region. It is often challenging to replace a medication with a specific active substance with another more environmentally friendly one without jeopardizing patient benefit.

    “The consequences of sales halts would, in many cases, be devastating for national healthcare. On average, it takes more than a decade for a new medicine to reach the market, and it often costs more than one billion euro. Developing ‘green’ pharmaceuticals is thus not a viable solution, except perhaps in the very long term,” says Professor Joakim Larsson, Centre director of CARe.

    Balancing responsibility and sustainability

    Researchers at CARe propose a hybrid framework to balance responsibility and sustainable pharmaceutical supply and usage. This framework combines the “polluter pays” principle with a “capacity principle,” according to which complex collective problems should be addressed by actors that have the financial and practical capabilities to handle them without causing excessively negative consequences for others. Within the hybrid framework, it matters less who causes the problem, and the focus is on solutions.

    Upgrading sewage treatment plants to better remove pharmaceutical residues could then be a viable strategy. The importance of preserving access to clinically important medications justifies distributing the costs of upgrades among water consumers and/or taxpayers.

    Images: Erik Malmqvist (photo: Malin Franzén) and Joakim Larsson (photo: Johan Wingborg)


    Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

    Erik Malmqvist, Senior lecturer in practical philosophy at the Univeristy of Gothenburg, tel. +46 31 786 52 56, email erik.malmqvist@gu.se

    Joakim Larsson, Professor in Environmental Pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg, tel. +46 709 62 10 68, email joakim.larsson@fysiologi.gu.se

    Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research, CARe, https://www.gu.se/en/care


    Originalpublikation:

    Title: Pharmaceutical Pollution from Human Use and the Polluter Pays Principle,

    Contacts:


    Weitere Informationen:

    https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phad012
    https://www.expertsvar.se/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Malmqvist-and-Larsson.jpg


    Bilder

    Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
    Journalisten
    Medizin, Umwelt / Ökologie
    überregional
    Forschungsergebnisse
    Englisch


     

    Hilfe

    Die Suche / Erweiterte Suche im idw-Archiv
    Verknüpfungen

    Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.

    Klammern

    Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).

    Wortgruppen

    Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.

    Auswahlkriterien

    Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).

    Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).