Official launch of the flagship project in Stockholm, Sweden 17-18 October 2011

Kick-off Meeting on Making the Baltic Sea Region a Lead in Sustainable Management for Pharmaceuticals

 

The EU flagship project was officially launched in a two-day meeting

which attracted 30 participants from six Baltic Sea states and the European Commission. ‘Making the Baltic Sea Region a lead in sustainable management for pharmaceuticals’ is a new project under Priority Area 3 (To Reduce the Use and Impact of Hazardous Substances) of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Participants of the meeting represented both national health and environment ministries and agencies, medical products and pharmaceutical agencies and authorities, as well as intergovernmental organizations (HELCOM, CBSS), industry and trade associations, and academia. 

The awareness is growing that sustainable development for pharmaceuticals is fundamental for human and animal health. One important example of the correlation between health, environment and economy is the spreading of antibiotic resistant strains and the picture is constantly changing, as seen in the figure below. Other pharmaceuticals, such as, endocrines, antiparasitics, antidepressants and anticancer medications, also raises a reason for concern.

Negative environmental effects related to pharmaceutical use and development have been documented all over the world. However, the picture of the problem is fragmented and there are still many knowledge gaps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the outcome of Integrated thematic assessment on hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea (2010), the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting (2010) agreed to further assess the environmentally negative impacts of pharmaceuticals and other substances that are not monitored regularly..To fulfill the commitments in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (2007-2021), the first step would be to assess the occurrence of these substances in a coordinated manner in the Baltic Sea and evaluate their impacts on the Baltic biota.

At present there are no limits set for discharges or emissions of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) within EU. However, the number of production sites in the Baltic Sea Region, including production in hospital pharmacies, could be more than a hundred.

The flagship project “Make the Baltic Sea Region a Lead in Sustainable Management for Pharmaceuticals” is led by the Swedish Medical Products Agency. One central purpose of the project is to establish a network of experts where pharmaceutical and environmental authorities will have possibility to discuss, meet and jointly consider different initiatives.

The project aims, firstly, to assess the state in the Baltic States. This inventory on the status of the marine environment consists of a summary of ongoing activities related to pharmaceuticals within the health and the environmental sector in relation to sustainable management of pharmaceuticals. Good examples of different systems will also be compiled.

 

In addition, the project intends to screen the amount of pharmaceuticals produced, prescribed and sold in different Baltic States. How many production sites do we have in the Baltic Sea area? How to estimate the amount of active pharmaceutical ingredients which are released in Baltic waters? The screening is planned to take place at the production sites and at the waste water treatment plants.within the public sector..

 

Thirdly, the flagship project aims to review the legal basis on pharmaceuticals. The established network could be used as an advisory body to the development of legislations concerning health and the environment, for instance in water legislation in the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The joint initiatives could include an introduction of an environmental classification system and proposing of targets and measures, having specifically in mind endocrine disrupters and including possible cumulative effects with other chemicals, and microbial resistance, as also agreed at HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting.