– a collaboration between the Department of the Environment and the Department of Drug Management and InformaticsReducing the residues of medicinal products in the ground, water and air is one of Stockholm County Council's five most important environmental issues. Our vision is that county council operations should not add any environmentally hazardous remains of medicinal product to the natural surroundings. The aim is for the levels of the most environmentally hazardous medicinal products in effluents from wastewater plants or in surface water to be lower in 2011 than in 2005.
Stockholm County Council will give priority to pharmaceuticals that are not harmful to the environment and work to influence the pharmaceutical industry to take into account environmental issues in the long-term. One aspect of this work is the assessment and classification of medications according to their impact on the environment.
The results of the environmental assessment of a selection of drug compounds are displayed under the heading "environmentally classified medications" in the menu on the right. The classification is being gradually extended and around fifty substances have been added to this year´s edition. By 2010 we expect all medications marketed in Sweden to have been assessed for environmental risk. Classification is made of both the medication´s inherent ability to affect the environment (environmental hazard) and the environmental risk posed by the pharmaceutical substances when used to their current extent.
The environmental hazzard assessment was initiated in 2003 by Stockholms County Council´s environmental department and is based on data from pharmaceuticals manufacturers.
During 2005 the classification was extended to also cover an environmental risk assessment carried out by the Swedish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Contact information Siv Martini
E-mail:
janusredaktionen@sll.seDepartment of Drug Management and Informatics,
Stockholm County Council
Last updated: 2008-07-23