The issue of pharmaceutical products (PPs) in the environment has gained relevance over the last decades. In many countries, trace amounts of a significant number of these compounds have been found in environmental waters, as well as, typically in smaller concentrations, in the drinking water supply. As such, this issue is potentially of both environmental and human health relevance and it is important to explore risk perception and communication in this area. For instance, the scientific knowledge on this area is relatively new, therefore the level of public and stakeholder awareness might be low. Furthermore, considering that the concentrations of PPs measured are typically very low, many stakeholders might not sure this poses a risk. In addition, there are numerous knowledge gaps on the different aspects of the risks posed by PPs in the environment that might difficult providing answers to the concerns that stakeholders might have, such as the potential efficacy of different activities that might reduce PPs (e.g. development of environmentally friendly pharmaceuticals; standardized regulation for the disposal of unused pharmaceuticals; introduction of an ecolabel for environmentally friendly pharmaceuticals; promoting non-medical treatment and prevention). For last, local practices towards pharmaceutical legislation, prescription, intake and recycling might also influence risk perception on pharmaceuticals in the environment. For instance, in Sweden there is already available an environmental information and classification system that allows choosing between therapeutically equivalent compounds, therefore the level of awareness is expected to be relatively higher than in other countries. The goal of this communication is to present and compare risk perceptions from stakeholders of Central Europe (Germany and Hungary) and United Kingdom (Project PHARMAS) with stakeholders from Southwest Europe (Project Innovec'EAU - France, Spain, and Portugal) and to derive recommendations that might contribute to managing the risk of PPs in the environment.
Acknowledgement: The Innovec’EAU Project (SOE1/P1/F0173) is supported by Interreg SUDOE Programme through European Regional Development Funds (ERDF).
http://innovec-eau.univ-perp.fr/fr/menu/innovec-eau/accueil/