Recommendations on the environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals: Effect characterization.

The effects testing of pharmaceuticals consists of a tiered investigation of ecotoxicological endpoints. However, effects testing has to be performed only when the predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) of pharmaceuticals are above certain action limits. To study the appropriateness of these action limits, a literature search was performed for pharmaceuticals with predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs) close to or below the action limits.

Pharmaceutical management through environmental product labeling in Sweden.

There is an increased awareness that medicinal products for human use may cause negative effects in the environment. In Sweden a voluntary environmental classification system for drugs has been established in collaboration between producers, authorities and the public health care, and used for five years. The idea is to enhance the market demand for medicines with less environmental impact, which in turn will stimulate the producers to design future medicines to be more environmentally friendly.

High and low response in relation to nitric oxide formation but not to lipid peroxidation in patients with sepsis.

Objectives: Nitric oxide overproduction in sepsis syndrome was suspected to be responsible for hemodynamic derangement and, by induction of lipid peroxidation, for tissue damage. Therefore, nitric oxide formation and lipid peroxidation were quantified in septic patients (SP) vs. patients with localized infection (IF) or without inflammation (C).