Voluntary Limits On Antibacterial Discharges Increase As Fear Of Resistance Grows

Pharmaceutical companies are ratcheting up voluntary efforts to control discharges of antimicrobials from their plants and those of their active pharmaceutical ingredient suppliers so they won’t contribute to antimicrobial resistance. But will it be enough to fend off regulation in countries like India?

Foam forms in the water of the Musi river in the southern Indian town of Edulabad, near Hyderabad. Antibiotics and other drugs are produced in Hyderabad and exported to Europe and elsewhere. • Source: Alamy

Pharmaceutical companies are putting more limits on the environmental release of their antibacterial ingredients in liquid waste discharges, the non-profit Access to Medicine Foundation says in an 18 November report.

However, a “huge gap remains” in ensuring standards apply to third-party active pharmaceutical ingredient suppliers, notes the foundation, which is...

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