Environmentally Safe and Just Pharmacy: A Framework and Action Plan for Operating within the Earth System Boundary for Novel Entities
Alistair B. A. Boxall, Priyanie Amerasinghe, Sally Beckenham, Michael G. Bertram, Sally Gaw, Austin D. Gray, Karen A. Kidd, Laura M. Langan, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Jack L. Manera, Karina S. B. Miglioranza, Rik Oldenkamp, Bryan W. Brooks · 2026
Read Environmentally Safe and Just Pharmacy: A Framework and Action Plan for Operating within the Earth System Boundary for Novel Entities by Alistair B. A. Boxall, Priyanie Amerasinghe, Sally Beckenham, Michael G. Bertram, Sally Gaw, Austin D. Gray, Karen A. Kidd, Laura M. Langan, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Jack L. Manera, Karina S. B. Miglioranza, Rik Oldenkamp, Bryan W. Brooks (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13192310.txt.
Description
Alistair Boxall and co-authors set out a plan for making pharmacy safe for the planet as well as for patients, in this 2026 paper. Drug ingredients heal people but leak into water and soil, where they harm wildlife and breed drug-resistant microbes. By the authors' measure, current practice already breaches the Earth system limit for such new chemical entities.
The team proposes a framework of four broad tests and twelve sub-tests covering a drug's whole life, from design to disposal. Judged against it, today's practices align only partly or poorly. Weak points include ignoring environmental effects at the design stage and thin data from poorer countries. The paper stresses the burden on Indigenous and marginalized communities whose lands and livelihoods suffer from contamination. A ten-point road map aims at a fair, sustainable system by 2050, with greener chemistry and upgraded waste treatment.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Alistair B. A. Boxall, Priyanie Amerasinghe, Sally Beckenham, Michael G. Bertram, Sally Gaw, Austin D. Gray, Karen A. Kidd, Laura M. Langan, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Jack L. Manera, Karina S. B. Miglioranza, Rik Oldenkamp, Bryan W. Brooks |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 56 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |