Chapter 11: Environmental Regulations and the Green Chemist

Although the pharmaceutical industry is known to be a highly regulated one, most people are only aware of the impact of legislation arising from the medical regulators such as FDA in the USA and EMA in the European Union. However, all scientists, including those who work in the pharmaceutical sector, are subject to environmental regulations, and in some cases these can have major impacts on many aspects of their work. This chapter explores the range of environmental legislation that impacts on the work of medicinal chemists in the pharmaceutical industry, from the direct impact of health safety and environmental regulation in the laboratory to indirect impacts on manufacturing routes and the products themselves.