Applying environmental product design to biomedical products research

The principal themes for the Biomedical Research and the Environment Confer ence Committee on Environmental Economics in Biomedical Research include th e following: healthcare delivery companies and biomedical research organiza tions, both nonprofit and for-profit, need to improve their environmental p erformance; suppliers of healthcare products will be called upon to support this need; and improving the environmental profile of healthcare products begins in research and development (R&D). The committee report begins with requirements from regulatory authorities [e.g., U.S. Environmental Protecti on Agency [EPA], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and the healthcare delivery sector). The 1998 American Hospital Association and EPA Memorandu m of Understanding to reduce solid waste and mercury from healthcare facili ties is emblematic of these requirements. The dominant message from the req uirements discussion is to ensure that R&D organizations do not ignore cust omer, environmental, and regulatory requirements in the early stages of pro duct development. Several representatives from healthcare products manufact urers presented their companies' approaches to meeting these requirements. They reported on efforts to ensure that their R&D processes are sensitive t o the environmental consequences from manufacturing, distributing, using, a nd disposing of healthcare products. These reports describe representatives ' awareness of requirements and the unique approaches their R&D organizatio ns have taken to meet these requirements. All representatives reported that their R&D organizations have embraced environmental product design because it avoids the potential of returning products to R&D to improve the enviro nmental profile. Additionally, several reports detailed cost savings, susta inability benefits, and improvements in environmental manufacturing or rede sign, and increased customer satisfaction. Many companies in healthcare del ivery are working to improve environmental performance. Fundamental to thes e efforts is the necessity of motivating suppliers to improve the environme ntal profile of new products used in the healthcare delivery sector.