Want Green Pharmaceuticals? See (Sea) Microbes
December 24th, 2009 Posted in Green Living & News
Our culture has become obsessed with the idea of going green. There are green products, green buildings, even “going green” summits. My hometown of Pittsburgh was chosen as the site for the 2009 G-20 summit, largely because it houses the first green convention center in the country. So green pharmaceuticals are just the next natural step, right? (Get it, natural step?)
Pharmaceutical companies are often criticized for having a large carbon footprint, the measure of their carbon dioxide emissions. To produce pharmaceuticals, a large number of chemical reactions have to take place. These chemical reactions demand large amounts of fuel usage, causing pharmaceutical production to damage the environment.
But researchers at the Heriot-Watt University and Plymouth Marine Laboratory in Europe have made it their mission to find microbes in the ocean that can be used to naturally produce chemical reactions needed to make pharmaceuticals.
There are many diverse kinds of marine microbes that have developed through evolution. These microbes perform chemical reactions naturally that, until now, have always been simulated in the lab. When these processes are simulated, producers of pharmaceuticals must start from scratch each time. This makes the process of production slow and costly.
But using marine microbes allows pharmaceuticals to be produced from the midway point of the chemical reaction, making it easier to produce life-saving drugs. Using microbes instead of synthetic chemical processes would therefore help reduce waste and increase productivity. Pharmaceuticals would be more green, of course, but would also cost less.
Do you care about going green?
There are small things you can do at home to help reduce your own carbon footprint, such as turning off the water when you brush your teeth and shutting off lights when you leave a room.
Also, buying organic can help reduce your carbon footprint because organic products are produced naturally, without releasing carbon dioxide into the environment.
When choosing an insecticide for that pesky insect problem, look no further than organic EcoSMART products, like the Flying Insect Killer.
