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Arzneistoffe mit Verdacht auf sensibilisierende und CMR-Eigenschaften

Aim: Health care workers can be exposed to various hazardous drugs. Medications containing carcinogenic or mutagenic pharmaceuticals or those which are toxic to reproduction (CMR-medications) and medications containing sensitizing substances can pose serious health risks. Recognition of the hazardous substances is difficult since drug labels do not declare chemical hazards. This often makes it difficult to take adequate safety measures. Aim of the study was the identification of drugs with sensitizing or CMR-properties as a contribution to risk assessment and evaluation of the impact of potentially hazardous drugs.

Methods: In the course of an investigation of chemical hazards in pharmacies, an extensive review of the literature was performed to identify drugs with known sensitizing or CMR-properties.

Results: The study revealed that more than 500 drugs are reported to have sensitizing or CMR-properties. The identified substances are not limited to cytotoxic drugs but include pharmaceuticals of all 20 most frequently prescribed medication-groups.

Conclusions: It has to be acknowledged that pharmaceuticals frequently have sensitizing or CMR-properties. The impact of the hazardous properties varies among the pharmaceuticals and the actual risks involved in handling the drugs remains to be determined. Therefore, adequate safety measures need to be established to ensure the safety of healthcare workers. Since various safety measures are available for the preparation and application of drugs, the choice of measures needs to be discussed with respect to their efficiency, practicability, and economy.