Under its policy of continuous improvement, the company is working on plans to develop novel waste recovery and recycling technologies at its life sciences research and manufacturing facility in Cardiff. If successful, these could cut discharges of radioactivity from the facility by over 50 per cent, reducing the small environmental impact that the facility places upon the environment.

At the Amersham Laboratories, the company submitted proposals to the Environment Agency to reduce the amount of radioactivity it is permitted to discharge to the environment. The application of new techniques and methods to manage wastes better and reduce their production will enable the company to operate with lower emission limits and a minimal impact upon the environment.

In 1999 claims were made that the authorised discharge of radioactivity from the facility in Cardiff could be linked to past human health effects. The company immediately commissioned independent studies of the claims from epidemiologists and statisticians and asked the UK's National Radiological Protection Board, the local health authority and the Environment Agency Wales for their comments. The findings revealed no evidence to support the claims and The National Assembly for Wales has subsequently declared that they were without foundation. No further action is envisaged by the relevant authorities.