Why Are Pharmaceuticals Hazardous?
The use of pharmaceuticals in this country by the general population is common and growing. In the United States, sales of over-the-counter medicines have increased by 60 percent since the 1990’s.
This means that more and more households have leftover medications that they need to dispose of including controlled substances, over the counter medications, prescription drugs and vitamins. These drugs are referred to by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as PPCPs (pharmaceuticals and personal care products).
A survey completed in 1997 showed that 63 percent of the population has disposed of leftover medications in the past. Many households will store medications for awhile before they finally resort to flushing them down the toilet, disposing them in the trash or giving them to someone else.
Recent scientific studies are showing that the drugs we are taking are showing up in our environment. This occurs in a number or ways. Drugs, or pharmaceuticals as they are known, improperly disposed of pose a number of hazards to people, wildlife and the environment.
Improper disposal of pharmaceutical waste poses significant risks to children and the elderly. For example, medications placed in the trash without taking precautions to secure the container, make the medication unpalatable or disguise the content are often accessible to children and pets, sometimes resulting in unintentional poisonings. And medications disposed of with their original labels intact can result in identity theft and drug theft.
Actually, most medications may not be classified as hazardous waste. Just certain types that exhibit characteristics of other hazardous waste. For example, a cough syrup may contain alcohol and be ignitable or flammable. A fungicide may contain poison.
Of course almost any substance can be hazardous to your health. It all depends on the dose or the amount you take.
The real concern about improper disposal of pharmaceuticals is not so much whether or not they are hazardous, but the effect they may have on humans and the environment when improperly disposed.
Recent studies have identified PPCPs in lakes and streams nationwide, and many of these pollutants are believed to be coming from municipal wastewater discharges. There is increasing concern that the pharmaceuticals present in surface waters could cause various disruptive environmental effects, including endocrine disruption in aquatic life and increased antibiotic resistance.
The impacts of pharmaceuticals in surface waters, including effects on aquatic life development and effects on human development, are still being studied. While these studies are occurring, it is reasonable and prudent to be cautious about accepting pharmaceutical wastes into your sewer system.
Read more on what you can do to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals and personal care products to protect yourself, your loved ones and the environment in the following installments of our series on pharmaceuticals.
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As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
nerraw
posted on November 6th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
The best way to dispose of old medication is to mix it with dirty cat litter then bag it an dispose of it in an approved landfill. If you have no cats, use clean litter, make like a cat yourself then dispose of it as above. In this way child, drugees, or no one else will fool around with it. Cheap, easy and safe.
dmains
posted on February 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
But then it gets into the water. That sounds just as bad as flushing it. Just because it goes to landfill doesn’t make it non hazardous.