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healthaegis
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作者：healthaegis 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Don't flush your old prescription drugs; they could harm the environment
https://www.wiscnews.com/pdr/news/133889
By Jen McCoy, Daily Register
Prescription medications can flush toxins from the body, but flushing the expired or unused remedies down pipes into the local sewer system may increase toxins in the environment.
Some medications can't break down biologically in the sewer system, according to Skip Poster, chief of the wastewater treatment plant in Portage.
"It dissolves in water and could go out to the river and be harmful to fish. We have a biological process that breaks down material, but if it (the medications) goes right through, it's like dumping it in the river," Poster said.
In the local sewage system microorganisms grow on shafts rotating through the water, feeding on organic material coming into the plant. The tiny organisms break down the acceptable material, but anything in solid form, such as sand, is taken out because it can't be broken down, Poster said.
"We have a problem in some places with dumping (prescriptions) down the drain and hurting the microorganisms," Poster said. "It varies, but (it occurs) once a week to once a month. But our system bounces back."
Sewage treatment plants were not designed to remove such chemicals, and many drugs are showing up in surface and ground water, according to the National Environmental Services Center. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are some of these emerging contaminants and PPCP levels are not regulated in drinking water, according to the NESC.
Significant sources of PPCPs include nursing homes, chemical manufacturing facilities, veterinary clinics, hospitals, meat processors and runoff from animal feeding operations. But the larger source of PPCPs are derived from regular households, according to the NESC, where PPCPs enter wastewater treatment through human excrement, flushing medications and washing chemicals down the drain.
Not only do medications hurt the environment, they can also hurt the wallet of taxpayers.
"We get charged a fee by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) for it going into the river," Poster said. "The higher (toxins in the water) it is, the higher you are charged."
Lt. Penny Kiefer, of the Portage Police Department, said individuals can drop off old or unused prescription medications at the station at any time. Her TRIAD group, partnering senior citizens and law enforcement, will be collecting prescriptions May 19 for proper disposal at Walgreens. The collection will be from 9 a.m. to noon. Divine Savior Healthcare is also involved in the collection of over-the-counter or prescribed medications. No amount is too small or too large.
"With all the medications we're on now, a doctor may prescribe something and someone will take it for two or three days because it is not working for them," Kiefer said. "The doctor writes a new prescription and the old one goes into the trash where it falls into the wrong hands with Dumpster diving."
Dumpster diving is when individuals search through garbage for clothes, food and sometimes old medications for abusing.
Medications should not be changed to other prescription bottles either, Kiefer said, because the plastic takes on the property of the medication. It is also illegal to take prescription medications out of their prescribed bottles, Kiefer said.
Kiefer is adamant about proper disposal, so much so that drivers can pull their vehicle up to the drop-off site at Walgreens and simply hand them over.
"It's an ongoing program, but we always get excited because it raises awareness," Kiefer said.
To further the disposal problems, not all prescription bottles can be recycled, particularly the caps. It is recommended that people peel labels off the bottles, according to Bill Casey, director of the Columbia County Recycling and Waste Processing Facility.
"There are people who fish around in Dumpsters looking for the meds and they will try to refill them," Casey said. "We actually get bottles with drugs still in them, and that's not the best thing. There are many steps along the way before it gets to the recycling ... so many individuals with access to them, we try not to have a risk that isn't necessary."
There are no government guidelines for the disposal of drugs by the consumer, according to the NESC. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulate the disposal of pharmaceuticals at the manufacturers level.
作者：healthaegis 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
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 [FYI]Pharm Waste Disposal -- healthaegis - (4726 Byte) 2007-5-15 周二, 03:07 (1614 reads)
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