WA state medicine return program--keep it out of our water!

[eridani]

http://www.sightline.org/publications/enewsletters/CSNews/take-it-back

Washington’s new medicine return program helps keep waterways cleanHave you ever opened your (or a loved one’s) medicine cabinet and wondered what to do with the myriad bottles of expired or leftover medications? The obvious options are to toss them, flush them, or leave them in the cabinet to deal with later. But all of these options have problems. Fortunately, now in Washington there’s a better way, thanks to a new medicine return pilot program.


What’s wrong with flushing?Throwing prescription medicines in the garbage, or leaving them in the cabinet, carries the risk they get into the wrong hands, leading to drug abuse, accidental poisoning, and death. So the conventional wisdom has been to flush left over medicine. But it turns out there’s a nasty side effect to flushing drugs: they’re showing up in our waterways, affecting our fish and wildlife, and maybe us as well.


A study by the United States Geological Survey showed prescription drug chemicals in 80 percent of the streams surveyed across the country. They get there when medications are flushed, put in the garbage, and passed through our bodies. Conventional wastewater facilities aren’t designed to eliminate these compounds, which include endocrine disruptors, hormones, narcotics, and antibiotics. A growing body of evidence shows that these contaminants are disrupting basic life functions like reproduction and development, affecting the systems of hundreds of aquatic animals and plants. For species that are already struggling, exposure to these chemicals is another nail in the coffin.


In response to this growing problem, several government agencies, private pharmacies, and the non-profit Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation have partnered to create a pilot Medicine Return program in Washington State. The program enables residents to drop off their unwanted medicines (including prescription, OTC, ointments, vitamins, etc.) in secure bins at participating pharmacies across the state, including Group Health and later this year, Bartell Drugs. For a complete list of return locations and accepted medicines see www.MedicineReturn.com.

[eridani]

1. Kick for useful information n/t

[eridani]

2. Informational kick n/t

[eridani]

3. Informational kick n/t

[SeattleGirl]

4. Thanks for the info, eridani.

I hope this program expands to other places too.

[eridani]

5. Informational kick n/t

[eridani]

6. Son of Informational Kick n/t

[eridani]

7. Return of Son of Informational Kick

:kick:

[merwin]

8. I never had a problem with throwing them in the trash.

They're childproof, so that rules out accidental death and/or abuse by small children. Why should I care what strangers do with my trash. And for that matter, if I've got strangers rooting through my trash then I have bigger problems than if my leftover antidepressants are being abused by homeless people.

[eridani]

9. That isn't the problem. There are all kinds of bad effects from antibiotics and other meds

--in water and soil. It's mainly an ecological thing.

[eridani]

10. Kick n/t

[eridani]

11. Fresh 2010 kick n/t

[eridani]

12. Kick again n/t

[eridani]

13. Semi-annual information kick n/t

[Kennah]

14. State link

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/hwtr/pharmaceuticals/index.html

[eridani]

15. Yet another informational kick n/t