3 Ways Meds and Personal Care Products enter our Environment

Things that make you go – Oh or Uh-oh. Environment can be read as water supply for my purposes. Medications, both prescription and otc (over-the-counter) medications enter our water supplies through:
1 – Excretion from the body through urination or defecation
2 – Washed off of the body during bathing
3 – Unused or Expired medications getting flushed

Personal care products (lotions, shampoos, deodorants, etc.) enter the water supply in the same way.

Is there a safe level? We don’t know.
Does bottled water protect me? Probably not.
What may happen to us over time? We don’t know.
What may happen to our aquatic life? We don’t know.
Am I trying to scare you? No, just make you aware.

I know that it is “trace amounts.” What can we do to help? Well, we can dispose of the things that we have control over, properly. At this point, there are no approved drop-off points for unused medications. We are told to take them out of their bottle and mix them with kitty litter or used coffee grounds and then place in a container and throw in the trash. I had a lot of folks come by the pharmacy and ask if we could take them back or dispose of them. We couldn’t. It was against the law in some cases and the company that we used for our expired medications would not take back anything that was not in its original container. We couldn’t help them dispose of their needles either. It is best to buy a sharps container and mail it in to the destruction/incineration center.

I am not getting into the cost or who should pay for x, y, or z. That is not my area. My area is right where I am and what I can do for my “neck of the woods. ” What if everyone took care of their own” neck of the woods? ” Would it make an impact? Sure, it would on the water issue and keeping our kids from “pharming.”

Here is a link to the guidelines:

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/prescrip_disposal.pdf