Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
White House Issues Guidance on Methods For Disposal of Unneeded Prescription Drugs
The White House has issued guidelines on the proper disposal of prescription drugs to prevent misuse of the drugs and to prevent water and soil pollution, the Office of National Drug Control Policy said in a press release Feb. 21.
The Proper Disposal of Prescription Drugs provides five pointers that include flushing of prescription drugs down the toilet, but only when the Food and Drug Administration specifies it can be done safely. The guidelines were developed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The purpose of the guidelines is to prevent teenagers from misusing prescription drugs and to prevent pollution of the nation's soil and water through improper disposal and handling, ONDCP said.
The recommendations are as follows:
-
Remove unused drugs from containers.
-
Mix the drugs with kitty litter and coffee grounds and place them in impermeable containers, ensuring they are not ingested by children or pets.
Throw the containers in the trash.
-
Flush prescription drugs down the toilet only if the accompanying patient package inserts instruct that it is safe to do so.
-
Return unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs to pharmaceutical take-back locations that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for safe disposal.
Recent studies by the U.S. Geological Survey indicate a growing concentration of pharmaceuticals in wastewater near urban centers and pesticides near rural waterways. Although the human health and environmental effects of the chemicals in wastewater are not understood completely, USGS and EPA scientists agree that some chemicals, such as those found in detergents, have been shown to disrupt reproduction and growth in fish by affecting their endocrine systems.
Flushing Only in 'Handful' of Cases
Jennifer de Vallance, ONDCP spokeswoman, told BNA that the policy to flush prescription drugs is only for those "handful" of drugs, such as the narcotic fentanyl, for which FDA has specified "immediate flushing."
"That is because these handful of prescription drugs have a high potential for misuse among teenagers," de Vallance said. "Our point is that the vast majority of drugs should be thrown in the trash."
De Vallance added that EPA's position is the science is "unclear" about the
environmental consequences of flushing prescriptions into the nation's waters.
"EPA contends that most of the nation's landfills are lined and, therefore, the
agency has less concern about leaching into soil and water tables with trash
disposal than they do about drugs getting into water supplies through flushing,"
De Vallance said.
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in the press release that "improper drug disposal is an environmental and societal concern." He reiterated that EPA was continuing to research the effects of pharmaceuticals in waters.
In December 2006, EPA issued its 2006 effluent guidelines plan, which said it would study the effects of discharging pharmaceuticals from hospitals into the nation's waterways (242 DEN A-1, 12/18/06 )).
In June 2005, the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy's toxic and risk subcommittee set up a task force charged with developing an integrated approach to identify research needs for pharmaceuticals and personal care products that are entering the waterways.
In addition to EPA, the agencies involved in the task force are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Drug Enforcement Administration, FDA, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USGS, and Department of Agriculture (31 DEN A-1, 2/15/06 ).
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents more than 300 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants, told BNA that flushing unused drugs down the toilet should be done "only as a last resort, or as the guidance suggests, only if it is safe to do so."
"The jury is still out as to the impacts increased levels of hormones and other pharmaceuticals have on aquatic life, but consumers should err on the side of caution and do what they can to keep these compounds from getting in the water in the first place," said Susan Bruninga, NACWA's public affairs director.
The White House policy is available at
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/prescrip_disposal.pdf.
By Amena H. Saiyid