[Pharmwaste] A prescription for disaster

[DeBiasi,Deborah]

Published - Thursday, April 19, 2007

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A prescription for disaster

By ELENA GRIMM | Special correspondent


Flushing old pills down the toilet or throwing them in the trash might
clear out the bathroom cupboard, but scientists around the country are
finding that these drugs are winding up in our lakes and streams - and
creating problems for fish that swim in them.

The Food and Drug Administration regulates roughly 11,000 drugs on the
U.S. market. Unwanted medications that are flushed into wastewater or
seep into groundwater at landfills eventually expose water creatures to
thousands of chemicals that interact with their bodies like medications
interact with the human body.

But what else is there to do?

Jeff Gloyd, director of the

La Crosse County Household Hazardous Waste Program, thinks there is a
better way to handle unwanted medications without getting in the water
supply: by treating this type of waste as hazardous waste instead.

"It's all pretty new," Gloyd said. "It's a topic that has really come to
a head."

Fish are used as an indicator of ecosystem health as a whole, Gloyd
said. If fish are unhealthy, human health might be affected as well.

In 1999 and 2000, the first nationwide study by the U.S. Geological
Survey collected water samples from 139 streams across 30 states.
Pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants were found in 80 percent
of the streams sampled.

Though most of the water samples held traces of pharmaceuticals deemed
safe for wildlife and drinking water standards, many of these small
amounts were mixtures of chemicals that might be more toxic than each
chemical alone.

In early March, Gloyd met with about 20 representatives of water and
waste treatment plants, pharmaceutical and health care industries and
city and county officials to discuss the idea of having a permanent
medication collection at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection
Facility. La Crosse County residents would be able to drop off their
unwanted medications during regular business hours at the facility,
located adjacent to the county landfill on Highway 16.

The danger

The prevalence of prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the water
is clear. The impact on wildlife and human health is not as clear, but
aquatic scientists around the nation are scrambling to find out.

Researchers at the Great Lakes Water Institute in Milwaukee and
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee students have been trying to find
answers since last summer, taking their research vessel out to Lake
Michigan, where they have studied the fathead minnow - a long, silver
fish native to Wisconsin.

Rebecca Klaper, the leading scientist in the study, said preliminary
data show that some of the same biochemical pathways are "turned on" in
the fish as in humans.

"Pharmaceuticals are designed for a very specific mode of action,"
Klaper said. The fish biochemical systems are responding to the
chemicals the same way the human body responds.

In particular, the researchers have found in their preliminary data that
lipid-regulating compounds, such as Lipitor or Zocor, are causing fish
to deposit fat into their eggs, which might affect reproduction.

Antidepressants, such as Prozac, appear to be affecting the nervous
system of male fatheads, leading to abnormal behavior when preparing the
female for nesting.

Klaper said some males are "missing a few steps" when they prepare the
female for nesting. Typically, she said, the male cleans an area under a
rock or stick for her nest, chases her there, and performs a dance to
get her to lay eggs.

As in the USGS study, the concentrations found by Klaper's team were
low, but other factors might have more severe implications than what the
data reveal.

"It impacts the development of the fish over time," Klaper said. "They
are dosed at such an early stage and constantly, whereas humans taking
these medications are much older."

Klaper said that they are still at an early stage of research.

Other studies in the past few years are finding some of the same results
as Klaper's preliminary data.

Out east, fish possessing both male and female characteristics were
discovered in the Potomac River. More than 80 percent of all male
smallmouth bass researchers found were growing eggs, believed to be
caused by endocrine disruptors - contaminants that interfere with
hormonal systems.

Scientists at the University of Colorado in Boulder have found similar
intersex characteristics with sucker fish, and researchers at the
University of Georgia found that frogs and fish exposed to
antidepressants develop more slowly than normal. Delayed metamorphosis
in frogs might cause tadpoles to dry out and die.

The cure

La Crosse County might be leading the country by setting up one of the
first permanent medication disposal sites.

"There are three things we want to make sure happen," Gloyd said. "One
is to follow all laws, two is to do this in the most environmentally way
possible and three is to make this a permanent year-round collection."

Joe Kruse, a health administrator who is spearheading the proposal with
Gloyd, said, "The main goal is to raise public awareness and to create
some options for citizens to not just throw (medications) away, and
especially not flushing them."

Medications would be collected just like other hazardous waste. People
would dump their old pills straight into a 55-gallon container of
solvent, which dissolves the pills into a useless brown muck. The drums
are shipped away for incineration.

One hurdle to pass is making sure collection complies with strict Drug
Enforcement Administration regulations of controlled substances.

Because only law enforcement officials are allowed to handle drugs in
this category, like OxyContin and morphine, Gloyd and two other
hazardous waste staff would have to be "deputized" - taking an oath that
gives them limited deputy responsibilities such as handling controlled
substances.

La Crosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson, who will administer the
deputation, said that this option will save people a trip to the
sheriff's department to dispose of medications that are controlled.

After meeting with the sheriff and attorneys recently, Gloyd said "the
stars are kind of aligning" for the collection to begin, with mid-summer
as the intended starting time.

First, though, the county and the DEA must approve the idea.

Collecting medications as hazardous waste is not new. San Mateo County
in California offers drop-off boxes for medications at city police
departments. In Wisconsin, one-day collections in Brown and Milwaukee
counties and the city of Marshfield have brought in up to 400 pounds of
medications each time, Gloyd said.

"Anecdotally, that's a good plan," he said of the one-day events. "But
in the grand scheme of things, what is that saying?"

A permanent solution is the preferred way, he said. 

Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032