[Pharmwaste] Research on Contaminants in Canadian and EuropeanWaters?

[Volkman, Jennifer]

I've given up on finding hard statistics and have started going with the
simple anecdotal approach...
 
If you just think about how much medication you take vs. how much you
throw out, you get an idea of the percentage that is excreted vs. that
which has the potential to be directly sewered.  It will certainly vary
per household and the more prescriptions a person is on, the more likely
it is that the waste percentage will increase due to periodic
prescription adjustments.  Either way, it is true that the majority of
what we measure in water is excreted.  WQ programs here in MN are aware
of this and are working on treatment issues.  Regardless, they feel very
strongly that MN needs a waste pharm collection system and that
prevention efforts by the healthcare industry are also parts of a whole
solution.  
 
The group most interested in collecting waste pharms in MN right now is
law enforcement and this is due to the abuse potential of "controlled
substance" pharms (~10% of what is typically collected).  Prescription
drug abuse continues to rise and with that, you can guess that related
crime has increased and that the elderly and others dependent on some of
these pharms are particularly vulnerable.  These days, if your teen has
a party, you have to make sure you don't have any accessible CS in the
medicine cabinet, along with hiding the booze. I believe the greatest
benefit of pharm collection is a reduction in the amount of CS pharms
available for abuse.  Law enforcement present at one event here in MN
estimated the street value of the CS they collected to be $20,000.
Based on the willingness of law enforcement to be a critical part of
collection activities here in MN, you should be able to work with law
enforcement in your area to gain support for your collection efforts.
Technically, only law enforcement can possess CS, so you need them
involved anyway.  They can provide security and could be talked into
covering at least a portion of the costs for advertising, properly
managing the controlled substances or whatever else you can think of.

 
-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Rachel G.
Smith
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2008 7:54 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Research on Contaminants in Canadian and
EuropeanWaters?



	Hello,
	
	I was wondering if anyone has any kind of pre/post data from
regions where there has been a comprehensive drug return system in place
for some time (I'm thinking Canada and/or Europe).
	
	I was reading through the responses of Dr. Shane A. Snyder of
the Southern Nevada Water Authority to questions posed by the Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works.  In Dr. Snyder's words, "the
majority of compounds detected in source waters are not the result of
improper disposal, but rather are attributable to human excretion of
non-metabolized medications."  
	
	I have, of course, heard this before, but usually from drug
manufacturers and not from an individual representing water treatment
facilities.  It stands to reason that, if this statement is indeed the
case, then pre-return-program data would not differ considerably from
post-program data.  At least that would be the closest we may be able to
get to a controlled experiment.
	
	Does anybody have or know if this kind of data?  If so, could
you please send it to me or let me know where I could get it.
	
	In case you're wondering, I'm coming at this issue from an
environmental education perspective.  We have very limited funds and, if
some sort of return mechanism were to be put in place in North Carolina,
we would want to make sure that dedicating funds to its promotion would
be going towards solving this issue.
	
	I appreciate everyone's time and help in this matter!
	
	Sincerely,
	Rachel Golden Smith
	
	-- 
	Rachel Golden Smith 
	Adult Environmental Education Program Manager 
	Office of Environmental Education 
	NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources 
	1609 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1609 
	919-733-0711 (phone) 919-733-1616 (fax) 
	Rachel.G.Smith at ncmail.net 
	www.eenorthcarolina.org 
	
	Check out the Eco-Smart Consumer Blog
<http://eco-smartconsumer.blogspot.com/> ! 

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