[Pharmwaste] Question about haz med waste

[Jaramillo, Jeanie]

From: http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastetypes/universal/pharm.htm#4



What pharmaceutical drugs are considered hazardous waste?



There are approximately 31 commercial chemical products listed on RCRA's P- and U-lists that have pharmaceutical uses. As the P- and U-lists are based on chemical designations, this number does not completely represent the total number of brand name pharmaceuticals that may actually be listed hazardous wastes. For example, the following chemotherapy drugs, CTX, Cytotoxan, Neosar and Procytox, are U058 (cyclophosamide).



In addition, waste pharmaceuticals may also be hazardous because they exhibit one or more of the four characteristics of hazardous waste: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity. Characteristic pharmaceutical wastes include those that exhibit the ignitability characteristic, such as solutions containing more than 24% alcohol. An example of a pharmaceutical that may exhibit the reactivity characteristic is nitroglycerine. Pharmaceuticals exhibiting the corrosivity characteristic are generally limited to compounding chemicals, including strong acids, such as glacial acetic acid, and strong bases, such as sodium hydroxide. Depending on the concentration in different pharmaceutical preparations, pharmaceuticals may also exhibit the toxicity characteristic because of the use of arsenic (D004), barium (D005), cadmium (D006), chloroform (D022), chromium (D007), lindane (D013), m-cresol (D024), mercury (D009), selenium (D010), and silver (D011). As thousands of over-the-counter or prescription drugs are currently approved for sale in the U.S., it is difficult to provide a precise number of pharmaceuticals that are listed and/or characteristic under RCRA (for a complete listing of FDA-approved drugs, please see FDA's Orange Book.







Jeanie Jaramillo, PharmD

Managing Director, Texas Panhandle Poison Center

Assistant Professor, Texas Tech UHSC School of Pharmacy

1501 S. Coulter St.

Amarillo, TX 79106

P: (806) 354-1611

C: (806) 672-0833

F: (806) 354-1667

Cisco IP: 30412






From: Sue Dayton [mailto:sdayton at swcp.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 6:09 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us; 'Tenace, Laurie'
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Question about haz med waste

Good morning!

I need help. Can anyone on this list serve send me information re: the following:


 1.  List of pharmaceutical drugs classified as hazardous.
 2.  List of chemotherapeutical chemicals classified as hazardous.
 3.  Any other type of medical waste that may be classified or considered hazardous waste.

Thank you in advance!

Best -

Sue Dayton
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
North Carolina Healthy Communities Program
PO BOX 44
Saxapahaw, NC 27340
(336) 525-2003
sdayton at swcp.com<mailto:sdayton at swcp.com>



Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.   -  Martin Luther King Jr.




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