[Pharmwaste] A "minute" move in the right direction to keep RXoutof the H2O

Wed Jan 13 15:59:31 EST 2010

Good start, Sue.  Every bit of a pollutant kept out of the waters is
that much less that can have unintended consequences and has to be
removed later. 

I found that it took very little effort to get the landlords for our
central office and the 7 regional offices of the state environmental
agency to stop providing us with triclosan-containing soaps in all of
the restrooms.  The information I provided to staff on triclosan was
shared and disseminated to their families and other businesses, so those
consumers began to make more environmentally friendly decisions.  

At least one of the EPA regions is working on becoming triclosan-free at
the office, too.  Public education goes a long way in fighting these
battles.

Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov (NEW!)
PH:         804-698-4028

  _____  

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Sue
Dayton
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 3:07 PM
To: 'Al White'; 'Massoomi, Fred'; 'Hyun, Karen'; 'Mannina, George J.';
pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] A "minute" move in the right direction to keep
RXoutof the H2O

This is what I do. See attached. 

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

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

  _____  

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Al White
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 2:44 PM
To: 'Massoomi, Fred'; 'Hyun, Karen'; 'Mannina, George J.';
pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] A "minute" move in the right direction to keep RX
outof the H2O

But what are we going to do about the even bigger danger of flushing/
draining the urine, feces and millions of cleaning and personal care
products??

The unused "Meds" are barely the tip of the iceberg.

Al White

From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Massoomi,
Fred
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 2:18 PM
To: Hyun, Karen; Mannina, George J.; pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] A move in the right direction to keep RX out of
the H2O

Health facilities, NY settle over drug-flushing

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 12:11 PM CST Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:11 PM
ESTUpdated: Jan 13, 2010 4:37 AM CST Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:37 AM
EST

By MARCUS FRANKLIN
Associated Press Writer 

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a
settlement Tuesday with five health care facilities that flushed
pharmaceutical waste into the New York City watersheds.

Cuomo reached agreements with the two hospitals and three nursing homes
that disposed of painkillers, antibiotics, antidepressants, hormones and
other pharmaceuticals through toilets and sinks and into the watersheds,
his office said. The flushes potentially put about 9 million people's
drinking water at risk, Cuomo said.

The three watersheds - the Croton, Catskill and Delaware - cover nearly
2000 square miles and drain into reservoirs and lakes providing drinking
water to New York City's roughly 8 million residents and another 1
million in several northern counties - nearly half the state's 19.4
million residents.

The hospitals and nursing homes are located within the watershed in
Putnam and Delaware counties north of New York City.

Although such facilities are allowed to flush many - but not all - drugs
through toilets and sinks, the nursing homes and hospitals nonetheless
agreed to stop disposing of all drugs in that manner to protect the
watersheds, Cuomo said.

Instead, the facilities will give the drugs to waste management
facilities, he said.

The attorney general's investigation of the facilities on the watersheds
was prompted in part by a series of stories by The Associated Press in
2008 that revealed the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans
contains minute concentrations of a multitude of drugs, said Katherine
Kennedy, Cuomo's special deputy attorney general for environmental
protection.

Water utilities, replying to an AP questionnaire, acknowledged the
presence of dozens of drugs in their supplies. State tests of New York's
watersheds in 2008 that also found trace amounts of drugs also led to
Cuomo's investigation, Kennedy said.

Cuomo called the practice "an emerging threat" to New York's drinking
water supply and said the federal Environmental Protection Agency has
identified pharmaceuticals as "contaminants of emerging concern."

The attorney general said waste pharmaceuticals flushed down toilets or
sinks end up at sewage treatment plants or septic systems that aren't
designed to treat such wastes and don't remove some pharmaceuticals.

Also, Cuomo said, drinking water treatment plants, including those that
chlorinate drinking water, don't consistently remove pharmaceuticals.

"The nine million people who get their water from the New York City
watershed enjoy some of the cleanest, safest and best water in the
world," said Cuomo. "We need to make sure it stays that way.
These...settlements provide a new model to implement immediate and
sensible precautions to keep waste drugs out of the drinking water
supply."

Parties to the settlement were: Putnam Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
in Holmes in Putnam County; O'Connor Hospital and Countryside Care
Center, both in Delhi in Delaware County; and Margaretville Memorial
Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center in Margaretville, also
in Delaware County.

Telephone messages seeking comment from the five facilities weren't
immediately returned Tuesday.

Cuomo's investigation initially found a range of state and federal
violations at the health care facilities, including failure to properly
label, store, track and dispose of pharmaceuticals, Cuomo's office said.

Each facility was fined between $3,500 and $12,000 for various
violations, including flushing drugs, said Richard Bamberger, a
spokesman for Cuomo.

Cuomo's office also is investigating 10 other health care facilities on
the watershed, officials said.

Firouzan 'Fred' Massoomi, Pharm.D., FASHP

Nebraska Methodist Hospital

Pharmacy Operations Coordinator

Department of Pharmacy Services

8303 Dodge St.

Omaha, NE  68114

fred.massoomi at nmhs.org <mailto:fred.massoomi at nmhs.org> 

(402) 354-4340 office            (402) 354-3139 fax

A proud supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society

P Think Green & Think before YOU print. 

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