[Pharmwaste] Suggestion to keep RX and chemicals out of the H2O

[fg325 at aol.com]

Hi folks:

Al is right---drugs are a troubling component--but not the full story of the many low dose toxic encounters we have daily with synthetic chemicals in our food, water and air.  I suggest a very good book by Elizabeth Grossman:  "Chasing Molecules--Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry."

The drugs we take may be excreted at up to 75% of the dosage because the body needs very little of most drugs.  All pharmaceutical companies know the amount of every drug the human body will digest/use/bioaccumulate; so--human or animal discharges are filled with whatever drug is not used--in other words---more drugs are excreted than processed by the human and animal patient.  Some drugs are non water soluble, and these lipid or fat compounds accumulate in the human/animal body from minuscule amounts consumed in water/drugs, or foods.  

Below are some chemical statistics from Chasing Molecules which is very scary since there are valid scientific studies to link chemical exposure at low doses to diabetes, childhood obesity, infertility, thyroid disorders, and early puberty, plus many other health and disease indicators that  need further investigation.  It all goes back to the responsibility of the manufacturer to clean up the chemicals/drugs--or "cradle to cradle."  

Did you know that a PhD in Chemistry does not require a single class in toxicology or ecology at most US universities?  So no thought or question of human safety and health is part of the development of new chemicals--and it shows in the number of synthetic chemicals in the body burden studies conducted by the CDC (around 2700 people)--with an average of over 200 chemicals in their blood and urine.

Chasing Molecules: Pg. 8:  "Our overall use of synthetic chemicals is enormous.  Every day the United States alone uses or imports about 42 million pounds of such compounds.  Nearly 82,000 of these chemicals are registered for commerce in the United States.  (The European Union, Canada, Japan and other countries maintain comparable lists.)  About 10 percent of these registered chemicals are produced or imported to the United States at 10,000 pounds or more each year.  About 3,000 are produced or imported at quantities of 1 million or more pounds per year.  This list, administered by the US EPA is only a partial accounting of all the chemicals in use, however.  It does not include chemicals like dioxin or the carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and sulfur oxides released in tailpipe emissions, substances that are breakdown or reaction products rather than deliberately manufactured materials."

The figures above do not include nanotechnology (nanomaterials) put into commercial production at the rate of about 2,000 new chemicals every year--with no research regarding impacts on human health or the environment.  Nobody is required to track and know the final destination/destruction of any chemical before production and distribution.

Green chemistry requires inclusion of human, animal and environmental impact during development.  Contrary to popular beliefs, this has not significantly raised the cost of manufacture---in fact--most costs of production currently do not include costs associated with adverse health or environmental impact from product or drug usage.

What are we doing to our kids and grandchildren?

Nancy Holt










-----Original Message-----
From: Al White <biosun at npacc.net>
To: 'Massoomi, Fred' <Fred.Massoomi at nmhs.org>; 'Hyun, Karen' <Karen.Hyun at mail.house.gov>; 'Mannina, George J.' <GMannina at Nossaman.com>; pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Sent: Wed, Jan 13, 2010 2:44 pm
Subject: [Pharmwaste] A "minute" move in the right direction to keep RX out of 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.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 
 
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
(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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