[Pharmwaste] RE: Pharma May Pay to Dispose of Your Old Medicines
VeoraLittle at aol.com
VeoraLittle at aol.com
Wed Nov 24 17:13:28 EST 2010
Jennifer,
I totally agree on all counts especially Thanksgiving. You all work so
hard for the well being of our world. I am thankful for all of you as well.
Veora M Little, CRNA,
Operation Medicine Cabinet, Volunteer Coordinator, Collier County Florida
h 239-649-6042 c 239-450-2883
_veoralittle at aol.com_ (mailto:veoralittle at aol.com
www.drugfreecollier.org)
www.drugfreecollier.org
In a message dated 11/24/2010 10:31:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
Jennifer.Volkman at state.mn.us writes:
Nooooooooo! They have to include controlled substances! What part of this
do people not get? The environmental argument for collection is not as
strong as the arguement to reduce the potential for poisoning, abuse and
overdose. Just move the collection site to law enforcement. When/if the rules
change on possession of CS, move it to the pharmacy.
But they are talking and that is good.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
JV
________________________________________
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Tenace, Laurie [Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us]
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 9:24 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Pharma May Pay to Dispose of Your Old Medicines
http://www.baycitizen.org/health/story/pharma-may-pay-dispose-old-medicines/
Pharma May Pay to Dispose of Your Old Medicines
Faced with the prospect of being forced to pay for the disposal of unused
medications, pharmaceutical companies in San Francisco appear to be getting
on board with an effort to create a voluntary cleanup program.
The Board of Supervisors had been scheduled to vote Tuesday on the San
Francisco Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance, which would require pharmaceutical
companies who sell their products in the city to pay for a program to help
consumers dispose of unused drugs. If the measure were to be approved, San
Francisco would become the first city in the country to create such a
mandatory program.
Instead, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who authored the legislation,
announced at Tuesday's meeting that he'd recently met with "several dozen
representatives of the pharmaceutical industry" in an attempt to create a voluntary
pilot program. The supervisors agreed to put off the issue for two weeks to
allow the negotiations to proceed.
Under one of the plans being discussed, one pharmacy in each of the city's
supervisorial districts would voluntarily collect unused drugs, as long as
they're not controlled substances like oxycontin, according to Melanie
Nutter, director of San Francisco's Department of the Environment, who is
participating in the talks. Five police stations in the city would also
participate, since they would be able to take controlled substances.
The pilot program in San Francisco would be largely financed by the
pharmaceutical industry, but would cost the city some money because Environment
Department staff would spend time administering it.
San Mateo County currently offers drug disposal at police departments in
more than a dozen cities, including Atherton and South San Francisco. That
program has collected 15 tons of old drugs over the past four years at a
cost of just $60,000, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. No other Bay Area
county has a year-round drug take-back program.
The goal of such programs is to help prevent both accidental poisonings
and environmental contamination from leftover drugs. Nationally, an estimated
71,000 children are seen in emergency rooms each year because of
medication poisonings, unrelated to recreational drug use, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80 percent of those poisoning
occur because an unsupervised child found and consumed medicine.
When people do try to get rid of their old drugs, they often don't know
what to do with them. Wastewater treatment plants are not equipped to filter
out medicines, so drugs flushed down the toilet or poured down sinks can
end up contaminating local waterways, including San Francisco Bay. When pills
are thrown in the trash, they can leach into the environment via landfills.
"We want to protect the natural environment and our water by making sure
pharmaceuticals don't end up there," Nutter said.
For the past year and a half, San Francisco has offered residents the
opportunity to mail away their expired antibiotics and unused Prozac for
incineration. So far, about 9,000 envelopes have been distributed, but each one
costs the city $3.75. "It's a very costly program," Nutter said. But the
popularity of the program - which was not widely publicized - has left the
city looking for a more sustainable solution.
"San Francisco is surrounded by water and you've got a very
environmentally aware public," said Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the California
Product Stewardship Council, who has advised San Francisco on drug disposal.
"You've got the public demanding a program, because they're concerned
about their water quality, but there's no money."
The pharmaceutical industry has made clear it would be loath to conform to
a variety of local ordinances.
"In discussions with San Francisco officials, we've offered to assist them
with an interim pilot program to help us learn more about proper disposal
of unused medicines before implementation of federal regulations," reads a
statement e-mailed to The Bay Citizen from the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers Association of America.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is currently working to create
national rules that "will provide uniform nationwide standards and will allow
us to avoid a confusing patchwork quilt of differing state and local
pharmaceutical take-back programs," read the statement. The new guidelines are
not expected to be completed for months.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will hear more about the issue on
Dec. 7.
Laurie Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Waste Reduction Section
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Rd., MS 4555
Tallahassee FL 32399-2400
P: 850.245.8759
F: 850.245.8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
Mercury: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm
Batteries:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/batteries/default.htm
Pharmaceuticals:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm
To join the Pharmwaste listserve:
http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste
Household Hazardous Waste:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/hazardous/pages/household.htm
The Department of Environmental Protection values your feedback as a
customer. DEP Secretary Mimi Drew is committed to continuously assessing and
improving the level and quality of services provided to you. Please take a few
minutes to comment on the quality of service you received. Copy the url
below to a web browser to complete the DEP survey:
http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us Thank you in advance for
completing the survey.
---
Note: As a courtesy to other listserv subscribers, please post messages to
the listserv in plain text format to avoid the garbling of messages
received by digest recipients.
---
TO SUBSCRIBE, go to:
http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LISTSERV. Please send an e-mail to
pharmwaste-unsubscribe at lists.dep.state.fl.us -- the subject line and body of
the e-mail should be blank.
If you believe you may be subscribed with a different email address,
please visit the subscriber listing at
http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/roster/pharmwaste
FOR PROBLEMS: Contact List Administrator Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
SEND MAIL to the list server at: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
---
Note: As a courtesy to other listserv subscribers, please post messages to
the listserv in plain text format to avoid the garbling of messages
received by digest recipients.
---
TO SUBSCRIBE, go to:
http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LISTSERV. Please send an e-mail to
pharmwaste-unsubscribe at lists.dep.state.fl.us -- the subject line and body of
the e-mail should be blank.
If you believe you may be subscribed with a different email address,
please visit the subscriber listing at
http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/mailman/roster/pharmwaste
FOR PROBLEMS: Contact List Administrator Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us
SEND MAIL to the list server at: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20101124/7d7414d4/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the Pharmwaste
mailing list