[Pharmwaste] Alameda County to vote on drug disposal TODAY!

[Evin Guy]

*Alameda County Pharma EPR **2nd Hearing*

*Today, July 24th* *11:00 AM (PT)*

*Click Here to Watch Live
Webcast<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=66178125&msgid=705014&act=OE7U&c=647895&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acgov.org%2Fboard%2Fbroadcast.htm>
*

http://www.acgov.org/board/broadcast.htm

Today, the Board of Supervisors will convene for the second reading and
final vote on the proposed *Safe Drug Disposal
Ordinance*<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=66178125&msgid=705014&act=OE7U&c=647895&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acgov.org%2Fboard%2Fbos_calendar%2Fdocuments%2FDocsAgendaReg_07_10_12%2FGENERAL%2520ADMINISTRATION%2FRegular%2520Calendar%2FMiley_Safe_Drug_Disposal_Ordinance.pdf>
.The ordinance was passed unanimously by a 5-0 vote at the first reading on
July 10th. A broad group of stakeholders including is expected to testify.




*Front Page Article in the San Francisco Chronicle*
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Alameda-County-to-vote-on-drug-disposal-3726864.php

 With a law believed to be nationally unprecedented, Alameda County is
about to tell the pharmaceutical industry it must pay to get rid of the
unused pills in people's medicine cabinets.

On Tuesday, the county's Board of
Supervisors<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Board+of+Supervisors%22>
will
cast its final vote on the Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance. It would require
makers of drugs sold or distributed in Alameda County to pay for a
countywide program to safely collect and destroy unused medications.
Failure to obey will cost drugmakers $1,000 a day in fines.

Currently, residents can discard pills they no longer need at 28 drop-off
locations, a publicly funded program that costs an estimated
$330,000 annually.

But the legislation's proponents argue that drug companies, not taxpayers,
ought to bear the cost of cleaning up their products for the sake of the
environment and their customers' health.

"Ultimately, we just think it's something that should be the responsibility
of the manufacturers, of the pharmaceutical industry that produces these
medications that are at the end of their life cycle because they're expired
or unwanted," said Nate
Miley<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Nate+Miley%22>,
president of the Board of Supervisors and the ordinance's sponsor.

Old or unused pills can find their way into the hands of toddlers who snoop
through medicine cabinets, teenagers who seek a rush from painkillers or
senior citizens who inadvertently overdose. And without a proper means of
disposal, drugs are often flushed down toilets and into waterways, where
they can pollute the bay, environmentalists say.
The nation's first?

But pharmaceutical industry officials say the law wouldn't necessarily
prevent people from abusing pills and that most drug chemicals end up in
the water through people's excretion.

The law, modeled on a program in British Columbia, is believed to be the
first in the nation that would shift the cost of disposal to the
pharmaceutical industry.

"I do think it will create a groundswell of communities who will start
looking at enforcing similar ordinances," said Andria
Ventura<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Andria+Ventura%22>,
program manager for Clean Water Action, a water-pollution group that pushed
for the law.

Under the ordinance, companies would have the option to run a program
independently or with others. They would also decide how the program
would work.

Manufacturers could provide prepaid envelopes in which people would ship
off medications, for instance, or set up a series of drop-off locations.
The drugmakers would also foot the bill for drop-off sites at sheriff's
offices and police stations, since the state's drug laws only allow law
enforcement officers to handle controlled substances such as Ritalin
or OxyContin.

The law, Miley said, grew out of a demand from residents and local groups.
Unintentional poisoning, including from prescription drugs, was the
second-leading cause of injuries that resulted in death in the county from
2002 to 2004.

The legislation resonates with April
Rovero<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22April+Rovero%22>
of
San Ramon. After her son fatally overdosed on painkillers in 2009, she
founded the National
Coalition<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22National+Coalition%22>
Against
Prescription Drug Abuse.

"As long as medications are available in the home," she said, "they're
still accessible and available to those who might abuse them or take
them indiscriminately."
Burden to business

Industry officials contend the law would disproportionately
burden businesses.

"Everyone involved with the supply chain - up to and including patients who
get these medications, and local governments who have a responsibility for
waste disposal - everyone should somehow be involved in developing a
program that will accomplish its goals and be user-friendly so that it can
be effective," said Consuelo
Hernandez<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Consuelo+Hernandez%22>,
vice president of state government affairs for the California Healthcare
Institute<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22California+Healthcare+Institute%22>,
which lobbies on behalf of nearly 300 biomedical companies and
research institutes.

Kent Olson<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Kent+Olson%22>,
executive medical director of theCalifornia Poison Control
System<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22California+Poison+Control+System%22>,
said pharmaceutical companies have little financial incentive to take back
pills. "They can't reuse pills, and they would have to store them safely
and find some place to put them, which takes a lot of money," he said.

Without steady private funding, a permanent drug-disposal system is not
feasible, the legislation's proponents say.
S.F. compromise

What Alameda County is trying has also been proposed in San Francisco.

A year and a half ago, the city considered requiring pharmaceutical
companies to provide ways to dispose of drugs. In a compromise, the city's
Department of the Environment launched a pilot drug-disposal program in
pharmacies and police stations this spring. It is backed by $110,000 from
Genentech and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Pharmaceutical+Research+and+Manufacturers+of+America%22>
.

When the grant runs out, it is not clear whether the city will continue the
program. More than a ton of pills has been hauled away so far, a sign the
effort is succeeding in a way that others, including prepaid envelopes and
one-time collection events, have not, city officials say.

"It looks like the program is collecting a lot of medicine and offering a
solution that residents are looking for," said Guillermo
Rodriguez<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Guillermo+Rodriguez%22>,
the department's policy and communications director.

The solution also appeases environmentalists, who worry that medications
poured down the drain harm the environment.

"What we know is that, not necessarily all these drugs, but many of these
drugs are not broken down during the wastewater treatment or even the
drinking water purification process," said Martin
Mulvihill<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Martin+Mulvihill%22>,
executive director of UC Berkeley's Center for Green
Chemistry<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Center+for+Green+Chemistry%22>
.
More data needed

Meg Sedlak, a program manager at the San Francisco Estuary
Institute<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22San+Francisco+Estuary+Institute%22>,
which studies the San Francisco Bay, said her group has found "very low
concentrations of pharmaceuticals" in the water. However, she said, there
is not enough data to understand the effects of long-term exposures to
those chemicals.

Earlier this month, Alameda County supervisors unanimously voted to move
the Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance forward. But Miley, its sponsor, said he's
not taking Tuesday's vote for granted.

"Industry keeps saying they're going to oppose it and fight it and throwing
up obstacles as opposed to just embracing it," he said. "My constituents,
their consumers, are asking for this."

Stephanie M. Lee<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Stephanie+M.+Lee%22>
is
a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: slee at sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @stephaniemlee <http://twitter.com/stephaniemlee>


Evin Guy
Program Manager, Teleosis Institute
www.teleosis.org | evin at teleosis.org | 510-558-7285 x104
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