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

Volkman, Jennifer (MPCA) jennifer.volkman at state.mn.us
Tue Jul 24 14:48:36 EDT 2012


IT PASSED!!!!! WOOT! First in the country, go Alameda County! I hope everyone involved is celebrating.

Good, hard work!
JV
________________________________
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] on behalf of Evin Guy [evin at teleosis.org]
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 12:31 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] Alameda County to vote on drug disposal TODAY!



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<mailto:slee at sfchronicle.com>Twitter: @stephaniemlee<http://twitter.com/stephaniemlee>


Evin Guy
Program Manager, Teleosis Institute
www.teleosis.org<http://www.teleosis.org/> | evin at teleosis.org<mailto:evin at teleosis.org> | 510-558-7285 x104<tel:510-558-7285%20x104>
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