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<DIV>I recently saw a similar situation of over the counter materials at a church food pantry. Another place to look! </DIV>
<DIV>The material that I saw was in poor packaging or no packaging. There was no appearance of any control and containers looked dirty and dusty.</DIV>
<DIV>Do sources of this materials, retailers, after receiving credit for the material, sign an agreement on disposal with the creditor? Do retailers get to write this off of their taxes if they don't get credit? Is there a mechanism for distribution of still usable material to the needy in a safe manner? <BR><BR>>>> <pharmwaste-request@lists.dep.state.fl.us> 3/24/10 8:30 PM >>><BR>Send Pharmwaste mailing list submissions to<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us<BR><BR>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<BR><A href="http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi">http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi</A>-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste<BR>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<BR>pharmwaste-request@lists.dep.state.fl.us<BR><BR>You can reach the person managing the list at<BR>pharmwaste-owner@lists.dep.state.fl.us<BR><BR>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<BR>than "Re: Contents of Pharmwaste digest..."<BR><BR><BR>Today's Topics:<BR><BR> 1. RE: FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR> (Matthew C. Mireles)<BR> 2. RE: FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal (Barry Fernandez)<BR> 3. RE: FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR> (Matthew C. Mireles)<BR><BR><BR>----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 1<BR>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:03:19 -0400 (EDT)<BR>From: "Matthew C. Mireles" <mirelesmc@earthlink.net><BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR>To: Barry Fernandez <Barry@clean-fuels.net>, Sue Dayton<BR><sdayton@swcp.com>,"Gressitt,Stevan" <Stevan.Gressitt@maine.gov>,<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us, rxnews@listserve.com<BR>Cc: easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Message-ID:<BR><2903769.1269471799439.JavaMail.root@elwamui-hybrid.atl.sa.earthlink.net><BR><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<BR><BR>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<BR>URL: <A href="http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/acae5b0a/attachment">http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/acae5b0a/attachment</A>-0001.html<BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 2<BR>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:48:51 -0400<BR>From: "Barry Fernandez" <Barry@clean-fuels.net><BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR>To: "Matthew C. Mireles" <mirelesmc@earthlink.net>,"Sue Dayton"<BR><sdayton@swcp.com>,"Gressitt,Stevan" <Stevan.Gressitt@maine.gov>,<BR><pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us>, <rxnews@listserve.com><BR>Cc: easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Message-ID:<BR><5761487EDEA23445AAE9E0C3D85A5FA12175FC@cleanfuels02.Clean-Fuels.local><BR><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<BR><BR><BR>Then again, it could be stolen:<BR><A href="http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI146940/">http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI146940/</A><BR>Matthew, there are far more OTC recalls than anything else. And I'm<BR>quite sure the health department can make a good criminal case for<BR>selling expired or recalled merchandise. In fact, civil cases are quite<BR>common among smaller independent retailers. <BR>I agree, it's not a terrorist issue. I'm not quite sure why you brought<BR>that up.<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Barry<BR><BR>________________________________<BR><BR>From: Matthew C. Mireles [mailto:mirelesmc@earthlink.net] <BR>Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 7:16 PM<BR>To: Barry Fernandez; Sue Dayton; Gressitt,Stevan;<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us; rxnews@listserve.com<BR>Cc: easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR><BR><BR><BR>Barry, <BR><BR><BR><BR>As an epidemiologist, I haven't seen an outbreak or suspected cases, at<BR>least in TX. It certainly would be a plausible idea for a terrorist but<BR>we have a strong haunch that the consumers of expired OTCs at flea<BR>markets and elsewhere are probably not the most targeted victims for a<BR>terror. But we don't monitor our water quality very closely in Houston.<BR>Legally, it may be difficult to prosecute anyone selling or distributing<BR>expired OTCs given the scarcity of legal and clinical evidence for harm.<BR>Proving intent to deliberately harm an individual or the public by such<BR>activity would be an interesting legal case challenge for the toughest<BR>prosecutor or the most creative case presented to a moot trial<BR>competition.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Does anyone have better insight on the legal aspects?<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Matthew C. Mireles<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message----- <BR>From: Barry Fernandez <BR>Sent: Mar 24, 2010 10:18 AM <BR>To: Sue Dayton , "Matthew C. Mireles" , "Gressitt,Stevan" ,<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us, rxnews@listserve.com <BR>Cc: linkfilion@communityofcompetence.com,<BR>easmith@communityofcompetence.com <BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine<BR>disposal <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Stockpiles of expired OTC meds can only be coming from one of<BR>very few places. Disposal facilities or reverse distributors. I'm not<BR>suggesting that the businesses themselves are involved in the diversion,<BR>but as with any business, inventory sometines tends to "leak" at the<BR>hands of employees. If I were you I'd get in touch with the agency<BR>tasked with regulating drugs and cosmetics in your state. In Florida it<BR>happens to be the Department of Health, division of Medical Quality<BR>Assurance (MQA). They can track where the meds originated using the lot<BR>numbers. Expired is one thing, but if these medications were recalled<BR>for some reason the risk to the unsuspecting public could be deadly in<BR>some cases.<BR><BR>Best Regards,<BR>Barry<BR><BR>Clean Fuels of Florida, Inc.<BR>D. Barry Fernandez, President<BR>2635 NE 4th Avenue<BR>Pompano Beach, FL 33064<BR>Tel: 954-791-9588<BR>Fax: 954-791-9366<BR>Cell: 305-216-4941<BR>Toll Free: 800-725-8711<BR>barry@clean-fuels.net <mailto:barry@clean-fuels.net><BR>www.clean-fuels.net <<A href="http://www.clean">http://www.clean</A>-fuels.net/> <BR><BR><BR>________________________________<BR><BR>From: Sue Dayton [mailto:sdayton@swcp.com]<BR>Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:29 AM<BR>To: 'Matthew C. Mireles'; 'Gressitt,Stevan';<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us; rxnews@listserve.com<BR>Cc: linkfilion@communityofcompetence.com;<BR>easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine<BR>disposal<BR><BR><BR><BR>I just went to a flea market in SC outside of Columbia. SAME<BR>deal. There was at least 3 troughs (2' x 10 ') holding mountains, piled<BR>on top of each other, of various over-the-counter meds. I was<BR>flabbergasted! <BR><BR><BR><BR>Where are they getting these? <BR><BR><BR><BR>Sue Dayton<BR><BR>Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League<BR><BR>North Carolina Healthy Communities Program<BR><BR>PO BOX 44<BR><BR>Saxapahaw, NC 27340<BR><BR>(336) 525-2003<BR><BR>sdayton@swcp.com<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things<BR>that matter. - Martin Luther King Jr.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>________________________________<BR><BR>From: pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us<BR>[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Matthew<BR>C. Mireles<BR>Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 2:30 PM<BR>To: Gressitt,Stevan; pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us;<BR>rxnews@listserve.com<BR>Cc: linkfilion@communityofcompetence.com;<BR>easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Subject: Re: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine<BR>disposal<BR><BR><BR><BR>We have been receiving very interesting stories about unused and<BR>expired medicines through our new patient safety reporting system called<BR>Share Our Stories (S.O.S.). One in particular deals with unused and<BR>expired meds (UEMs) showing up at a weekend flea market... <BR><BR><BR><BR>S.O.S. is an anonymous system for patients and families to<BR>report medical adverse experiences as well as give us good suggestions<BR>about patient safety and healthcare outcomes. However, most of the<BR>reports that we have received involved adverse medication events (drug<BR>interactions) or side effects that presumably caused the patient to<BR>discontinue the meds (non-adherence) and stockpile them at home or work.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Excerpt from original story:<BR><BR><BR><BR>I recently went to a local flea market and found many vendors<BR>selling medicine. They ranged from tylenol, pepcid, zyrtec, prevacid, to<BR>robitussin. Some of the medication, in fact most of it was expired. Some<BR>of the med boxes had certain parts of the box torn off. Some of the<BR>boxes had a statement that " The makers of Pepcid Complete od not<BR>manufacture store brands." I would like to know what the quote means and<BR>would also like to know what pottential risks there are to taking<BR>expired meds. I am a senior nursing major and medicine is a big part of<BR>what<BR><BR>I recently went to a local flea market and found many vendors<BR>selling medicine. They ranged from tylenol, pepcid, zyrtec, prevacid, to<BR>robitussin. Some of the medication, in fact most of it was expired. Some<BR>of the med boxes had certain parts of the box torn off. Some of the<BR>boxes had a statement that " The makers of Pepcid Complete od not<BR>manufacture store brands." I would like to know what the quote means and<BR>would also like to know what pottential risks there are to taking<BR>expired meds. I am a senior nursing major and medicine is a big part of<BR>what I do. This recent discovery troubles me. Please help. Thank you for<BR>your time.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Matthew C. Mireles, PhD, MPH<BR><BR>Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> -----Original Message-----<BR> From: "Gressitt, Stevan"<BR> Sent: Mar 21, 2010 6:26 PM<BR> To: pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us,<BR>rxnews@listserve.com<BR> Subject: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine<BR>disposal<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR> I would be interested if anyone runs into any other<BR>examples of this.<BR><BR> <BR><BR> Stevan Gressitt, M.D., Medical Director<BR><BR> Office of Adult Mental Health Services<BR><BR> Department of Health and Human Services<BR><BR> Marquardt Building, 2nd Floor<BR><BR> 11 State House Station<BR><BR> 32 Blossom Lane<BR><BR> Augusta, ME 04333-0011<BR><BR> Ph: (207)287-4273<BR><BR> Fax: (207)287-1022<BR><BR> Cell Phone: (207) 441-0291<BR><BR> E-Mail : stevan.gressitt@maine.gov<BR><BR> <A href="http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mh/">http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mh/</A><BR><BR> <BR><BR> Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including<BR>any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). It<BR>may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized<BR>review, copy, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you<BR>are not the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination,<BR>distribution or copying of this is strictly prohibited. Please contact<BR>me by reply e-mail or telephone and destroy all copies of this message.<BR><BR> The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) does<BR>not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, creed, gender,<BR>sexual orientation, age, or national origin, in admission to, access to,<BR>or operations of its programs, services, or activities, or its hiring or<BR>employment practices. This notice is provided as required by Title II<BR>of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and in accordance with<BR>the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, Section 504 of the<BR>Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, the Age Discrimination Act of<BR>1975, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Maine Human<BR>Rights Act and Executive Order Regarding State of Maine Contracts for<BR>Services. Questions, concerns, complaints or requests for additional<BR>information regarding the ADA may be forwarded to DHHS' ADA<BR>Compliance/EEO Coordinators, 11 SHS-221 State Street, Augusta, Maine<BR>04333, 207-287-4289 (V), 207-287-3488 (V), 1-800-606-0215 (TTY). <BR><BR> <BR><BR> REDBRIDGE: Warning over bogus medicine collections<BR><<A href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.guardian">http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.guardian</A>-series.co.uk/news/<BR>5074038.REDBRIDGE__Warning_over_bogus_medicine_collections/&ct=ga&cad=7:<BR>1:0&cd=g0eIVl7uMXE&usg=AFQjCNFaI0W-njiVy2MmpHXVITwQa-T3Zg><BR> Guardian Series<BR> People with any concerns or questions on the scam or on<BR>the disposal of medicines should speak to their GP or local pharmacist.<BR>...<BR><BR> <BR> See all stories on this topic<BR><<A href="http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.guardian">http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.guardian</A>-series.co.uk/<BR>news/5074038.REDBRIDGE__Warning_over_bogus_medicine_collections/&hl=en> <BR><BR> <BR><BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> --<BR> <BR> Stevan Gressitt, M.D., Medical Director<BR> Office of Adult Mental Health Services<BR> Department of Health and Human Services<BR> Marquardt Building, 2nd Floor<BR> 11 State House Station<BR> Augusta, ME 04333-0011<BR> Ph: (207)287-4273<BR> Fax: (207)287-1022<BR> Cell Phone: (207) 441-0291<BR> E-Mail : stevan.gressitt@maine.gov<BR><BR><BR><BR>-------------- next part --------------<BR>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<BR>URL: <A href="http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/95b46c7f/attachment">http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/95b46c7f/attachment</A>-0001.htm<BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>Message: 3<BR>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:00:42 -0400 (EDT)<BR>From: "Matthew C. Mireles" <mirelesmc@earthlink.net><BR>Subject: RE: [Pharmwaste] FW: Google Alert - unused medicine disposal<BR>To: Barry Fernandez <Barry@clean-fuels.net>, Sue Dayton<BR><sdayton@swcp.com>,"Gressitt,Stevan" <Stevan.Gressitt@maine.gov>,<BR>pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us, rxnews@listserve.com<BR>Cc: easmith@communityofcompetence.com<BR>Message-ID:<BR><5447164.1269475242389.JavaMail.root@elwamui-hybrid.atl.sa.earthlink.net><BR><BR>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"<BR><BR>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<BR>URL: <A href="http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/f5d9f661/attachment.html">http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20100324/f5d9f661/attachment.html</A><BR><BR>------------------------------<BR><BR>---<BR>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.<BR>---<BR>TO SUBSCRIBE, go to: <A href="http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi">http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/cgi</A>-bin/mailman/listinfo/pharmwaste <BR>TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LISTSERV. 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