<div style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><p style="text-align:left;color:rgb(102,102,102);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin:0px;padding:0px"><span style="color:rgb(58,124,105)"><strong><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">Alameda County Pharma EPR </font></strong></span><strong style="color:rgb(58,124,105)"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">2nd Hearing</font></strong></p>
<p style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-align:center;margin:0px;padding:0px"></p><div style="color:rgb(102,102,102);text-align:left"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(58,124,105)"><strong>Today, July 24th</strong></span></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(58,124,105)"><strong>11:00 AM (PT)</strong></span></span></font></div>
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<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color:rgb(102,102,102)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span></font></p><div style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color:rgb(102,102,102)"><strong><a href="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" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(181,200,194)"><span style="color:rgb(79,43,156)"><font size="4">Click Here to Watch Live Webcast</font></span></a></strong></font></div>
<p></p></div><div style="font-family:arial"><a href="http://www.acgov.org/board/broadcast.htm">http://www.acgov.org/board/broadcast.htm</a></div><div style="font-family:arial"><br></div></div><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102)"><div style="text-align:left">
<span style="font-size:15px"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="line-height:18px">Today, the Board of Supervisors will convene for the second reading and final vote on the proposed </span></span></span><span style="font-size:15px"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="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" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(181,200,194)"><span style="color:rgb(79,43,156)"><strong>Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance</strong></span></a>.</span></span><span style="font-size:15px"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="line-height:18px">The ordinance was passed unanimously by a 5-0 vote at the first reading on July 10th. </span></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">A broad group of stakeholders including is expected to testify.</span></span></div>
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<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="color:rgb(102,102,102)"><div style="font-size:13px;text-align:left"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"> </span></div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="text-align:left">
<br></div></span></font><p></p></div><div style="text-align:left"><b><font size="4">Front Page Article in the San Francisco Chronicle</font></b></div><div style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Alameda-County-to-vote-on-drug-disposal-3726864.php" target="_blank">http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Alameda-County-to-vote-on-drug-disposal-3726864.php</a>
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<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">On Tuesday, the county's <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Board+of+Supervisors%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Board of Supervisors</a> 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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"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 <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Nate+Miley%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Nate Miley</a>, president of the Board of Supervisors and the ordinance's sponsor.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<h3 style="text-align:left;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">The nation's first?</font></h3><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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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.</font></p><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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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.</font></p><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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"I do think it will create a groundswell of communities who will start looking at enforcing similar ordinances," said <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Andria+Ventura%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Andria Ventura</a>, program manager for Clean Water Action, a water-pollution group that pushed for the law.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">The legislation resonates with <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22April+Rovero%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">April Rovero</a> of San Ramon. After her son fatally overdosed on painkillers in 2009, she founded the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22National+Coalition%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">National Coalition</a> Against Prescription Drug Abuse.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"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."</font></p>
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Industry officials contend the law would disproportionately burden businesses.</font></p><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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"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 <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Consuelo+Hernandez%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Consuelo Hernandez</a>, vice president of state government affairs for the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22California+Healthcare+Institute%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">California Healthcare Institute</a>, which lobbies on behalf of nearly 300 biomedical companies and research institutes.</font></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Kent+Olson%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Kent Olson</a>, executive medical director of the<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22California+Poison+Control+System%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">California Poison Control System</a>, 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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Without steady private funding, a permanent drug-disposal system is not feasible, the legislation's proponents say.</font></p>
<h3 style="text-align:left;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">S.F. compromise</font></h3><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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What Alameda County is trying has also been proposed in San Francisco.</font></p><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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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 <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Pharmaceutical+Research+and+Manufacturers+of+America%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America</a>.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"It looks like the program is collecting a lot of medicine and offering a solution that residents are looking for," said <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Guillermo+Rodriguez%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Guillermo Rodriguez</a>, the department's policy and communications director.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">The solution also appeases environmentalists, who worry that medications poured down the drain harm the environment.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"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 <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Martin+Mulvihill%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Martin Mulvihill</a>, executive director of UC Berkeley's <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Center+for+Green+Chemistry%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Center for Green Chemistry</a>.</font></p>
<h3 style="text-align:left;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">More data needed</font></h3><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
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Meg Sedlak, a program manager at the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22San+Francisco+Estuary+Institute%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">San Francisco Estuary Institute</a>, 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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"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."</font></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:inherit;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px"></p><p style="text-align:left;margin:0px 0px 13px;padding:0px;border:0px none;font-style:italic;font-size:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:none 0px">
<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=health&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Stephanie+M.+Lee%22" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Stephanie M. Lee</a> is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: <a href="mailto:slee@sfchronicle.com" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">slee@sfchronicle.com</a>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/stephaniemlee" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(1,86,96);text-decoration:none" target="_blank">@stephaniemlee</a></font></p>
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Evin Guy</div><div style="text-align:left">Program Manager, Teleosis Institute</div><div style="text-align:left"><a href="http://www.teleosis.org/" target="_blank">www.teleosis.org</a> | <a href="mailto:evin@teleosis.org" target="_blank">evin@teleosis.org</a> | <a href="tel:510-558-7285%20x104" value="+15105587285" target="_blank">510-558-7285 x104</a> </div>
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