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<P>Jennifer, </P>
<P>Our team that evaluates medical devices for patient safety looked at the SBIR proposal and wondered if the EPA may be missing a key point. ideally, funds might be better used to curve some of the "over-prescription" trend from the front end and hopefully change prescribing practice of doctors and demand from consumers. I especially like the reference in the background section of the proposal... "for upper extremity surgery, the majority of the patients only use 2 days of pain medicines out of the 30-day prescription". I'm still astounded by the fact that Americans consume about 50% of the world's production of pharmaceuticals and 90% of oxycotin and hydrocodone.</P>
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<P>Additionally, an equipment or device designed for safe destruction of unwanted meds might have to be registered and cleared by the FDA as a class II or class III medical device. We believe that such equipment or device that may employ extreme heat, ionization, radiation, or mixed chemicals to render UEMs useless or harmless would be cost-prohibitive and too complicated for the targeted customers--seniors. I think of all my kitchen electrical gadgets that sit on the counter and shelves collecting dust and can only imagine the same fate for a drug-disposing machine crammed between my microwave oven and George Foreman electric grill.</P>
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<P>The funds can be put into promoting and supporting drug-take programs and educating the public and the medical community. The total fund may cover the operational cost of the direct mail-back system Safe Medicine Disposal for ME (Maine) for a few years. It was truly thoughtful of Christian Daughton to share the announcement and at least start us thinking again for solutions.</P>
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<P>Best wishes,</P>
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<P>Matthew Mireles</P>
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<P>If you're interested, the Fair Observer heard about our activities in dealing wtih UEMs in the US and asked me to write an article. It turned out to be a 4-part series. many people of the listserv already shared their comments. Many thanks!</P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 16.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Medicines: The Social and Public Health Costs <?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>PART ONE<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Matthew C. Mireles,<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>January 8, 2012<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><A href="http://www.fairobserver.com/article/medicines-social-and-public-health-costs"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3 face=Calibri>http://www.fairobserver.com/article/medicines-social-and-public-health-costs</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3 face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=left><SPAN style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; LETTER-SPACING: 0pt; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 16.5pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Misuse and Abuse of Medicines<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></H1>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>PART TWO<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Matthew C. Mireles, January 11, 2012<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><A href="http://www.fairobserver.com/article/misuse-and-abuse-medicines"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3 face=Calibri>http://www.fairobserver.com/article/misuse-and-abuse-medicines</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-outline-level: 1" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 16.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt">Waste of Medicines<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>PART THREE<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Matthew C. Mireles, January 20, 2012<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><A href="http://www.fairobserver.com/article/waste-medicines" target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff size=3 face=Calibri>http://www.fairobserver.com/article/waste-medicines</FONT></A><SPAN class=MsoHyperlink><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=MsoHyperlink><o:p><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3 face=Calibri><U> </U></FONT></SPAN></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=MsoHyperlink><o:p><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><FONT color=#0000ff size=3 face=Calibri><U> </U></FONT></SPAN></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=MsoHyperlink><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: windowtext; FONT-SIZE: 16.5pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><U>What Can We Do?<o:p></o:p></U></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>PART FOUR<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>Matthew C. Mireles, February 10, 2012<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><A href="http://www.fairobserver.com/article/what-can-we-do" target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff>http://www.fairobserver.com/article/what-can-we-do</FONT></A></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #002060; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>Ge</FONT>Lots of interesting stuff in here not exactly related to pharms. See note below on related item.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> Christian Daughton [mailto:Daughton.Christian@epamail.epa.gov] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 05, 2012 10:49 AM<BR><B>To:</B> daughton.christian@epa.gov<BR><B>Subject:</B> NIDA's SBIR solicitation for contract proposals on methods/devices for the safe destruction of consumer medications<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
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<P>Attached is an SBIR solicitation from NIDA/NIH regarding methods/devices for the safe destruction of consumer medications.<BR><BR>The solicitation can be found on pages 94-96 (item 148): "Products for At-Home Deactivation of Psychoactive Prescription Medicines".<BR><BR>Proposals are due to NIDA by 13 November 2012.<BR><BR>Feel free to pass along to those who might be interested.<BR><BR><BR><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">====================<BR>Christian Daughton, Ph.D.<BR>Environmental Chemistry Branch<BR>Environmental Sciences Division<BR>National Exposure Research Laboratory<BR>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<BR>944 East Harmon<BR>Las Vegas, NV 89119<BR>702-798-2207<BR><A href="mailto:daughton.christian@epa.gov" target=_blank>daughton.christian@epa.gov</A><BR><BR>CV: <A href="http://epa.gov/nerlesd1/bios/daughton.htm" target=_blank>http://epa.gov/nerlesd1/bios/daughton.htm</A><BR>PPCPs Literature Database: <A href="http://epa.gov/ppcp/lit.html" target=_blank>http://epa.gov/ppcp/lit.html</A><BR>Drug Disposal: <A href="http://epa.gov/ppcp/projects/disposal.html" target=_blank>http://epa.gov/ppcp/projects/disposal.html</A><BR></SPAN><BR><BR><I>(See attached file: Fall2012-SBIRtopics.pdf)</I><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></ZZZbody></ZZZhtml></BLOCKQUOTE></ZZZ![endif]--></ZZZ!--[if></ZZZ![endif]--></ZZZ!--[if></ZZZmeta></ZZZmeta></BODY><pre>
Please note that my new email address is mirelesmc@gmail.com effective Sept 6, 2012.</pre>