WASHINGTON – Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler said Tuesday that pharmaceuticals flushed into the waste stream pose a risk to the environment and called for a national prescription drug “take-back” program to remedy the issue.
Gansler moderated a panel at the National Association of Attorneys General meeting on the ecological risks of throwing away medicines. He also spoke of efforts to control the impact on waterways that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.
“We have many fish in Maryland and Virginia and other states that no longer know whether they are boys or girls,” said Gansler, noting reports of fish found with both male and female reproductive parts in the region.
The problem is pharmaceuticals entering rivers and streams from wastewater, agricultural run-off, prescription drug production and “what we do” with leftover medicines,” said Ellen Silbergeld, an environmental research professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“Prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and antibiotics are among the top four most frequently detected chemicals in our water systems of this country,” said Silbergeld.
“Nearly half of Americans take one to two prescription drugs every year and, in fact, a large number take many more,” she added. “This kind of activity directly impacts on our environment.”
The nation must improve its management of pharmaceutical use, production and disposal, invest in the national sanitation infrastructure and gain control over non-essential issues like agriculture and the widespread use of antimicrobial agents in personal care products, in order to begin solving the problem, said Silbergeld.
A national “take-back” program, which Gansler called for, was the primary solution discussed. It would offer a “green” way for people to toss out prescriptions.
Gansler said he hopes for a “true” program headed by pharmaceutical companies in conjunction with drug stores that would allow customers to obtain refills and dispose of the rest in an “oil drum” outside the store.
“It would stay there until it gets filled up and every month or so, the sheriffs or law enforcement would come, take that drum to a hazmat incineration facility and [safely get rid of their prescriptions],” he said, adding that such a program would not cost much.
[By Andrew Katz of Capital News Service]
Rebecca Lepter says
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office and the Kent County Prevention Office (through the health department)–have held ‘Prescription Drug Round-Ups’ specifically for this purpose. Several more are slated to be held around the County during the month of April. We have dates and locations posted on the Local Management Board website under the calendar of events. Check it out: http://www.kentcountylmb.com