A National Pandemic

What you find in your medicine cabinet may shock you. If you are like most people, you have a store of unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines.

Do you recall why you no longer use a particular medicine? Do you know which medicines have expired or may be toxic? Throughout the U.S., the unused and expired medicines (UEM) stockpiled in our homes are rapidly becoming a major source of danger to our communities. Unfortunately, there is no systematic program for legally and safely dealing with these medicines. Each month, more than 135 million Americans use prescribed medicines; when people stop taking them or keep them beyond their expiration date, staggering quantities of unused medicines accumulate. To promote personal and community safety, some communities have begun to organize collection events to take back unwanted medicines. However, there are wide variations in how the collected medicines are classified and destroyed. What one group labels “medical waste” another might call “household waste.” Programs involving retail pharmacies typically involve reverse distributors, programs allowing return of unused pharmaceuticals to the manufacturer, and others simply transport the medicines to a landfill. Studies on the best classification system, as well as which method of destruction is most efficacious for various products, are urgently needed, but prudent individuals would do well to follow the “precautionary principle” to protect the environment.

Original Source:
The Journal of Ecologically Sustainable Medicine