What should patients do with all those left over pills?

[Guest guest]

Many of my patients flush them in the toilet, but I am not sure this is a good

idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs are being found in the

water.

Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our biohazard

bags for inceneration?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Durango, CO

[Guest guest]

return them to the pharmacist so that they can be recycled in 3rd

world countries.

> Many of my patients flush them in the toilet, but I am not sure this is a

> good idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs are being found

> in the water.

>

> Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our

> biohazard bags for inceneration?

>

> Inquiring minds want to know...

--

Graham Chiu

http://www.synapsedirect.com

Synapse - the use from anywhere EMR.

[Guest guest]

my state started some collection program I think... good question

Many of my patients flush them in the toilet, but I am not sure this is a good idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs are being found in the water.

Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our biohazard bags for inceneration?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Durango, CO

-- If you are a patient please allow up to 24 hours for a reply by  email/please note the new email address.Remember  that e-mail may not be entirely secure/     MD

        ph   fax impcenter.org

[Guest guest]

,

I know that in California, we have can’t have meds in

our biohazard bags. The medical waste people have a completely separate

thing that you’re supposed to put meds in. Putting them down the

drain isn’t good either. Check with your local waste disposal people

or pharmacy. In CA, the meds are incinerated, but have to be done

separately from other biohazard waste. We can also throw them in the

trash. If they’re controlled substances, I’d glue on the caps

or tape them with packing tape, but not really required unless you think kids

or animals might get into it.

Pratt

Office Manager

Oak Tree Internal Medicine P.C

Roy Medical Associates, Inc.

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of

Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 2:37

PM

To:

Subject:

What should patients do with all those left over pills?

Many of my patients flush them in the toilet, but I am

not sure this is a good idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs

are being found in the water.

Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our biohazard

bags for inceneration?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Durango, CO

[Guest guest]

The

latest I have heard is to mix it with kitty litter and then throw them away. I

guess you could wet the litter down a bit so it clumps. J

What should patients do with all those left over pills?

Many of my patients flush them in the toilet, but I am not sure this is

a good idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs are being found

in the water.

Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our biohazard

bags for inceneration?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Durango, CO

[Guest guest]

Our local pharmacy won't take them back -- cost them to deal with the

pills.

Some states have some rules others don't.

Here is google...

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cgup7g

Toilet not a great option...see...

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200709/lol.asp#prozac

Prozac River

This is your stream on drugs

Gender-blended

salmon in Oregon, transgender trout in Colorado--all across the

country, fish with both male and female sexual characteristics are

appearing downstream of sewage-treatment plants. You'd think it would

get the attention of testosterone-drenched Capitol Hill, at least, that

bisexual bass are showing up in the Potomac.

More and more trace substances are turning up in our waterways, from

bodily wastes and millions of individuals and institutions disposing of

outdated or unwanted pills by flushing them down toilets. A recent

study of mud at the bottom of Portland, Oregon, creeks revealed a

medicine chest of estrogen, antidepressants like Prozac, and perfumes

and cosmetics. Caffeine and antibiotics are also widespread.

It doesn't take much estrogen to cause alarming deformities. In the

case of fish, abnormalities start appearing at concentrations in the

parts-per-trillion range. So how are people affected? No one knows. We

do know that treated wastewater increasingly flows from our taps. Las

Vegas dumps 58 billion gallons a year of treated sewage water into Lake

Mead, and thence into the Colorado River--the water source for San

Diego. New Orleans, which relies on the Mississippi River for its

water, drinks the effluents from nearly half of the U.S. urban

population.

At present, sewage-treatment plants aren't designed to remove the

pharmaceuticals we flush and forget. That's why the Sierra Club is

calling on the EPA to conduct new health and safety studies of the

chemicals and to ban the worst. Some communities are setting up drug

"take-back" programs at pharmacies and police stations so that

consumers have an alternative to flushing them and overmedicating our

waterways. -- Rauber

Locke, MD

Brady, MD wrote:

The

latest I have heard is to mix it with kitty litter and then throw them

away. I

guess you could wet the litter down a bit so it clumps. J

-----Original

Message-----

From:

[mailto: ]

On Behalf Of

Sent: Sunday, March

15, 2009 5:37

PM

To:

Subject:

What should patients do with all those left over pills?

Many of my patients flush them in the toilet,

but I am not sure this is

a good idea. All kinds of trace amounts of all kinds of drugs are being

found

in the water.

Any sage advice out there? Should we have them put left-overs in our

biohazard

bags for inceneration?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Durango, CO