Today, October 29, 2011, is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) (http://woodbridge.patch.com/articles/fed-agencies-disagree-on-whether-pill-flushing-harms-the-water-supply ). All across the United States, public and private entities of all sorts are providing an avenue for people to turn in those unused prescription drugs taking up space in their medicine cabinets, rather than throw them in the trash or flush them down the toilet. Federal Agency’s, however, seem to be at odds over the goals of this event, and others like it. The DEA has said it isn’t concerned with the environmental effects of dumping drugs down the toilet and having them flushed into the environment; they just don’t want them getting into the hands of those to whom they were not prescribed. That’s a worthy goal, but so is keeping the drugs out of the environment and our water; can’t they consider more than one goal simultaneously? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm101653.htm ) is not only OK with throwing them in the trash or flushing them, they recommend it, and don’t think it poses any threat to the health of the environment or those who have to drink the water somewhere down river, so to speak. That seems a bit short sighted and contrary to a growing list of research, at least when it comes to the environmental effects (http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2263 , http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/10/05/pharmaceuticals-in-the-water-supply-is-this-a-threat/ ). And the EPA is adamantly against throwing them away or flushing, acknowledging that they are a threat to the environment and that, even though no human health effects have been proven, maybe it’s a good idea to be cautious until we know more (http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/ppcp/index.cfm ).
It would be nice if all three of these agencies could come to terms with all the reasons not throwing prescription drugs in the garbage or flushing them down the toilet is a good idea, and speak with one voice on the matter, but that may be too much to ask of them. All you and I need to know is that for lots of reasons, it’s a good idea to take those drugs to an official drop off location rather than do anything else with them.
