[lenjan]

My hematologist in Milw. ordered me a year's worth of cyclosporine. I'll be off it entirely by mid-September, and as it stands right now, the dosage I take is below the dosage of the pills in the boxes I have left.

The heme/onc clinic here wouldn't take them, and told me to throw them out. I run into this with psych meds, too -- have a PILE of Risperdal that I no longer need, having just been taken off it -- does anybody know a safe way to dispose of unnecessary meds? I hate to just throw them in the trash, and lord knows they shouldn't be flushed and tossed into the water supply!

Candy

[Rhapsody]

Most ppl just flush them.......

[Mystry]

Take them to a drugstore and give them to a pharmasist...thats what I do...

[(JD)]

No, please don't flush them, the filters at most water purification plants cannot filter out the medicines completely

[gardenergirl]

I take them to an agency that works with AIDS patients. They somehow are able to re-package or do something with them to put them to good use. I don't know exactly how, and I don't know if they have been able to use everything I've given them. But I trust that they use them or dispose of them responsibly.

gg

[lenjan]

I don't know if people who are already immune-suppressed would want 5 boxes of an immunosuppressant , but that's an idea I hadn't thought of -- maybe I can take the Risperdal there.

[Danialla]

In the past I have taken the extra meds back to my pdoc and he is able to use them at a low income agency he volunteers at........so he says .

[kimmydawn]

When my father passed there was everything from morphine patches to I don't know what. I called my waste management company and they asked that I not flush them, but to place them in containers in the wastebasket for removal. They said there were no other precautions to take.

KD

i saw something on TV once about how the fish in our water supply are changed because we flush so many anti-depressents, viagra, and other drugs down toilette.

[darkeyes]

EV, that is happening, especially hormones from pills and yes,excrement from those who take hormonal meds.
Estrogen, is femminizing many species of fish and other critters who live and depend on our waterways.
Any little way we can help save our environment from further damage is so important.
Ask your docs or pharmacies to dispose your uneeded meds. or where you can.
Good point, EV.

[Rhapsody]

Well I guess I learned something very important from this thread..... DO NOT FLUSH old MEDICINE.... not that I ever did - I just heard ppl say they do.

NOW!! - I have to wonder...

Hmm -
If our water recycling system cannot eliminate the toxins from the medicine that is flushed down the toilet every day.... then how are we to feel safe about drinking the water after flushing our waste down there and having it recycled?


LoVe,
Rhapsody -

[darkeyes]

Well, that point is a major problem,it is up to one's choice to either believe it is alright to drink the water in one's area, or bottled water.
Bottled water isn't always safe either. You can have your water tested if it makes you feel safer.
This is getting off topic, but everything has become polluted in one way or another,sadly, we have to research almost everything we consume to feel safe.
As respect to the poster's,I'm going to go back on topic, and see whatever ways or who to contact to dispose meds. safely.
I hope to get some valid direction or answer from a local company or pharmacy, and then come back and add to this reply.
It may take me awhile, this awful heatwave has caused me not to do anything.
Take care,
DE

[Larry_Hoover]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Rhapsody said:
If our water recycling system cannot eliminate the toxins from the medicine that is flushed down the toilet every day.... then how are we to feel safe about drinking the water after flushing our waste down there and having it recycled?

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

I was part of the team that helped do some of the groundwork (errrr, sewage work, more like) on this subject. The problem arises when man invents a chemical that mother nature hasn't encountered before. Sewage treatment is really nothing more than bacterial treatment. Little critters have a go at what we flush, and they generally have a hell of a time, extracting all sorts of nutrients/energy from the waste. Occasionally, though, there just doesn't happen to be a critter capable of breaking down a particular chemical......and it comes out the effluent end of a sewage treatment plant (STP) unchanged.

One such chemical is the synthetic estrogen in birth control pills. Natural estrogen has a half-life in a woman's body of around 20 seconds. The only way you'd manage natural estrogen in a pill form would be to take some twice a minute.....hardly practical. So, the chemists figured out that they could create an almost-estrogen molecule, that the body couldn't readily destroy, and the once-a-day birth control pill was created. The problem is that bacteria can't break down this form of estrogen, either, and it flows out into whatever body of water the sewage is released into. There are many such chemicals, which cannot be broken down in STPs. Caffeine is one.

Once this problem was recognized, we also developed ways of managing the risks. For drinking water, activated carbon filters take care of anything on the intake side of the system. Unfortunately, few sewage treatment plants are equipped with similar filters, to treat the effluent we produce.

In Canada, all expired meds can be returned to any pharmacy for disposal. Now, you might come across the odd pharmacist ignorant of that policy, but all pharmacies are supposed to properly dispose of any expired meds submitted to them.

If you're worried about your own drinking water, use a Brita filter system, or similar product. Yes, they really do work.

Lar
Environmental Toxicologist, and random geek.