It's the drugs

[Buzz Mills]

AP IMPACT: Tons of released drugs taint US water
AP IMPACT: Manufacturers release tons of pharmaceuticals into US water supplies

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-IMPACT-Tons-of-released-apf-14965990.html

 

[thefragile7393]

Color me not surprised....this has been going on for years and years. The docs at the family practice office I used to work at years ago were telling patients to dump their expired meds down the toilet even.

 

[JBean]

AP IMPACT: Tons of released drugs taint US water
AP IMPACT: Manufacturers release tons of pharmaceuticals into US water supplies

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-IMPACT-Tons-of-released-apf-14965990.html

I am growing my own water now Buzz. Not taking any chances

 

[Mama Bear]

Color me not surprised....this has been going on for years and years. The docs at the family practice office I used to work at years ago were telling patients to dump their expired meds down the toilet even.

I have to agree with you I am not at all surprised this has been going on for a long time now. When I worked for a local nursing home in my area.If a patient refused there meds or passed on before being medicated.We were instructed to destroy and flush all meds in front of another nurse. Were talking about meds from many categories. For example anxiety meds (addivan or Xanax), narcotic (Vicodin or percocet), diuretic drugs like (Lasix) even antibiotics and many many more. It's a little unsettleing to think what might not be filtered out of are drinking water.

 

[Gozgals]

Color me not surprised....this has been going on for years and years. The docs at the family practice office I used to work at years ago were telling patients to dump their expired meds down the toilet even.

I took some pills back to the Dr, they were narcs and he told me to flush them. I was shocked as they say in my area to find a way to destroy the drugs like melting them in a container of water and throwing them out.

I did use his tiolet though.:clap:

It's always the drugs..........Wonder how many medical problems are caused by what we are ingesting in the water now?

Good day
Gozgals

 

[southcitymom]

What is the proper way to dispose of meds?

 

[Buzz Mills]

What is the proper way to dispose of meds?

There should be a market for them...heh, heh

Teenagers can probably tell us what they are worth. During these trying financial times...this could create more drug dealers.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

What is the proper way to dispose of meds?

The ethically proper way to dispose of unused portions of RX meds is to take them to any local pharmacy...or to your doctor. If certain meds remain unused or tampered with, you may even be able to help somebody that might not have afforded those meds...such as unused fertility meds that have to be paid for in advance. Only a doctor can redistribute, but a pharmacist as well as a doctor or surgeon can destroy the meds. Never ever ever dump them in your toilet or throw them away in your trash - somebody could dig through your trash and use your refills, not a good thing. Dumping in the toilet or sink will harm the water. Water treatment facilities can only do so much. It's good to have an added water purification system attached to your faucet. I boil water to make iced tea, and we have a purifier...just sayin'...

 

[Buzz Mills]

An artifact

Many years ago, I can remember reading in the Sunday Parade magazine, in the local newspaper, that: "The United States, although only having 5% of the world's population, consumes 65% of the world's drugs. That was many decades ago, and I'll bet those stats are still pretty close....

 

[southcitymom]

There should be a market for them...heh, heh

Teenagers can probably tell us what they are worth. During these trying financial times...this could create more drug dealers.

There is absolutely a market for many of them!

 

[southcitymom]

The ethically proper way to dispose of unused portions of RX meds is to take them to any local pharmacy...or to your doctor. If certain meds remain unused or tampered with, you may even be able to help somebody that might not have afforded those meds...such as unused fertility meds that have to be paid for in advance. Only a doctor can redistribute, but a pharmacist as well as a doctor or surgeon can destroy the meds. Never ever ever dump them in your toilet or throw them away in your trash - somebody could dig through your trash and use your refills, not a good thing. Dumping in the toilet or sink will harm the water. Water treatment facilities can only do so much. It's good to have an added water purification system attached to your faucet. I boil water to make iced tea, and we have a purifier...just sayin'...

Thanks JG - that's really good to know - I didn't know if that was appropriate or something you could do. I was with a friend last night who needs to get rid of an enormous amount of narcotics she has from a bunch of surgeries she's been through since January. In the past, I have always counseled people to flush them, so this thread really made me think. I told her I would check in with y'all and tell her what I found out. We had talked about taking her identifying info off of the bottles and just putting them in the trash, but I wondering if they might end up in the waterway that way - probably they would just go to a landfill.