Wednesday, April 23, 2008

NO CLEAR RX FOR DISPOSING OF DRUGS - Local groups start take-back programs for unwanted medicines

Pittsburg resident Maggie Dee Dowling used to flush her expired medications down the toilet, but decided to take them back to her local Walgreens after hearing that traces of prescription drugs have been found in drinking water. She was stunned when the pharmacy refused to accept them.

"The pharmacy tech opened the brown paper bag and said, 'What do you want us to do with it?' " said Dowling, 68, adding that the drugs she tried to drop off about a week ago included an inhaler and some anti-diarrheal pills.

The experience left Dowling frustrated and unsure of what to do with her unwanted medications. "It just seems to me that with all the things we're doing to pollute the Earth, if I can in some small way do my part in not flushing pollutants down the drain, then I was all for it," she said.

Consumers are rightly confused about what to do with their unwanted medications because they've received conflicting messages from government and environmental sources. Federal guidelines direct consumers which medications to flush and how to properly put others in the trash. But landfills can leak, potentially causing drugs to leach into the soil, and flushing has contaminated waterways.

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