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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2011)
4 • The Southwest Portland Post Dear EarthTalk: Pharmaceuticals were in the news again recently, how they are polluting water and raising a host of health issues because we dispose of them both unused and used through body waste elimina- tion. What can be done? -- Lucy Abbot, Macon, GA Pharmaceutical drug contamina- tion in our groundwater, rivers, lakes, estuaries and bays is a growing problem. Millions of us are flushing unused medications down the toilet and discharging them in our body waste—even though sewage treat- ment plants and septic systems were never designed to deal with such contaminants. Additional discharges by health- care facilities exacerbate the problem. As a result, researchers have identi- fied traces of pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking water supplies of some 40 million Americans. A nationwide study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1999 FEATURES and 2000 found low levels of phar- maceuticals—including antibiotics, hormones, contraceptives and ste- roids—in 80 percent of the rivers and streams sampled. According to Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE), the ef- fects of constant, low-level exposure of pharmaceuticals on ecosystems and humans are uncertain, though “possible health concerns include hormone disruption, antibiotic resis- tance and synergistic effects.” And antidepressants, says CCE, can “alter the behavior and reproductive func- tions of fish and mollusks.” CCE cites a recent Stony Brook Uni- versity study showing that some fish species in New York’s Jamaica Bay are experiencing “feminization”— the ratio of female to male winter flounder was 10 to one in the studied area—likely a result of flushed phar- maceuticals that can act as “hormone mimics” and cause such effects. New York’s Department of Envi- ronmental Conservation concurs, citing a number of other studies underscoring the impacts on aquatic life. What irks CCE about the problem is that almost all known sources of drugs in the environment first pass through wastewater treatment plants where they could be filtered out, but these facilities are not required to be equipped with pharmaceutical filter devices. In light of the problem, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2007 established its first set of October 2011 Researchers have identified traces of pharmaceutical drugs -- including antibiot- ics, hormones, contraceptives and steroids -- in the drinking water supplies of some 40 million Americans. (Photo courtesy of Stockbyte) guidelines for how consumers should dispose of prescription drugs. First and foremost, consumers should follow any specific disposal instructions on a drug’s label or the patient information that accompanies the medication—and shouldn’t flush the drugs down the toilet. If there are no disposal instructions, the FDA recommends finding out from your municipality if any take- back programs are in place. Also, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administra- tion sponsors National Prescription Drug Take Back Days across the coun- try at various sites a few times a year. “If no instructions are given on the drug label and no take-back program is available in your area, throw the drugs in the household trash, but first take them out of their original contain- ers and mix them with an undesir- able substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter,” says the FDA. This will make them less appealing to children, pets or people who may intentionally go through your trash, says the agency, which adds that a final step is to put the medication into a sealed bag or other container to prevent leaks. CONTACTS: CCE, www.citizen- scampaign.org; National Prescription Drug Take Back Days, www.nation- altakebackday.com; FDA’s “How to Dispose of Unused Medicines.” EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Envi- ronmental Magazine (www.emagazine. com). Send questions to: earthtalk@ emagazine.com.