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.