Drug stores in program to take back old medicines
By Paul Gottlieb
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Those unused prescription drugs that are taking up space in medicine cabinets across the North Olympic Peninsula can now be dropped off at Jim’s Pharmacy in Port Angeles and Frick Rexall Drug Store in Sequim — anonymously and free of charge.
The pharmaceutical-waste take-back program is part of a joint effort among the two drug stores, the state Board of Pharmacy, the state Board of Health and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office
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Prescription drugs that make their way into the water supply have “become the new form of hazardous waste,” said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Benedict and Locke said discarded hormones have been known to “feminize” fish, giving them characteristics of both sexes.
“More and more people are using prescription medications, and that raises significant disposal issues,” Locke said, adding that it’s no longer advised to flush medications down the toilet.
“People were told to flush unused pills down the toilet for years and years,” he said. “That was the public message.”
Pharmaceuticals entering the water supply is “a nationwide problem,” Frick said.
He said pharmaceutical waste abounds in particular in Sequim.
A water test at SunLand in Sequim showed traces of 54 pharmaceutical chemicals, he said, though Locke said the last test he was aware of at SunLand was around 2000.
Locke said water in Clallam and Jefferson counties is not routinely tested for pharmaceuticals, but it’s not considered an “imminent threat.”
“It’s more one of those problems that if you don’t do something now, it could get to a point in Washington state where it was a problem.”
Pharmaceuticals in dangerous quantities tend to enter the water supplies of communities that draw water from rivers in industrialized areas, he said.
“The problem here is that what we are getting in he Dungeness River is affecting the fish population and eventually going out into the ocean,” Locke said.
“Here, it’s more of an environmental protection issue than it is an imminent human health issue.”
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full article at http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20090812/NEWS/308129995