SMETHPORT – An unwanted household medicine collection will be
held at Bradford Regional Medical Center from 8 a.m. to noon May
16.
Pennsylvania residents are invited to dispose of prescription
medications including controlled substances, over-the-counter
medications, vitamins and nutritional supplements, veterinary
medications, epi-pens and inhalers.
Jim Clark, extension educator with Penn State Extension of
McKean County, said “We will not just be collecting and disposing
of pills, but also cough syrups, foot creams, shampoos and other
personal care products.”
Pharmaceuticals from institutions will not be accepted.
“We’re going to take only residential products, the kinds found
in household medicine cabinets,” Clark said. “We want people to
empty their medicine cabinets and bring the pharmaceuticals to us
so we can keep them off the street and out of children’s
hands.”
No sharps, medical or household chemicals, pesticides or
business waste will be accepted.
Clark advises people not to flush unwanted or leftover medicines
down the drain, which can result in contaminating the water and
affecting aquatic life and the drinking water supply.
He said, “The best way to keep pharmaceutical chemicals out of
our lakes and streams is to take unwanted or expired prescription
and over-the-counter medications to this collection, which ensures
environmentally safe disposal.”
There is no charge for the collection. Pre-registration is not
required for the collection at BRMC since people will not be asked
to provide any personal information.
People should use a black marker to cross out the patient’s name
and account number, but not the pharmaceutical’s name and
dosage.
Medicines and other items should be kept in their original
containers and not mixed since an inventory will be made of the
collected items.
The collection is restricted to Pennsylvania residents due to
the grants from in-state sources: the Department of Environmental
Protection and the Water Resources Network.
“Security will be tight at the collection site,” Clark noted.
“DEP requires that a pharmacist and law enforcement personnel be at
the collection site.”
Clark said the pharmacist will separate the controlled and
uncontrolled substances. Officials have also contacted Bradford
City Police about the event, and McKean County Sheriff Brad Mason
will assign a deputy to be there. Mason will be responsible for
delivering the pharmaceuticals and personal care products to an
approved medical waste incinerator.
For those people who cannot attend an uncollected household
medicine collection, Clark offered some advice for disposing of
pharmaceuticals. He said, “People should mix the substances with
kitchen waste or even kitty litter.”
Clark said the mixture should then be placed into a bag and then
inserted into a non-see-through container before being placed in a
garbage bag for disposal at a landfill.
Not all Pennsylvanians have the opportunity to participate in an
unwanted medication collection event.
According to Clark, “Since we live near the headwaters of the
Allegheny River, it’s important to hold a collection here. This
area is in the forefront of holding these collections. Elk County
sponsored the first one in the state last year, and ours will be
the fourth. Others have since been held in Cumberland and Erie
counties.”
The May 16 collection will culminate months of planning for the
event.
“Sandy Thompson, manager of the McKean County Conservation
District, began working on this a year ago because a lot of
partners are involved,” Clark said.
Thompson said, “The Conservation District became involved in the
interest of protecting our local water resources.”
Those associated with the collection are the PA CleanWays, BRMC,
McKean County Commissioners, Penn State Extension of McKean County,
McKean County Conservation District, Environmental Enterprises
Inc., DEP and the Water Resources Network.
Arrangements were also made with hazardous materials haulers and
an operator of an approved medical waste incinerator.
Clark has prepared a Power Point program, “Water and Emerging
Contaminants,” which he will be presenting to the area’s service
clubs and other organizations. Some of the world’s safest and most
reliable drinking water supplies can be found in the United
States.
At the same time, though, it must be realized that despite
stringent laws and regulations, chemicals used by man have the
potential of polluting our water systems.
Despite recent publicity about the presence of pharmaceuticals
in the nation’s water, this is not new.
For example, pharmaceuticals have been found in water since they
were introduced. The environmental Protection Agency published the
first national report of this as far back as 1975.
“The discovery of pharmaceuticals in our water should not be
taken lightly, but neither should it be a cause for panic,” Clark
said.
Some compounds can be safely consumed at concentrations much
higher than found in water. Just because a particular compound is
found in water doesn’t necessarily make it a health risk.
Then too, modern technology can identify and measure ever
smaller concentrations. Organisms in water face a much higher
exposure to contaminants than people. For instance, chlorine, a
chemical commonly used to disinfect drinking water, is poisonous to
fish.
When compared to most regulated organic compounds,
pharmaceuticals are exceptional because they have been tested
extensively before being marketed for human use. That gives
researchers more reliable data to help them determine “safe” levels
of pharmaceuticals in water than are available for most synthetic
organic chemical compounds.
Research continues on this issue by governmental agencies.
