Author: James E. Buchanan III
CEO/Information Architect
www.truthislight.com
Our
modern-day society is virtually inundated with hundreds, if not thousands of
advertisements that feature prescription drug cures for various symptoms or
illnesses. The privately owned, mega-drug companies will probably never take
the average consumer into careful consideration; when testing, marketing,
distributing, and disposing of the very items that make the corporate owned and
operated drug conglomerates billions of dollars every year. Consumers at the
grass root level must take into consideration that the corporate drug
companies’ main objective is to make as much profit as humanly possible; all at
the prescription drug consumers’ expense. Citizens must mobilize at the
community level and pressure our local, state, and federal leaders; to hold the
drug companies’ accountable for their wayward actions. Understanding the very
daunting task of maintaining an acceptable degree of healthy life skills and
habits seems to plague Americans every time they turn on virtually any type of
media-related communication device; be it their televisions, laptops, PDA
systems, or Personal PC.
We must admit that the American consumer is
swamped with marketing ads that promise relief from pain for things such as
back pain, headaches, and mood disorders, to name only a fraction. We are going
to focus on the dismal results of the humongous drug ad campaigns of the
privately held companies. Secondly, we will examine the effect of the active
and inactive chemicals that drug factories discard each year upon the
environment. Lastly, we will craft a possible solution to the problem of water
contamination by drug companies; and the lasting legacy that we could leave for
the next generation if we would mobilize our efforts. Recognizing, understanding,
and becoming pro-active are the three major ways in which citizens will be able
to take back power from the drug lobbyists; and place it back into the hands of
the consumer.
According to an ongoing Associated Press
special investigation, many U.S. hospitals and long-term care facilities are
discarding unused drug chemicals directly into America’s drinking water.
According to, Mary Ludlow, a representative of White Oak Pharmacy, a
Spartanburg, S.C. firm that serves a total of 15 individual long-term care and
assisted-living residences in the Carolinas quickly acknowledges, “Obviously
we’re flushing them ---- which is not ideal,” Donn, J., Mendoza, M, Pritchard,
J. (2008, October, 14). When drug producing factories continually pump unused
active and inactive chemicals into our drinking water we, the drug consumer are
potentially at risk of our drinking water being infected; or ever worse,
contaminated with a harmful foreign virus. A French medical research study
revealed that hospital wastewater samples had the capability to mutate genes. A
similar Swiss research study showed laboratory instances that fluoroquinolone
antibiotics have the ability to change bacterial DNA.
This discovery has raised the very valid
question of whether certain drug combinations that various companies currently
use have possibilities of raising the risk of cancer in humans. Even though
most pharmaceutical waste is either incinerated or sent to land-fills, it is
almost common knowledge that most of the excess drug waste that is produced in
the world is either dumped in mass quantities into our lakes and rivers by drug
companies, or into our own personal sinks and toilets. More times than not, no
state or federal laws are broken when we discard harmful pharmaceutical waste.
An
internal Environmental Protection Agency memorandum, dated last year, included
pharmaceuticals’ on a list of, “major pollutants of concern,” at health care
facilities. Even though this may be true, very few medical centers keep any
records at all that tabulate the gross amounts of harmful chemicals that they
dump into our drinking water every year. At a state prison in Oak Park Heights, Minn.,
Nurse Linda Peterson revealed that the prison hospital has been discarding
up-wards of 12,000 pills a year. “We flush it and flush it and flush it ----
until we can’t see any more pills,” she says. Also noting the presence of
another prison, a hospital, and nursing homes in the same general area, Nurse
Peterson states, “So what are all these facilities doing if we’re throwing away
about 700 to 1,000 pills a month?” The Associated Press estimates the annual
amount of pharmaceutical waste from hospitals and long-term care facilities to
be at least 250 million pounds, (these numbers do not include drug waste from
veterinary or doctors’ offices). These much smaller operations, much like the
rest, dispose of their drug waste with very little precautionary measures at
all. Alan Davidner, president of Vestara of Irvine, CA, says that his limited
sampling concerning the extent of pharmaceutical waste disposal could be even
higher. Evidence pointing to the rising problem of pharmaceutical waste
disposal is crystal clear ---- the dumping of pharmaceutical waste into our
nations’ drinking water systems is increasingly becoming not only an
environmental concern, but a nationwide health concern as well. At present, the
minute concentrations of potentially harmful drug chemicals in our drinking
water have the potential to affect at least 46 million Americans. This
potential scourge of pharmaceutical waste must be solved before it slowly grows
to epidemic proportions.
It is not
a difficult task in any way to predict the future outcome of pharmaceutical waste
dumping in the U.S.; if we continue to collectively refuse to heed the major
warning signals that research scientists continue to deliver to us year &
and year out. Researchers, scientists, and select members of the health care
community would all tend to agree, that extremely diluted concentrations of
pharmaceutical drug matter in our rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans harm fish,
frogs, ducks, turtles, and other fresh water and salt water species, (some of
which, are main staples for many families).
In order
for humans to continue to thrive at the top of the proverbial food chain, we
must re-evaluate our special place and function in the environment. If we
flatly refuse to do so, we would be committing a grave disservice to, not only
our present generation, but many possible generations to come. We cannot
continue to squander the earths’ resources; while at the same time refusing to
put back or dispose of waste in eco-friendly ways.
The bottom
line is simply this, hospital, long-term care facilities, and other health
related organizations are, knowingly or unknowingly, literally poisoning our
main sources of fresh drinking water with extremely harmful germs and deadly
antibiotics. If federal legislation regulating the disposal of pharmaceutical
waste dumping is not passed soon, in years to come, we will be unable to enjoy
the awesome beauty and serenity of our National Parks, Wildlife Reserves, and
public and private campgrounds across the U.S.
Environmental
professionals are presently vying to make in-roads to possibly receive a golden
chance to eventually present their findings to federal authorities, that the
incineration of pharmaceutical waste is, in fact, the safest method to dispose
of drug waste. This method of drug waste discarding is currently being utilized
by, Elastec, Inc., who specializes in the environmentally sound incineration of
medical waste, Elastec, Inc., (2005, Sept). If successful, this finding by
environmental professionals outside the annals of the federal government could
make way for future state and federal legislation; that would regulate the
disposal of pharmaceutical waste by utilizing the environmentally sound method
of incineration. Laura Brannen, an executive at Waste
Management Health-care Solutions in Houston, TX, had this to say
concerning incineration of pharmaceutical waste, “That’s the best practice for
today because we don’t really know what the hell to do with the stuff.” A
select few states have passed legislation to make it easier for health care
organizations to be able to donate their unused prescription drugs to community
pharmacies that target low-income patients. This idea is in effect a win-win
situation. Health-care organizations are not only able properly discard their
excess pharmaceuticals, but they are also doing a great service to lower income
patients who are in need of medicine; which they probably could not afford at
the retail price. A third solution, while yet in the experimental stages, is
the discarding of pharmaceutical waste through employing the use of an electric
arc, microwaves, or caustic chemicals. Although this method may sound
futuristic in nature, it may really become the most cost effective way to discard
of pharmaceutical waste in years to come. Yet another cost effective idea,
(that would in effect benefit the drug companies), is to ship a small portion
of unused prescription drugs back to the drug manufactures for credit --- and
eventual incineration, say professional waste consultants.
Many
long-term residential care facilities would like to deploy prescription
drug-dispensing machines that suppliers would refill on a continual basis to
reduce wasted packaging. By deploying prescription drug vending machines on
site, at long-term residential facilities across the U.S. would be an
indispensable way to help to control the excessive amounts of drug waste that
comes from our nations long-term care facilities, (since long-term care
facilities produce the highest amounts of drug waste than any other health care
branch). Fewer materials would be used to print labels, because private vendors
would continually deliver fresh medicine on site to long-term care facilities.
Less
stress would be placed on the environment because the long-term care facilities
would not have to continue to worry about sending out orders to drug
manufactures, (who must use more costly materials to produce packaging for
medication). Using private drug vendors would seemingly cut out the middle
step; and bridge a direct link between the drug vendor and the long-term care
facility staff. About 5 percent of prescription drugs that are produced in the
U.S. have been deemed hazardous by the EPA. According to Davidner of Vestara,
projected costs to incinerate pharmaceutical waste in a certified hazardous
incinerator could cost around $2 a pound. To burn the same amount of waste in a
regular incinerator could cost around 35 cents. Many huge drug company
executives see the move to environmentally safe ways of discarding as taking
away from their yearly profit margins. Tom Clark, an executive at the American
Society of Consultant Pharmacists, wonders: “When you can flush it down the
toilet for free, why would you want to pay ---- unless there are some
significant penalties?”In closing, even though we are almost constantly
barraged with ads, news clippings, and commercials for new and cutting edge
drug cures, citizens must continue to mobilize at the grass root levels. In
doing so, the corporate drug companies and lobbyists will finally take notice
that drug consumers are not only savvy prescription drug purchasers, but also
well informed about the harmful effects of pharmaceutical waste on the
environment. When citizens begin to band together on the community level, then
state government will take notice. When the attention of state government is
captured then and usually only then, the federal government would recognize
that there is a need on the state level and step in. If nothing else, the
debate has finally begun to decide the best methods on discarding the millions
of tons in excess drugs that the U.S. produces each year. With the correct
legislation in place, we have a chance to begin to clean up our environment to
ensure a safe and productive future for our children’s children.
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