Your Weekly "Simple Health Secrets" by Asia Moore For Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Compliments of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com

Have you ever wondered what happens to those old drugs that you flush down the toilet?

Do you ever consider where they actually go? Or once you flip the handle and flush them away, in your mind is that the end of the problem?

The shocking news is that we end up drinking them, because when you flush them down the toilet, they end up in the water we drink. This means that we end up taking lots of prescription drugs that haven't been prescribed for us.

Water treatment processes are able to remove dangerous bacteria but aren't able to remove dissolved medicines.

Scientists say that the water in many cities is contaminated with estrogen from the urine of women on replacement hormones and birth control pills.

And that's not the worst of it. The U.S. Geological Survey has found traces of painkillers, antidepressants, blood-pressure medicines and more in water samples from 30 different states. 

One study has estimated that nursing homes discard between $73 million to $378 million worth of drugs a year. And where are they disposed of? That's right - they get flushed.

Did you know that exposure to hormones can affect the reproductive abilities of fish, and drinking antibiotics may encourage development of drug-resistant germs in people.

"The age-old wisdom of flushing medication down the toilet...is probably the least desirable of all the alternatives," says the EPA's Christian Daughton. 

So what's the answer. What should we do with old prescription medicines? Can you take them back to the Pharmacy? Maybe in the future, but I don't think you can right now, and what's the point if they only flush them down the toilet anyway.

Apparently, Australia has solved the flushing problem by collecting more than 760 tons of medicines since 1998, when they started a program to allow people to return unwanted drugs to pharmacies so they can be incinerated. 

The next question you have to ask, though, is what about the air quality. I suppose if this is the only choice, the lesser of the two evils would be to breathe some drug-laden fumes rather than drinking drug-laden water.

Incineration may so far be the safest method of disposal, because when medicine bottles are thrown in the trash, the medicines can seep into landfills and eventually contaminate the water that way, too. 

If you have to throw medicine away, and you don't have access to an incinerator, it's best to break up capsules and crush tablets and then put them back into their original container. Next, tape up the bottle and double-bag it before tossing it into the trash.

I hope you have enjoyed this simple health "secret", compliments of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com where you will learn simple "secrets" for a healthier life.

For other recommended reading, please visit our website for the latest health related information!

Thanks for visiting and remember that being healthy is really a simple matter once you know the "Simple Health Secrets".

Sincerely,

Asia Moore,
Publisher 

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