I was listening to the radio while I was out delivering my mail route last week and heard some interesting trivia that I felt compelled to do some more research on and share with you all. Apparently several churches in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had banded together last month to collect expired prescription medicines from their communities, so the prescription medicines could be properly disposed of. They were doing this out of concern for the purity of the drinking water in their communities. That purity is in danger not only due to easily recognizable pollution, but also due to prescription drugs, hormones, caffeine‚ nicotine‚ and antibiotics being used and disposed of.

I feel a bit naïve because it never occurred to me that it was a problem to just throw away my expired medications or flush them down the toilet. Of course, that isn’t the only way they end up in the sewer systems and ultimately in the water supplies. Apparently most drugs pass through a user’s body without being metabolized so they are excreted and either flushed anyway or they are spread onto and into the soil for fertilizer in the form of sewage sludge or manure from domestic farm animals. Unfortunately, sewage treatment usually does not affect the chemical structure, and therefore, the toxicity of drugs.

It may be unpleasant to consider that about ten percent of the water we drink has been used before. Our water resources are finite, there is no such thing as new water. Our planet continuously recycles and re-uses this finite supply of water. German scientists are reporting that if anyone takes the time to do a proper analysis they should be able to measure anywhere from 30 to 60 drugs in a typical water sample. Please do not flush unused medications, unless you are specifically advised to flush a particular drug because of potential abuse.

Concentration levels of some drugs in the water supplies are comparable to the low parts-per-billion (ppb) levels at which pesticides are usually found. To some people it is reassuring to know that the levels are so low, but others are asking reasonable questions. “What is the long-term effect of drinking, day after day, a dilute cocktail of pesticides and prescription drugs? Apparently the EPA is concerned about just that. They recently provided two non-profit organizations more than $300,000 in grants to develop pilot programs on the proper disposal of unused medications. The University of Maine, Center on Aging, Orono, Maine, and Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS), St Louis, Mo., will each receive around $150,000. The purpose of the grants are to develop alternative stewardship approaches to disposal, including "mail back" or "take back" pilot demonstrations.
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Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2003