The improper disposal of Medication.
By: Weston Peninger
The improper disposal of medication,
prescription and non-prescription, is becoming ever more Dangerous. It is
simply not disposing of your medications correctly, this could mean leaving
them outside, flushing them down the toilet or even just throwing them away.
These can cause drugs and medication to end up in landfills and sometimes in
our water supply.
Its environmental impacts can go a lot
further than you think. The first place these drugs can end up,is in our water
systems. When these drugs are thrown in a landfill or flushed down the toilet
there is a chance they can leach into our water system. In recent years, a number of pharmaceutical-related chemicals have been
found in waterways across the country and even in our drinking water. According to the University of Illinois, these
chemicals can be traced back to drugs such as antibiotics, anti-depressants,
steroids, seizure medications, painkillers and more. These chemicals not only
have the potential to harm humans, they also threaten marine ecosystems.
It is not only the
people who are making this mistake. While the people need change, livestock
farms, hospitals and nursing homes are all large contributors of the
prescriptions that end up in our waterways as well. With these increasing
industries and increasingly important medication, a safe way to dispose of them
needs to become more readily available. Around Flower mound we have medication
disposal days that are very poorly advertised and not very well funded. There
are certain programs around the country that host medication disposal days but
only twice a year.
Ridding of Medication
is a very difficult process but with proper funding we can find an easier way
to allow the public to dispose of medications safely. One of the biggest
growing epidemics in america is the unneeded taking of prescription pills that
are addictive, but that seems to be a problem that can be solved with proper
disposal of unwanted and expired drugs.
Sources:
https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/article/the-dangerous-of-improper-drug-disposal/
21 comments:
Great article! I didn’t know about disposal days before reading this blog. I agree that bringing more awareness to the issue would result in cleaner and safer drinking water for many people. Improperly disposing of medications overtime will lead to greater issues and it must be addressed as soon as possible.
I totally agree that this is such an unrepresented issue. Anytime you see someone in a TV show or movie get rid of drugs (legal or not), they're always dramatically flushing them down the toilet or washing them down the drain. While I'm sure it makes for a great plot, it's a terrible message to send. If someone has a drug they need to get rid of, there are designated disposal areas, and although that isn't entertaining, it's important. No one ever told me about medical disposal day in Flower Mound until I was old enough to figure it out on my own, and that, unfortunately, appears to be very common.
Great article! I fortunately did already know/have known about this issue. When I took aquatic science last year I had a whole project over this issue and even made a stop motion video regarding the issue.
Great article I agree that this is an issue that hasn’t been talked about too much. People have many places too put trash and they flush them down the toilet causing so many problems they don’t know about. We need to figure out how to get people to realize the problems they’re causing.
This is a good article! Many people don’t understand the negative impacts of disposing medication improperly. Because they value convenience, they opt to dispose of medication by flushing them down the drain, which ends up polluting the water supply and affecting everyone. By educating the public we can prevent the negative effects on the environment.
This issue has been a problem for a long time, and people do not really understand its effects on their water supply. Maybe if they were educated on waste water treatment, this would be less of a problem. They would realize that they are unintentionally harming everyone around them by polluting the water supply and hopefully dispose of medication the proper way.
What an interesting topic! It’s true that this is a pressing issue, however few people know it even exists. In fact, most people aren’t even aware that medicine cannot simply be thrown into the trash or flushed down the toilet. Although I’m curious to know the proper disposal method and don’t know anything about it, I do know that there are major negative impacts of prescription drugs in water supplies on marine life. For instance, they have greatly altered reproductive functions in some animals such as frogs. To help solve the problem, it is important that we host more medication disposal days around the country and publicize them well.
I really enjoyed reading your blog. People don’t realize how significant of a problem disposing medications down the toilet can be. The only way we can solve this problem is by educating the public. If the high-authority were to take charge on this problem, many people will follow.
I agree with the idea of providing more advertisements. I saw a sign on the road and a sign in our classroom but that was really about it. I think if we upped the amount of advertising as well as having it include the facts about medical disposal, far more people would participate. We as humans are more desired to do stuff when we get something in return, so it may be a good idea to include things such as raffles and cash prizes in medical disposal day.
I did not know there was such a big issue about throwing away medicine. This blog helped me further undertand the dangers of not throwing it the right way and I hope in the future people know more about medical disposal day.
Overall, you did a good job at bringing light to an underrepresented issue. I think most people just simply do not know enough about the topic. This ignorance can cause the harm of the environment and some serious consequences.
You always hear about our need to recycle, carpool or even cut out meat. But we never hear about our need to not flush our prescriptions down the toilet. I believe that it boils down to ignorance, people are just unaware that flushing down prescriptions are wrong. The act is so commonplace that we even see it in tv shows and movies when characters attempt to get rid of prescriptions. I’m glad you went in depth on this topic, especially since we only briefly glossed over it in class !
Disposal of every day medication is one of the least talked about problems in our world. So many issues can come from simply flushing away a pill or liquid that we don’t know about. This blog does a good job in highlighting those underlying issues and how the problem needs to have more attention on it so people can become better educated.
People are not usually concerned with the disposal of medication and just through them away like all other trash. I personally didn’t know there were so many issues and problems that arise with the disposal of medication in trash cans and in the toilet. I agree with you upon how there should be more fundings for medication disposal days and peop;le should be more aware of this issue.
Great Topic! Before this class and after reading your article I never knew that improper disposal of medications can cause so much harm, and I agree that there should be more light shined on this topic as people don’t know that these types of things have such dire consequences. Also, I do agree with the fact that there should be more announcements of medical disposal day maybe that way people will stop and realize that medical disposal is something that needs to be done properly.
As already said in the article, a lot of people aren’t aware of this issue. People need to be educated about medical disposal day and what they can do to save our environment. This needs to happen soon so that damage to humans and marine life can be reduced or prevented.
Disposing of medication has always been a big issue in today’s world because it can cause many environmental problems. This blog does a good job of explaining those issues and how to cure them. People need to be more aware of what they are throwing down the drain or into landfills because other habitats are getting harmed.
Improper disposal of medication is a really unrepresented topic that needs to have more awareness brought to it. I knew that it was an issue in households but I find it really surprising that it is happening in large industries that should know better, like hospitals. Improperly disposing of medication can lead to a lot of environmental issues and I think we need to educate the public on this issue.
Wow, this blog was very interesting!I never really knew how the improper disposal of medication can affect the environment. I have heard of medication disposal day, but many people are very uneducated on this issue because it is poorly advertised. People need to be more aware of what they are putting into the environment, and how it can harm us.
I don’t think enough people ever truly think about their impact. They think that on a macro level they can do nothing about the environment with something as small as throwing away pills, but as you’ve shown it can have a huge impact on the world around us. Because human beings consistently have the need to change the world for the better, sometimes we forget we have the potential to affect other living things while attempting simply to dispose of our waste. A very enlightening article!.
This is one of those under the radar actions that can pose an environmental threat without a good majority of people even being aware of it. The disposal of medication is something people likely do carelessly without thinking twice, which is exactly why the problem has become has become so prevalent. Throwing away small pills may seem like it has a seemingly minuscule impact on the environment at best, but collectively these bad behaviors are serving as another extreme detriment to our environment that our world would be better off without.
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