Mosser

By:  Christine Stone, RN, BSN

If you’re like most people, you probably have unused or expired medications in your closet.   What do you usually do with those medications?   Again, if you’re like most people, you probably just flush them down the toilet or pour them down the drain.  Easy enough, right?    Think again.  

Drugs can get into our water supply in a variety ways.   Households, hospitals, nursing homes, and even some pharmaceutical companies pour drugs down the drain.   Manufacturing companies regularly dump by-products into rivers and streams.  Farms and ranches give animals antibiotic and hormone-laced feed.    And ALL of these toxins are landing in our water supply.

Sewage and water treatment plants are able to remove harmful bacteria and some other impurities from our drinking water, but they are NOT equipped to filter out drugs.  As a result, some pharmaceutical pollution does wind up in our drinking water.   It’s possible that ingesting even very small amounts of these drugs could, over time, affect your health.   Pretty scary, right?

The drugs being poured down the drain are affecting the fish.   For example water sources polluted with hormones such as estrogen (birth control pills) are producing fish with both male and female characteristics.   This is having a negative impact on the fishes’ ability to reproduce.

New guidelines encourage responsible drug disposal for hospitals and nursing homes.   Companies are also under closer scrutiny of their use and disposal of chemicals.

What can YOU do?

• Do not flush unused medicines or pour down the drain. Instead, throw medications into the trash.   Medications disposed of this way will be incinerated or buried in landfills.   Not ideal, but better than pouring down the drain.
• Do not buy medications in bulk (large quantities).
• Use your community’s drug take back program. Take back programs are organized by state and local government, and some private institutions including pharmacy chains. There are over 6,000 such locations around the United States.    These programs allow you to drop off your unused drugs for proper disposal.   I recommend that you first remove any personal identification from the medication containers.   In my community, drugs can be dropped off at the township building – no questions asked.  

In summary, we don’t know the full level of harm to humans from the current levels of drugs in our drinking water.  But why contribute to the likely pollution?    I urge you adopt the easy recommendations listed above.   It’s one of the many ways you can help your fellow man, and also a few fish!

By: Christine Stone, RN, BSN

If you watch TV you’ve probably seen all those commercials for drugs claiming to be the next best thing for any variety of medical conditions from diabetes to dementia to toe fungus. You name the disease, there’s probably a new medication being advertised. Yes, we are very fortunate to have new medications and therapies available to us. But the cost to develop, test, and advertise new drugs can run in the multi-millions of dollars, and are therefore, very expensive. And while name brand name drugs are effective, they can be very costly to you, the consumer, and may not be covered by your prescription plan. So what’s the answer? Generic Drugs.
If you’re like most people who take prescription medications, you know how costly those medications can be.
But should cost be the primary deciding factor when choosing a generic medication over a name brand medication? This is an important discussion to have with your healthcare providers. Let’s look at the differences.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carefully regulates the development and testing of new drugs. Once a drug has been tested and proven safe for humans, it is patented, manufactured and prescribed by physicians. The patent on new drugs is about 20 years. This prevents copycat (generic) drugs from being manufactured in any form or dosage. Once the patent has expired, other companies can legally manufacture generic versions of the drug. The FDA makes sure generic drugs have the same chemical structure as the name brand drug.

Are generic drugs as effective as brand name drugs? The answer is Yes and No.
Once a drug is more affordable, many more people will be taking the drug. This means that rare problems with the drug could emerge that were not evident when the drug was first tested. This is one main reason people are wary of generic drugs. There are also rare situations where a person’s body chemistry is different from that of the average person which alters the drug’s effectiveness for that person. In this case, the brand name medication is the better choice. For most people, the generic drug is perfectly acceptable.

In summary, talk with your health care providers when deciding the best medications for you. Don’t be shy about asking if you need the brand name drug. I have found that most providers are sensitive to patient costs and are very willing to order generic drugs. Remember – you always have the right to know and be informed about any medication or test being prescribed for you.