Don't Flush that Old Medicine!

One of the most common and increasingly dangerous methods of disposing of expired medication is to simply flush medicine down the toilet. In the past, flushing medicine has been recommended because it is quick and dirty, and if simply thrown into the trash then one runs the risk of having a child or animal being subjected to the chemicals which could be potentially dangerous. However, new studies have shown that the increasing amount of people flushing old medicine is causing some serious problems.

Scientists are now finding antibiotics, hormones and other drugs in sewer lines and waterways. This has caused some huge red flags to go up when considering potential health and environmental dangers caused by this rapid increase. The new question has become, "What do I do with these drugs instead?" This is a question that is currently going unanswered.

Although this issue could become serious, there is currently no solution to the problem. However, the Food and Drug Administration is currently looking at the issue and considering more effective and safe routes of medicine disposal. Separately, some states are working to allow nursing homes to donate leftover medicine to indigent patients, as long as they weren't opened and were well guarded against tampering of any kind.

For now, the safest method of medicine disposal is to securely wrap the medicine and put it into a trash can such that it is out of reach of children and animals. Simply throwing the medicine away unaware can be dangerous, but by taking steps to insure that it would be difficult to get to the disposed medicine, the dangers can be decreased dramatically and this method is currently much safer and more recommended then simply deciding to flush medicine that is no longer in use.