Garbage in, garbage out
You’re probably thinking that you’ll take those old pills and just flush them.
Please reconsider that idea.
In your quest to do the right thing, you could potentially be poisoning the environment! (There’s one back for you, Mr. Gore.)
It’s been reported widely that there are some odd, Twilight Zone-style changes taking place in our environment. And those changes have been blamed on the casual flush of pharmaceuticals down the toilet.
Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Well, just as surely as the anklebone is connected to the leg bone, your bathroom plumbing is linked to a greater system. In short—it’s ending up in the water supply somewhere, which is why you’ll hear reports of reproductive issues in fish. One disturbing image is of male fish carrying eggs. They’re not supposed to.
Not to mention—and this’ll give you pause the next time you go for a drink of tap water—you have to wonder about its potential to infiltrate our drinking water.
And the government is not helping matters.
When putting the pills in the trash, the federal agencies recommend you put them in a soda can or a small bag and mix them with a substance that most people wouldn’t want to normally mix with their medicine—such as kitty litter. That way, no one is likely to try to retrieve them from the trash.
While this method sounds all well and good, it leaves an untidy string hanging: This method still introduces the pharmaceuticals into the environment, where they can still ooze eventually into the ground water supply.
I recommend you talk to your pharmacist. See if he can take back old drugs or knows of a “take-back site.” These sites dispose of the drugs properly to avoid environmental contamination. If your pharmacist doesn’t know of a site, contact your local government and see if they can either recommend one, or alert you to any upcoming disposal event where the drugs can be safely collected and dispensed with.
