Safe Disposal of Prescription Medications in Missouri
With surging drug costs being passed to consumers, this means the U.S. spends more on prescription medications than any other country. On average, Americans spend about $1,300 per person per year on prescription drugs.
When you’re looking into healthcare coverage options, individual health insurance costs are likely top of mind, as are prescription insurance prices. Learn more about what type of prescription drug coverage you can expect and how you can find the best prescription insurance for your needs. A healthcare franchise is an alternative to urgent care and primary care treatment from hospitals, find this info here.
Flushing Drugs and the Water Supply
Some people wonder if it’s okay to flush certain medicines when a take back option is not easily available. There are concerns about the small levels of drugs that may be found in surface water, such as rivers and lakes, and in drinking water supplies.
“The main way drug residues enter water systems is by people taking medicines and then naturally passing them through their bodies,” says Raanan Bloom, Ph.D., an environmental assessment expert at the FDA. “Many drugs are not completely absorbed or metabolized by the body and can enter the environment after passing through wastewater treatment plants.”
The FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency take the concerns of flushing certain medicines in the environment seriously. Still, there has been no sign of environmental effects caused by flushing recommended drugs. In fact, the FDA published a paper to assess this concern, finding negligible risk of environmental effects caused by flushing recommended drugs.
For more information on what to do when you no longer need your medicines, visit this FDA page.
For a listing of safe places to dispose of your prescription medications in Missouri see http://dmh.mo.gov/ada/docs/