Fentanyl patch & witnessing

The old thread discussed how fentanyl (duragesic) patches should be disposed of--cut & flushed, put in the sharps container, or put in the pharmacy's secure medication disposal container (if such a system is available).

Between the amount of drugs that get put into our sewage systems and septic tanks/ground water from drugs being flushed down toilets and the amount of still-active compounds that can be found in the urine of people taking medications (e.g. estrogen compounds) that can pass unaltered into ground water, environmental contamination has become a concern.

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD

Our municipal sewage systems are only designed to filter out/disinfect for biomass, pathogens and heavy metals, but all the other chemicals/compounds can pass through unchanged. The treated effluence can then find its way back into our water supplies without much additional purification.

I grew up in a university town located in a major agricultural area (Davis CA). In the past 15 years most of the residents there no longer drink or cook with tap water and instead obtain ultrafiltered water from local shops around town. Many are concerned about all the fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides that are applied in the surrounding farm land that will pass down into the subsurface water supplies, and over time concerns have been raised about what passes through sewage treatment as well. The downside is that you also have to buy "nursery water" in order to get some fluoride for dental carie protection.

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD