Fentanyl patch & witnessing

[hollyvk, BSN]

For your reading pleasure and to enlarge your understanding of the environmental concerns about drug disposal.

Drug disposal updates (new SMARxT Disposal program developed by the American Pharmacists Assn and the US Fish & Wildlife Service) and background on the wider issue of who else/what else gets exposed to drugs that enter sewage treatment or ground water:

http://www.pharmacytimes.com/articleNewsletter.cfm?ID=4506

http://www.aphanet.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&CONTENTID=7657&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

http://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2007/r07-050.html

http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/2006-December/000721.html

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I just want to note this was a post made today in an old thread about fentanyl wasting. As it has a lot of good references, I split it off. Hope it's OK.

[hollyvk, BSN]

I just want to note this was a post made today in an old thread about fentanyl wasting. As it has a lot of good references, I split it off. Hope it's OK.

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

[Teachchildren123]

Oh! HollyVK you must be reading my mind! I will read your links above....Thanks!

I was just thinking few days ago about where are all those drugs going? Vancomycin, Gentamycin, Versed, Propofor, Nitro, Hyperal, UTI urines, C-diff filled rectal bag...

This is a huge concern and something as to be done to get us safer, of course the counties will not mention theses compounds in the list of the quality of water reports!

Should we call 60 mins or Dateline to have them research this?

[hollyvk, BSN]

Oh! HollyVK you must be reading my mind! I will read your links above....Thanks!

I was just thinking few days ago about where are all those drugs going? Vancomycin, Gentamycin, Versed, Propofor, Nitro, Hyperal, UTI urines, C-diff filled rectal bag...

This is a huge concern and something as to be done to get us safer, of course the counties will not mention theses compounds in the list of the quality of water reports!

Should we call 60 mins or Dateline to have them research this?

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

[isenephthys, BSN, RN]

wow... interesting thread. i never thought about where all that stuff goes...

[AtomicWoman]

This website isn't about Fentanyl, but it is quite an eye-opener. The whole intersex fish thing is very scary! When you read the list of drugs they find in water, it really makes you realize how much an issue proper drug disposal is.

http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/2006-March/000413.html