E-DRUG: MBSG/UMaine Center on Aging Wins EPA Drug Return Grant
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April 27, 2007
ORONO, Maine – The UMaine Center on Aging has received a $150,000 grant
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to launch a
first-in-the-nation pharmaceuticals-return program to help keep tons of
medications out of rivers, streams and groundwater.
According to the EPA, the UMaine pilot will start, implement and
evaluate a mail-back plan to remove unused over-the-counter and
prescription medications from homes. Typically, unused, unneeded or
expired medications are flushed down toilets or thrown in the trash, and
ultimately can make their way into the environment. Since compounds in
many medications can be destroyed only through incineration, they often
pass through landfill and wastewater treatment plants and end up in
rivers, lakes and streams.
In the United States and in England, studies have shown that
pharmaceuticals and common personal health care products in the
environment can cause genetic changes in fish and wildlife. For
instance, male carp living downstream from or near municipal wastewater
treatment plants in a Las Vegas reservoir, the Potomac River in
Washington, D.C. and in England have developed female sex organs,
according to a September 2006 article in "Governing Magazine."
Unused, unneeded or unwanted drugs stored in homes also can wind up in
the hands of children exploring medicine cabinets, or thieves who steal
and sell pain medications, muscle relaxants and other drugs, says Len
Kaye, director of the Center on Aging, which serves as administrator for
the Maine Benzodiazepine Study Group (MBSG). The study group is a
consortium of lawmakers, policy makers, and professionals in health
care, geriatric care, law enforcement, social work, private industry and
other disciplines pressing for new ways to curtail the storage or casual
disposal of potentially dangerous medications. The group has been
awaiting the EPA funding, which will enable the implementation of the
Maine Unused Pharmaceutical Disposal Project adopted by the legislature
in 2004.
"We’re extremely pleased to receive word that our grant application has
been approved by the EPA," says Kaye, who also is the principal
investigator for the EPA grant. "Now we can take steps to eliminate some
of these medications from the waste stream and keep them out of the
hands of people who should not have them. It’s been a very serious
problem with established detrimental effects on the environment and
wildlife."
Dr. Stevan Gressitt, medical director of the Northeast Occupational
Exchange in Bangor, is the co-principal investigator for the grant and a
co-founder of the MBSG.
In addition, the pilot project will test the effectiveness of an
educational campaign about the hazards to life, health and the
environment presented by improper storage and disposal of unused
medications. In the next few weeks or months, 6,000 mailers will be
available to the public through participating pharmacies in four
counties, Aroostook, Penobscot, Kennebec and Cumberland.
The EPA provided a second non-profit organization in St. Louis with a
similar grant to approach the problem in a slightly different way. Area
Resources for Community and Human Services in St. Louis, in conjunction
with the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, will have community grocery
stores serve as collection sites for unwanted medications over an
18-month period, covering a 2.7-million population base.
In both projects, older adults will be involved in the design and
implementation of the programs. These grants are part of EPA's larger
effort to protect the health of older adults, who may be more
susceptible to environmental hazards, through its Aging Initiative. The
Aging Initiative encourages civic engagement to recognize and reduce
environmental hazards in their communities.
The Maine project also will include an inventory of the types and
quantities of drugs being returned. Inventory data could prove useful to
the medical community in changing its prescribing practices to reduce
the incidence of unused medications.
EPA Project Officer Kathy Sykes says that while some states have held
one-day drug-return programs, the Maine initiative and the St. Louis
program both are the first pharmaceutical return programs of such
proportion. The Maine mail-back and inventory aspects of the program are
firsts in the country, she adds.
Kaye estimates that, in Maine, the pilot project will remove 1.5 tons of
unwanted medications from homes or the waste stream.
More information about the project can be found on the Center on Aging
Web site at www.umaine.edu/mainecenteronaging or by going directly to
www.mainebenzo.org.
In addition to the Center on Aging, the EPA and the MBSG, other project
partners include the Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety,
Maine departments of Environmental Protection and Health, Maine Drug
Enforcement Agency, Maine offices of Elder Services, Substance Abuse and
Attorney General, the Maine Pharmacy Association, Maine RSVP Programs,
Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at UMaine, National Council on
Patient Information and Education, Northern New England Poison Center,
Northeast Occupational Exchange and the Villanova University Center for
the Environment.
Contact: Len Kaye, (207) 581-3483; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
This news release can also be accessed at:
http://www.umaine.edu/news/article.asp?id_no=1744
--
Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
Tel. +1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.cancersurvivorsproject.org
www.healthyskepticism.org
Joana Ramos <jdr@ramoslink.info>