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    FDA-Drug Disposal Guideline

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    Dian Pus
    The document provides guidelines from the FDA and White House for safely disposing of unused or expired medications. It recommends that most drugs can be thrown in household trash after being mixed with an undesirable substance like coffee grounds. However, a few drugs like fentanyl patches should be flushed down the toilet due to safety concerns. It also discusses community take-back programs and environmental concerns related to drug disposal in water supplies.

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    FDA-Drug Disposal Guideline

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    Dian Pus
    329 views2 pages
    The document provides guidelines from the FDA and White House for safely disposing of unused or expired medications. It recommends that most drugs can be thrown in household trash after being mixed with an undesirable substance like coffee grounds. However, a few drugs like fentanyl patches should be flushed down the toilet due to safety concerns. It also discusses community take-back programs and environmental concerns related to drug disposal in water supplies.

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    The document provides guidelines from the FDA and White House for safely disposing of unused or expired medications. It recommends that most drugs can be thrown in household trash after being mixed with an undesirable substance like coffee grounds. However, a few drugs like fentanyl patches should be flushed down the toilet due to safety concerns. It also discusses community take-back programs and environmental concerns related to drug disposal in water supplies.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    329 views2 pages

    FDA-Drug Disposal Guideline

    Uploaded by

    Dian Pus
    The document provides guidelines from the FDA and White House for safely disposing of unused or expired medications. It recommends that most drugs can be thrown in household trash after being mixed with an undesirable substance like coffee grounds. However, a few drugs like fentanyl patches should be flushed down the toilet due to safety concerns. It also discusses community take-back programs and environmental concerns related to drug disposal in water supplies.

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    of 2

    Consumer Health Information

    www.fda.gov/consumer

    How to Dispose of
    Unused Medicines
    I
    s your medicine cabinet filled with expired
    drugs or medications you no longer use?
    How should you dispose of them?

    Most drugs can be thrown in the household trash, but


    consumers should take certain precautions before tossing
    them out, according to the Food and Drug Administration
    (FDA). A few drugs should be flushed down the toilet.
    And a growing number of community-based “take-back”
    programs offer another safe disposal alternative.

    Guidelines for Drug Disposal


    FDA worked with the White House Office of National
    Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to develop the first
    consumer guidance for proper disposal of prescription
    drugs. Issued by ONDCP in February 2007, the federal
    guidelines are summarized here:

    • Follow any specific disposal instructions on the drug


    label or patient information that accompanies the
    medication. Do not flush prescription drugs down
    the toilet unless this information specifically instructs
    you to do so.

    • If no instructions are given, throw the drugs in the


    household trash, but first:
    • Take them out of their original containers and mix
    them with an undesirable substance, such as used
    coffee grounds or kitty litter. The medication will
    be less appealing to children and pets, and unrec-
    ognizable to people who may intentionally go
    through your trash.
    • Put them in a sealable bag, empty can, or other
    container to prevent the medication from leaking
    or breaking out of a garbage bag.
    Photo Illustration: FDA/Michael Ermarth

    Take drugs out of their original containers and mix them with
    an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds …
    1 / FDA Consumer Health Infor mat ion / U. S. Food and Drug Administrat ion OC TOBER 2009
    Consumer Health Information
    www.fda.gov/consumer

    • Take advantage of community drug with instructions to flush used or left- agency reviewed its drug labels to
    take-back programs that allow the over patches. Too much fentanyl can identify products with disposal direc-
    public to bring unused drugs to a cause severe breathing problems and tions recommending flushing or dis-
    central location for proper disposal. lead to death in babies, children, pets, posal down the sink. This continu-
    Call your city or county govern- and even adults, especially those who ously revised listing can be found at
    ment’s household trash and recy- have not been prescribed the drug. FDA’s Web page on Disposal By Flush-
    cling service (see blue pages in phone “Even after a patch is used, a lot of ing of Certain Unused Medicines (see
    book) to see if a take-back program is the drug remains in the patch,” says link under For More Information).
    available in your community. Hunter, “so you wouldn’t want to throw Another environmental concern
    something in the trash that contains a lies with inhalers used by people who
    FDA’s Director of Pharmacy Affairs, powerful and potentially dangerous have asthma or other breathing prob-
    Ilisa Bernstein, Pharm.D., J.D., offers narcotic that could harm others.” lems, such as chronic obstructive pul-
    some additional tips: monary disease. Traditionally, many
    • B efore throwing out a medicine Environmental Concerns inhalers have contained chlorofluo-
    container, scratch out all identify- Despite the safety reasons for flushing rocarbons (CFC’s), a propellant that
    ing information on the prescription drugs, some people are questioning damages the protective ozone layer.
    label to make it unreadable. This the practice because of concerns about The CFC inhalers are being phased
    will help protect your identity and trace levels of drug residues found in out and replaced with more environ-
    the privacy of your personal health surface water, such as rivers and lakes, mentally friendly inhalers.
    information. and in some community drinking Depending on the type of prod-
    • Do not give medications to friends. water supplies. However, the main uct and where you live, inhalers and
    Doctors prescribe drugs based on way drug residues enter water systems aerosol products may be thrown into
    a person’s specific symptoms and is by people taking medications household trash or recyclables, or may
    medical history. A drug that works and then naturally passing them be considered hazardous waste and
    for you could be dangerous for through their bodies, says Raanan require special handling. Read the
    someone else. Bloom, Ph.D., an Environmental handling instructions on the label, as
    • When in doubt about proper dis- Assessment Expert in FDA’s Center for some inhalers should not be punctured
    posal, talk to your pharmacist. Drug Evaluation and Research. “Most or thrown into a fire or incinerator. To
    drugs are not completely absorbed or ensure safe disposal, contact your local
    Bernstein says the same disposal meth- metabolized by the body, and enter trash and recycling facility.
    ods for prescription drugs could apply the environment after passing through
    to over-the-counter drugs as well. waste water treatment plants.”
    A company that wants FDA to This article appears on FDA’s
    Why the Precautions? approve its drug must submit an Consumer Health Information
    Disposal instructions on the label are application package to the agency. Web page (www.fda.gov/consumer),
    part of FDA’s “risk mitigation” strat- FDA requires, as part of the applica- which features the latest on all FDA-
    egy, says Capt. Jim Hunter, R.Ph., tion package, an assessment of how regulated products. Sign up for free
    M.P.H., Senior Program Manager on the drug’s use would affect the envi- e-mail subscriptions at www.fda.gov/
    FDA’s Controlled Substance Staff. ronment. Some drug applications consumer/consumerenews.html.
    When a drug contains instructions are excluded from the assessment
    to flush it down the toilet, he says, requirement, says Bloom, based on For More Information
    it’s because FDA, working with the previous agency actions. Disposal By Flushing of Certain
    manufacturer, has determined this “For those drugs for which envi- Unused Medicines
    method to be the most appropriate ronmental assessments have been www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/
    route of disposal that presents the required, there has been no indication Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/
    least risk to safety. of environmental effects due to flush- EnsuringSafeUseofMedicine/
    About a dozen drugs, such as pow- ing,” says Bloom. In addition, accord- SafeDisposalofMedicines/ucm186187.htm
    erful narcotic pain relievers and other ing to the Environmental Protection
    controlled substances, carry instruc- Agency, scientists to date have found SMARxT Disposal Campaign
    tions for flushing to reduce the danger no evidence of adverse human health www.smarxtdisposal.net
    of unintentional use or overdose and effects from pharmaceutical residues in
    illegal abuse. the environment. Albuterol Inhalers: Time to
    For example, the fentanyl patch, an Nonetheless, FDA does not want Transition
    adhesive patch that delivers a potent to add drug residues into water sys- www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/
    pain medicine through the skin, comes tems unnecessarily, says Hunter. The albuterol053008.html

    2 / FDA Consumer Health Infor mat ion / U. S. Food and Drug Administrat ion OC TOBER 2009

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