Medicine thrown into water will affect wildlife and humans

GEORGE TOWN: Get rid of old medicine. But whatever you do, do not flush it down the toilet or the sink.

Medication that enters waterways will affect wildlife. Worse, it could find its way into the human water supply.

Burning it is also a no-no as the risk of pharmaceutical pollution to the environment is something that has been known for years.

“Some medications are chemical toxins and some are hormones. They can affect wildlife and microbes,” says nephrologist (kidney specialist) Datuk Dr Cark KK Tan.

“Private practitioners usually advise patients not to flush away unwanted medication,” said Dr Tan, former president of the Penang Medical Practitioners Society.

He said pharmacies and hospitals have bins to discard unwanted medication, and encouraged everyone to use them.

He said people could mix unwanted medication with organic waste in a sealed bag and dispose of them.

The medications’ reaction with organic waste and the heat generated during decomposition of organic matter will help break down the medication, he said.

Dr Tan recalled a study showing shrimp that were exposed to small amounts of chemicals from pharmaceuticals started to behave unnaturally, showing the potential for other aquatic wildlife to be affected.

“It will be safer for discarded medication to be buried in landfills with organic matter,” he added. He also advised people against burning unwanted medication as this could release chemicals into the air.

“The first issue is in educating the public about not keeping unwanted medication, and the second is in showing them how to safely dispose of them.

“It will be good if the Health Ministry can create public awareness on this,” he said yesterday.

He said that about 10 years ago, the ministry launched a “return-your-medicine” campaign to encourage patients to return unwanted medications to the hospitals. That campaign appears to have vanished into obscurity.