Traci Barkley and Robert Hirschfeld of Prairie Rivers Network sat down with the Smile Politely Radio team to discuss a number of important issues facing Illinois’ waters. The conversation covered agricultural and landscape runoff, a proposed Central Illinois coal mine, Asian carp, green infrastructure, and the effects of improperly disposed pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Laura Kammin is a Pollution Prevention Program Specialist with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

Guest blog post from Laura Kammin of Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will host another nationwide medicine take-back on Saturday, September 29. Expired and unused medications can be dropped off from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at one of 200 participating locations in Illinois. Check out the DEA’s website to find an event in your community. The service is free and anonymous.

Flushing medications down the toilet or throwing them in the trash can threaten the safety and health of humans, pets and the environment. Recent studies have found a wide-range of pharmaceutical chemicals in rivers, groundwater and drinking water throughout the United States. These chemicals can kill bacteria needed to break down waste in sewage plants and harm fish and other wildlife. Storing unneeded medicines in the home is also the cause of thousands of accidental poisonings in children and pets each year. {Continue Reading »}

This Saturday, October 29, presents two opportunities to do some housecleaning that will keep polluting chemicals out of our rivers AND help you clean out your closets!

President Obama’s recent signing of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 signals long-awaited federal recognition of the need to remove roadblocks to creating and continuing effective pharmaceutical takeback programs. Regulations written under the new law may allow “appropriate entities” to accept unwanted and unused medications for proper disposal. In addition, long-term health care facilities may dispose of medications for their patients.

Several years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) revised the decades-old recommendation to flush unwanted and unused medications down toilets or sinks; the agency’s new recommendations advised disposal through safe methods, such as collection events and programs. Prescription and over-the-counter medications that are flushed down toilets and sinks enter our waterways, and cannot always be eliminated through wastewater treatment. Throwing medications into the trash provides an indirect path to contaminating water via leaking from landfills. Research studies have continued to document the negative affects of pharmaceutical chemicals (including reproductive abnormalities) on aquatic species. At the same time, there is growing concern among communities about potential theft and abuse of unused and unwanted medications tossed into the trash.

Increased public awareness of the impacts of pharmaceuticals entering our waters created a sharply rising demand for pharmaceutical collection events and programs. Unfortunately, some programs have ended or have faced difficulties continuing because federal law does not allow medications defined as “controlled substances” to be collected unless law enforcement personnel are present. It is also illegal for anyone to be in possession of a controlled substance unless it is a prescription specifically written for them. Although collection events typically are a partnership effort with local police departments, there have been instances where law enforcement would not participate because of these legal restrictions. Also, not all businesses or other community organizations wanting to collect and/or provide a drop-box for disposal of unwanted medications are able to do so in a location that is continually supervised by police or other law enforcement personnel.

For several years, Prairie Rivers Network and other organizations advocated for changes in federal law that would eliminate obstacles to community collection of unwanted and unused medications. While the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 is a much-needed change in federal law, the reality is that collection programs and events still cannot take place without adequate funding. For over a year, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), partnering with communities throughout Illinois, initiated a number of collection events and programs; unfortunately funding for these efforts has been discontinued. Prairie Rivers Network urges USEPA and IEPA to renew funding assistance to communities so they can take action to reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals going into their local water supplies and landfills.

Approximately thirty Illinois counties have locations that accept unwanted and unused medications; information and addresses for these can be found at: http://www.epa.state.il.us/medication-disposal/locations/index.html.

If you would like information on organizing a pharmaceutical collection event, please contact Cecily Smith, csmith@prairierivers.org, 217.351.0927.

Art: Oliver Uberti, National Geographic Staff. Photo: Rebecca Hale, National Geographic Staff. Source: Alejandro Ramirez, Baylor University.

For Earth Week 2010, we’re focusing on some positive developments related to clean and healthy rivers.

Hip!  In August of 2009, Governor Quinn signed two bills into law that establish the first state-led requirements for the proper disposal of unused medicines. One law clarifies what it is to have “proper” disposal and outlines safe collection standards. The other law will take a major step toward incorporating good disposal practices into the healthcare industry. Under this law, home medical workers are required to dispose of unused medicines at collection points, rather than the former practice of flushing them down the toilets.

Hip!  High School students in Illinois are learning about water pollution and the proper disposal of medicines through a service-learning curriculum. “The new curriculum collection gives educators an instructional tool to create an innovative service-learning experience for their students, while tackling an important environmental and human health concern,”
said IISG Associate Director for Education _Robin Goettel_
<http://www.iiseagrant.org/staff/goettel.html>, who, along with _Terri
Hallesy_ <http://www.iiseagrant.org/staff/hallesy.html>, IISG education specialist, helped design this resource. “Through involvement in this project, students serve as agents for change, educating their communities about action steps they can take to reduce harm to aquatic
ecosystems from improper disposal of unwanted medicines.”

Hooray! Central Illinois-based Carle Clinic pharmacies opened up permanent medicine collection drop boxes at two of their pharmacies in Champaign and Urbana. We hope to see more!

Norms and laws about medicine disposal are changing. You can expect to see many more communities and businesses follow suit in the coming years. For more information, see our related web pages on this topic.

During the 2009 session of the Illinois General Assembly, PRN has strongly supported two bills introduced by Senator Susan Garrett, 29th District, to reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals entering our rivers and streams. Both of these bills have passed the Senate and House and now await Governor Quinn’s signature to become law.

Senate Bill 178 provides some guidance for facilities that collect unused/unwanted medicine so that their disposal is safe for people and the environment. The bill amends the Illinois Environmental Protection Act to require facilities accepting unused/unwanted medicines (including one-day collection events) to be clearly identified, accept items only from private individuals, and manage and secure collected pharmaceuticals in a manner preventing their release into the environment or possession by unauthorized individuals. {Continue Reading »}