WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Do you have old medication filling up your shelves? The age old advice has been not to flush it down the toilet. Now, the Food and Drug Administration says it's alright to flush some medicine. It's a reversal the FDA says is important to the safety of children.
The FDA points to 2007 Poison Control Center statistics where 255,732 cases of improper medicine were reported in the United States. Approximately, 9% of the cases involve accidental exposure to someone else's medicine. Some of the cases involve children. A report by the American Association of Poison Control Centers' showed a 2-year-old boy died after methadone was found in his system. A 4-year old girl died from an overdose of a strong pain medication.
However, an
Associated Press investigation found minute concentrations of pharmaceuticals in two-dozen major metropolitan areas. The FDA says, "FDA believes that the known risk of harm to humans from accidental exposure to these medicines far outweighs any potential risk to the environment from flushing them. Disposal of these select, few medicines by flushing contributes only a small fraction of the total amount of medicine found in the water, given that most medicine found in the water supply is a direct result of normal bodily elimination (in urine and feces) after patient use."
The list of expired or unused medicines the FDA wants flushed:
FDA continually evaluates medicines for safety risks and will update the list as needed.
|
| Actiq, oral transmucosal lozenge | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Avinza, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Daytrana, transdermal patch system | Methylphenidate |
| Demerol, tablets * | Meperidine Hydrochloride |
| Demerol, oral solution * | Meperidine Hydrochloride |
| Diastat/Diastat AcuDial, rectal gel | Diazepam |
| Dilaudid, tablets * | Hydromorphone Hydrochloride |
| Dilaudid, oral liquid * | Hydromorphone Hydrochloride |
| Dolophine Hydrochloride, tablets * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Duragesic, patch (extended release) * | Fentanyl |
| Embeda, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate; Naltrexone Hydrochloride |
| Fentora, tablets (buccal) | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Kadian, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Methadone Hydrochloride, oral solution * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Methadose, tablets * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Morphine Sulfate, tablets (immediate release) * | Morphine Sulfate |
| Morphine Sulfate, oral solution * | Morphine Sulfate |
| MS Contin, tablets (extended release) * | Morphine Sulfate |
| Onsolis, soluble film (buccal) | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Opana, tablets (immediate release) | Oxymorphone Hydrochloride |
| Opana ER, tablets (extended release) | Oxymorphone Hydrochloride |
| Oramorph SR, tablets (sustained release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Oxycontin, tablets (extended release) * | Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Percocet, tablets * | Acetaminophen; Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Percodan, tablets * | Aspirin; Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Xyrem, oral solution | Sodium Oxybate |
For all other medicine, you should put the medicine in coffee grounds or kitty litter and place the mixture in a container like a sealed plastic bag. Then, you can throw the container in the trash.
