GLIN==> Press release: Keeping drugs out of the Great Lakes/Sea Grant Network educating on proper disposal, 4/30 is take-back day

PRESS RELEASE: April 28, 2011
Contact:  Helen Domske, New York Sea Grant, 716-645-3610, cell: 716-866-7477
New flier online: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=558
 
Keeping Drugs Out of the Great Lakes

Sea Grant Network Educating Consumers on Proper Disposal of Unwanted
Pharmaceuticals
April 30 is Take-Back Day Nationally
 
Buffalo, NY - New York Sea Grant has partnered with the Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant programs to help consumers act to keep
unwanted medications and chemicals out of the Great Lakes. Funding for the
effort is through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In Fall 2010, the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network members undertook a ²Dose of
Reality² education campaign targeted at keeping everyday-use chemicals out
of waterways in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes are the source of
drinking water for 42 million people in the U.S. and Canada. Water
monitoring studies by the EPA and the U.S. Geologic Survey have found
pharmaceuticals, including antidepressants and hormones, in the Great Lakes.

³Each day through improper disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care
products we add unwanted toxins to the finite system of freshwater that is
the Great Lakes. This educational campaign is helping New Yorkers learn what
they can do to reduce this troubling form of water pollution,² said New York
Sea Grant Coastal Education Specialist Helen Domske, Buffalo, NY.

Domske is the author of the recently published four-page ³Undo the
Environmental Chemical Brew: Keep Unwanted Medications & Chemicals Out of
the Great Lakes² primer on how Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products
(PPCPs) enter the environment and what consumers can do to properly dispose
of them.

³The critical take-home message is not to flush unwanted or unused medicines
down the toilet or down the drain,² Domske said.

The project encourages consumers to watch local news sources for notices of
pharmaceutical take-back events.

³If no take-back programs are available, do not put prescription medicines,
over-the-counter medications or personal care products in the trash without
some form of proper containment, such as mixed with kitty litter or coffee
grounds and sealed in a sturdy container,² Domske said.

April 30, 2011 is the second National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
Collection sites along New York¹s Great Lakes shoreline include most county
sheriff¹s offices, local police departments and the Fort Drum Post Exchange.

Find all collection sites nationwide on the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration Web site at
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html.

Take-back events can be found on the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation Web site at
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/63826.html.

New York Sea Grant has posted ³Undo the Environmental Chemical Brew: Keep
Unwanted Medications & Chemicals Out of the Great Lakes² and other resources
for dealing with unwanted medicines, including a ³Don¹t Flush² educational
poster and a how-to document for holding a successful pharmaceutical
take-back event on its Web site at
www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=558
<http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/article.asp?ArticleID=558> . #
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