Flickr / Virginia Guard Public Affairs (CC) .
Update (July 25, 2012). On July 24 the Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance.
Each year a huge quantity of prescription drugs and pharmaceutical waste ends up in our drinking water, rivers, lakes, and Bay. Although little study has been done to assess health impacts on humans, pharmaceutical chemicals have been proven to affect wildlife and the environment. The United States Geological Survey found that 80% of the waterways it searched contained trace amounts of pharmaceutical chemicals. Improper disposal of medications is a public-health and safety issue.
To address the damage caused by improper disposal of medications, Alameda County has proposed the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance. We need your help to pass this ordinance. The ordinance would mandate take-back programs for pharmaceuticals, established and funded by the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. We expect the Supervisors to vote on it on Tue., July 24.
We have achieved a similar system in San Francisco (see June-July Yodeler, page 4).
WhatYouCanDo
Write to the Supervisors by July 24. Urge them to adopt the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance.
