The persisting environmental problem of disposal of expired and unused medicines

Mani, Abin; Thawani, Vijay

doi:10.4103/jmgims.jmgims_43_18

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…A review article by Kinrys et al and Mani A et al has described the negative impact of improper drug disposal on the environment and public health using water contaminated with trace pharmaceuticals highlighting the importance of patient and clinician education about the safe medication disposal methods. [27,28] Anwar et al reviewed how the improper disposal of unused antibiotics may contribute to the issue of antimicrobial resistance. [29] Barbhuiya NH et al assessed the antimicrobial ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin levels in waste water, surface water and groundwater in West Bengal region of India and estimated 69 times and 12 times resistance in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively, which is a serious health-care concern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional survey to assess the drug disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among lay public visiting a tertiary care hospital in an urban metropolis

Munshi

Dhiman

Maurya

2023

IJPP

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Objectives: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, awareness and practice among the lay public regarding storage and disposal of unused and expired medicines. Materials and Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional, single-centre and questionnaire-based survey. After obtaining Institutional Ethics Committee approval, the study was conducted using a pre-validated structured questionnaire distributed among the lay public visiting a tertiary care hospital located in an urban metropolitan city. Results: Four hundred of 720 individuals visiting the tertiary care hospital participated in the survey. The results revealed that 75% had never referred to any sources to get the correct information about the proper and safe disposal of medicines and had no knowledge regarding the same. About 12.75% of study participants reported that they were educated regarding the disposal of medicines by their treating physicians (RR: 0.71 [95% CI: 0.51–0.99]) when compared with the other sources of information (18%) with statistically significant contribution made by the physicians (p<0.05). About 67% of the public stored their medicines at room temperature. Majority (83.75%) of the study participants reported that they disposed unused and expired drugs in the dustbin. Only 42.5% of the public knew the detrimental effect of improper drug disposal on human health and our ecosystem. In addition, 80% (320/400) of the participants confirmed that, given the option, they would prefer to return the unused or expired drugs to the pharmacy shops from where the medicines were purchased. Conclusion: There is a need to educate drug consumers/general public about safe and proper disposal of unused/ expired medicines. Health-care professionals, governments and policymakers should offer training to educate the general public about Indian regulations for safe disposal of unused/expired medicines.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional survey to assess the drug disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among lay public visiting a tertiary care hospital in an urban metropolis

Munshi

Dhiman

Maurya

2023

IJPP

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“…The source is entered through dumping of expired, unused drugs, waste medicine from the house and health care centres, and human, animal excretion to landfill. According to [17] the lack of monitoring system, regulatory body, and guidelines for the discarding of expired drugs increased the pollution level in the environment. Generally, some pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) and antibiotics are not be completely removed by the wastewater treatment plant, when using for irrigation pharmaceutically active compounds are leached into groundwater.…”

Section: Active Pharmaceutical Compounds and Their Metabolitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, in hospitals no separate sewage system for cancer patient wards, due to this the radioactive waste and cancer drugs are directly going to the sewage system. Discussed [17] in their review estradiol concentration in water resources can induce vitellogenin production and structural changes in sex organs observed. [37] Assessed environmental risk factors in soil irrigated with WWTPs treated water, the study shows the concentration of trimethoprim, caffeine, flumequine, and acetaminophen were in low risk and maximum risk observed for diclofenac and phenazone.…”

Section: Impact Of Pharmaceutical Contamination In the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical Pollution Crisis in the World: A Menace to Ecosystem

Anjanapriya¹,

SulaimanMumtaz²,

Mohideen³

et al. 2021

Entomol. Appl. Sci. Lett.

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“…Pharmaceutical waste has been one of the main reasons for increasing pollution in the environment by water, air, and soil medium. Improper disposal of unused and expired medicines leads to environmental pollution and health hazards 1,2 . Adverse effects of this pharmaceutical waste in humans, animals, and marine species are well documented.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adverse effects of these pharmaceuticals waste are well documented about numerous species. Some years ago, it was reported that the number of vultures is substantially decline due to unintended exposure to Diclofenac 1,11 . AS these waste pharmaceutical substances are potentially hazardous, they should be managed and disposed of carefully to avoid the accumulation of them in the environment 8 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2022

IJPSR

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Introduction:The use of improper disposal methods for expired medicine is an emerging issue that is affecting the ecosystem, and misuse of expired medicines is potentially hazardous for public safety. Our study was aimed to assess the methods used by the registered pharmacist for disposing of the expired medicines in community pharmacies. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at a community pharmacy from June to September 2020. Pharmacists were asked to answer a questionnaire by interview method, wherein their socio-demographic details were also captured during this study. Data was collected and analyzed by using Microsoft Excel. Results: 133 pharmacists participated in our study with 76% of response rate. In spite of adequate experience in pharmacy majority of pharmacists lacks the knowledge and awareness about the disposal methods. Our study found that 75% of pharmacists were not even aware of guidelines for the disposal of expired medicines. Due to unawareness of guidelines, 92% of the pharmacist thinks that their pharmaceutical waste disposal method is satisfactory and 80 % pharmacist admitted that generic medicines are not that much carefully handled and disposed of as much as other branded medicine. Conclusion: Our study found that there is no adequate knowledge of pharmaceutical waste disposal methods among the pharmacist, which is eventually becoming a major threat to ecosystem and public safety. The unawareness among these pharmacists is improper education about expired medicine disposal in their pharmacy education. INTRODUCTION:Expiry date specifies the shelf life of the medicines or pharmaceutical product; it is a particular time period in which the medicines are physically and chemically stable as well as safe and effective for human consumption. Expired, unused, contaminated medicines, vaccines, and sera products are included under pharmaceutical waste.

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The persisting environmental problem of disposal of expired and unused medicines

Cited by 12 publications

References 3 publications

A cross-sectional survey to assess the drug disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among lay public visiting a tertiary care hospital in an urban metropolis

A cross-sectional survey to assess the drug disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among lay public visiting a tertiary care hospital in an urban metropolis

Pharmaceutical Pollution Crisis in the World: A Menace to Ecosystem

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