State launches debate for getting drugs out of drinking water

While everyone wants clean drinking water free of pharmaceuticals, getting vested interests to collaborate on a solution is another issue, state leaders found Tuesday.

Following reports of trace amounts of medication showing up in drinking water, the state's Senate Public Health Committee brought in experts to talk about the safe disposal of drugs and how to keep them from entering the environment through landfills or being flushed down toilets.

But conflicting opinions surfaced about the best way to deal with a problem and whether a problem exists.

While some speakers advocated returning leftover medications to drugstores or holding hazardous waste collection events, one representative from the pharmaceutical industry said there are pitfalls.

"We do have concerns about drug takebacks," said Julie Corcoran, deputy vice president for government affairs with PhRMA, a coalition of pharmaceutical and biotechnology research companies.

There is a danger of drugs getting into the wrong hands, she said, adding that educating people about taking their medications properly is the best way to go.

While Corcoran downplayed the public health risk, State Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat and chairman of the committee, noted, "We're hearing from everyone else that it's getting into the waste stream and into the water."

David Hartke, president of the Illinois Counties Solid Waste Management Association, urged that pharmacies be required to take back unused medications and to dispose of them by incineration.

"It would be ideal to have pharmacies take back all substances," he said.

But Garrett also took Hartke to task.

"I feel like you are passing the buck and everyone is saying, 'Let's have so-and-so take care of it,'" she said. "Our goal is to work with each entity in a collaborative way."

Will County officials described their take-back program for prescription medicines that involves collaborations with drugstores and household hazardous waste collection sites, including one in Naperville.

As news of the program gets out, more people are dropping off unwanted medications, explained Marta Keane, a program specialist with Will County's land use department.

It's estimated that more than 4,600 tons of pharmaceutical and personal-care items, such as shampoo, go into the waste stream in the United States and in some cases end up in drinking water. The presence of chemicals also has been linked to health problems in fish.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency experts also testified at the hearing, saying the issue of drugs in drinking water had been around for decades. Agency officials said sampling shows the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products in rivers, lakes and streams but not at levels considered to be hazardous to human health.

The IEPA also noted it runs into red tape from the U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement involving any collection of controlled substances. Controlled substances include widely used narcotics or painkillers such as Vicodin.