Waste Medicines Pose Major Threat to the Environment

Mehmet Saydan, Chairman of Pharmabotanica Tourism Development Cooperative, said that waste pharmaceuticals pass into nature as pure poison and reach the dinner table through plants grown in soil. Saydan noted that expired pharmaceuticals, mostly found in pharmacies and hospital medicine storage facilities, are called "waste pharmaceuticals" and stressed that medicines must be stored in accordance with rules under the waste management regulations of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and destroyed in high-temperature incinerators.

Saydan continued his remarks, drawing attention to the fact that the disposal of waste pharmaceuticals should not be evaluated merely as a weight matter:

"That is, it is said that a pharmacy 'sent 10 kilograms of waste' but no record is kept of which medicines are in these waste products. Because of this, planning falls short when it comes to pharmaceutical production. Specifically, pharmaceutical companies determine the medicines they produce one year later based on the medicines they sold one year earlier. They do not pay attention to how much of these medicines has expired; they were only concerned with the amount sold. For the first time, we prepared a computer program that obtains an itemized list of destroyed pharmaceuticals. Currently, we also maintain a data record of which medicines are contained in 10 kilograms of waste pharmaceutical coming from a pharmacy. This will actually become an important resource for pharmaceutical production in the coming years."

Use Outside Recommended Dosage Turns Medicine into Poison

Because medicines, when used outside their prescribed dosage, are poison by themselves. Glass, plastic and paper mixed into nature may not cause major harm beyond pollution, but medicine is not such a waste product. Medicine is a chemical waste and this passes into nature as complete poison, reappears in the water we drink, the food we eat, and in all plants grown in soil, and returns to your table. It reaches you and your children." "For this reason, it is very important that pharmaceutical companies know the quantity of their waste pharmaceuticals when producing or participate in the destruction process to determine how much of their medicine has expired. During the disposal phase, it must absolutely not mix into nature." "We can overlook the damage waste pharmaceuticals cause to the economy because this damage can somehow be replaced, but the damage to nature is a damage we are inflicting on our children's future, and there is no compensation for that. I do not want to think that a pharmacist, a physician, a nurse could knowingly throw medicine in the trash or pour it into the toilet, but for this, rules must be set, it should not be left to people's conscience."

Medicines Must Not Be Thrown in Trash

"When your doctor prescribes medicine for your illness, if you take it, use it and do not abandon your treatment halfway, no medicine will ever expire. Never throw medicines in the trash." Saydan noted that the collection of waste pharmaceuticals in homes is the responsibility of municipalities and said that local administrations must take this matter seriously.   Source