Pharmaceutical companies need to own up to its responsibilities
Pharmaceutical companies have the upper hand when it comes to pricing. It’s a major factor in how Washingtonians manage their health care costs.
The price of a prescription may or may not be paid by an insurance carrier, but enjoying a healthy lifestyle becomes the priority for most people. Pay the fee or pay the price.
Still, when it comes to pharmaceutical companies in the state paying for unused medications to be disposed of properly – they turn a blind eye to responsibility.
Nonetheless, a medicine take back program in Snohomish County was formed in 2009 through a partnership between the sheriff’s office, health department and the county solid waste division. It has largely been grant funded but is at risk of disbanding. There are no grant funds yet secured for 2012.
The medicine take back program offers secure locations for citizens to drop off their unused medications so they don’t end up in Puget Sound, or in the hands of abusers.
Locally, Stanwood Police Department and Bartell Drugs are equipped with metal collection bins bolted to the floor or wall and double-locked for unwanted medications to be deposited.
They are then transported to an incinerator facility in Spokane and destroyed safely.
A new bill going through the state Legislature this session would require pharmaceutical companies to create a medicine take back system and incorporate the costs into business. The bill would cap costs at $2.5 million per year or 1 penny for every $16 in sales – a drop in the bucket to the billions in profits pharmaceutical companies make each year.
Lobbyists for the drug companies say solid waste facilities have lined containers so disposing of the pharmaceuticals in the garbage is good enough.
However, proponents of the legislation argue that liquids are routinely extracted from landfills, often a toxic cocktail of medications and various pollutants, then transferred to a wastewater treatment plant where they are released into Puget Sound.
In addition, landfills in Eastern Washington are not lined, so dangerous medications likely leach into the water table and rivers.
Science doesn’t lie. Human hormones have been detected in Puget Sound at a level that is changing the gender of some fish, along with other pollutants that unintentionally end up into the sound.
It’s time that every company wraps into its cost of business recycling or safely disposing of the product they produce and profit from – future generations depend upon it.
As for pharmaceutical companies – it may be a bitter pill to swallow – but it’s time to own up.
Take back is giving back. Everyone benefits.
– Kelly Ruhoff
Editor
