Perceptions on the risk and management of unused pharmaceuticals toward the creation of guidelines on handling and disposal

Marianne Uy Antonio,Jocelyn B.Palacpac

University of the Philippines Manila,Manila,Philippines

Perceptions on the risk and management of unused pharmaceuticals toward the creation of guidelines on handling and disposal

Marianne Uy Antonio*,Jocelyn B.Palacpac

University of the Philippines Manila,Manila,Philippines

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:

Available online 25 November 2015

Unused pharmaceutical

Disposal,environmental risk

The increased usage of pharmaceuticals,its introduction to and accumulation in the environment are growing environmental and health concerns and have been a topic of interests for several years now.Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients(API)were developed and used because of their biological activity.It is this very nature of medicines that they may also have an untoward effect on animals and microorganisms and to the environment and an indirect effect on public health.

The main objective of the study was to determine the perceptions on the risks and management of unused pharmaceuticals toward the creation of a guideline on handling and disposal.

The survey was completed by respondents from the pharmaceutical industries,pharmacies and residents ofValenzuela City.Three hundred thirty individuals fromValenzuela City completed the survey.Two hundred ffty had unused pharmaceuticals in their house.Most do not know how and where to dispose their unused pharmaceuticals.Respondents from pharmaceutical industries and pharmacies agreed that it is essential that the Philippine government should establish a guideline on handling and disposal of unused pharmaceuticals.

Trash bin and sink are the favored method of disposal of unused pharmaceuticals by most of the respondents since there is no existing guideline on proper handling and safe disposal.All of them agreed that the Philippine government should initiate educating and conducting a collection program or waste management strategies of unused pharmaceuticals.

R E F E R E N C E S

[1]Bound JP,Kitsou K,Voulvoulis N.Household disposal of pharmaceuticals and perception of risk to the environment. Environ Toxicol and Pharmacol 2005;21:301–307.

[2]Boxall ABA.The environmental side effects of medication. EMBO Rep 2004;5:1110–1116.

[3]Chasier J,Subramaniam V.Tips for disposal of unused and expired medications.Pharmacy Practice News 2011;30–34.

*E-mail address:peter_matthew1998@yahoo.com.

Peer review under responsibility of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajps.2015.11.120

1818-0876/?2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.on behalf of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).