Sir, – This week marks the beginning of the Dump (Dispose of Unused Medicines Properly) campaign in counties Cork and Kerry. For six weeks, participating pharmacies in two counties will accept unwanted medicines for safe disposal.
This service should be available in all counties in all pharmacies. Successive ministers for health have been unwilling to act to ensure that all pharmacies are required to take back unused and unwanted medicines that they sold for safe disposal. The accumulation of unused medicines in the home is a hazard in itself.
Furthermore, in the face of a growing global crisis of antibiotic resistance and increasing concern about health effects of pharmaceutical contamination of our water and land, people in Ireland throw antibiotics and other medicines down the toilet and into household waste because there is no well-defined system for safe disposal.
If you sell a battery or a toaster, you must take it back for safe disposal. Why should it be too much to expect the same for drugs? – Yours, etc,
MARTIN CORMICAN,
Professor of Bacteriology,
Centre for Health
from Environment,
Ryan Institute,
National University
of Ireland Galway.