Teleosis Institute Launches Green Pharmacy Program
Environmentally Safe Medicine Disposal Keeps Drugs Out of the Water

Teleosis Collects 162 Pounds of Unused Medicine!

BERKELEY, CA -- August 21, 2007 -- The Teleosis Institute teamed up with the City of Berkeley, EBMUD, and Save The Bay in a joint effort to take-back unwanted medicines and mercury thermometers at the Green Home Expo on August 5, 2007. In one afternoon Berkeley residents cleaned out their medicine cabinets and brought in more than 100 pounds of medicines for safe disposal. In addition, more than 40 mercury thermometers and other mercury-containing items were collected, for a total diversion of 54.5 grams of mercury.

The Teleosis Institute, a local non-profit dedicated to healthy medicine and a healthy environment, launched the Green Pharmacy Campaign in May 2007 in an effort to reduce pharmaceutical pollution. Unused and expired medicines are most often disposed of in the toilet or trash which contaminates waterways and damages aquatic life. Recent studies found over 80% of waterways tested in the U.S. show traces of common medications such as acetaminophen, hormones, antidepressants, blood pressure medicine, codeine, and antibiotics.

The Institute’s Green Pharmacy Program provides take-back sites and events for the environmentally safe disposal of unwanted medications. The program goals are to: 1) provide safe medicine disposal; 2) build public awareness around pharmaceutical pollution; and 3) foster product stewardship.

Currently three pilot take-back sites are operating in Berkeley, with a goal of twelve sites in the Bay Area by the end of 2007. Our program is simple; people from the community simply bring their unwanted medications to a convenient site such as a pharmacy, doctor’s office, health care facility, or local recycling event. Staff at take-back sites document all returned medicines and screen for controlled substances, which are turned away due to current DEA restrictions. Full take-back bins are collected for incineration by our contracted waste hauler. Incineration is regarded as the most environmentally safe disposal method due to strict air quality regulations enforced by the EPA.

Green Pharmacy is unique in that all returned medicines are documented through the Unused & Expired Medicine Registry. The collected data is sent to the Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety in Texas, who compiles national statistics on the most common medicines returned, and the most common reason for disposal. Once a representative sample is documented, the data will be presented to pharmaceutical researchers and manufactures, as well as governmental organizations in order to raise awareness about the significance of unwanted pharmaceuticals in the waste stream, and to build support for upstream involvement within nationwide take-back programs.

The purpose of unused medicine data collection is “to identify the true causes for excessive prescription and production of pharmaceuticals and to deepen our understanding regarding the increasing demand of medicines in our society. We must present a case for sustainable health care that modern medicine cannot deny”, explains Joel Kreisberg, Executive Director of Teleosis Institute.

The Green Pharmacy Program’s ultimate goal is to implement a product stewardship approach in which all the participants in the product lifecycle—manufacturers, health providers, retailers, consumers, government and disposal agencies— share the responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of drugs.

Teleosis will be hosting several take-back events this fall. Click here for a list of upcoming events.

You can participate in the solution by safely disposing of unwanted medicines and supplements at a Green Pharmacy take-back location:

• Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave., Berkeley, CA
• Teleosis Institute, 1521B 5th Street, Berkeley, CA
• Transcendentist, 3030 Ashby Ave., Suite 101, Berkeley, CA