An opportunity to safely dispose of outdated or unused prescriptions

SuDocQueen@evpl — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:16:00 GMT

I just learned that Saturday, October 29th, is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The DEA is working with state and local law enforcement agencies to offer drop off sites for unwanted and unneeded prescriptions. The DEA has a drop off locator on their website for people who'd like to find a collection site. Right now we've only got a couple in Evansville, -- the Armory and the State Police post off Hwy 41 -- but they say to keep checking because they're continually adding new sites. I also noticed, when I searched using the library's zip code, that drop off sites in Henderson showed up as well.

This got me wondering about how to safely dispose of unneeded prescriptions the other 364 days a year. According to the FDA website on the subject, apparently flushing down the toilet is still a number one way; although, only if the prescription bottle says you may dispose of it that way. They go on to detail other ways to safely dispose of prescriptions, but since I don't generate cat litter or coffee grounds, it would be easier for me to just gather up any old prescriptions and drop them off Saturday.

Peanut Butter Recall Information

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:20:00 GMT

The Indiana State Department of Health is urging Hoosiers to routinely check the growing list of products and brands associated with the expanded Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) voluntary recall, which now has reached more than 2,000 items. A complete product listing is available here.

State health officials say salmonella is a serious disease. At least 677 people in more than 45 states have become sick and this salmonella outbreak has claimed at least nine lives as of March 5 of this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 50 percent of the individuals who have become ill due to the current salmonella outbreak are children under 18.

State health officials want you to receive the following key messages:

You should NOT consume products on the recall list.
The recall list can be found online at: www.fda.gov
People without Internet access can call 2-1-1 (where available) or 1-800-433-0746 for information on the recall.
If the public finds recalled items on the shelves at local stores, they should notify the store manager immediately.
Any individual who has consumed a peanut-containing product and has the symptoms of salmonella should contact a health care provider.
Symptoms of salmonella include: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and fever.

More about health issues associated with Salmonella and the entire peanut butter recall are available on this FDA Web site. The FDA also provides the HTML code for a searchable Recall Widget that people can load into their own web pages. That's it below.

FDA Product Recall List

Research Blog : FDA

An opportunity to safely dispose of outdated or unused prescriptions

Peanut Butter Recall Information