 Operation Medicine Cabinet is a group founded by Watauga County to ensure the proper disposal of pharmaceuticals which local sewage plants and ecosystems are not equipped to deal with. Photo by Holt Menzies |
by NASH DUNN
Intern News Reporter
Shea R. Tuberty was a bit surprised when a group of his students discovered male fish trying to produce eggs.
Tuberty, a biology professor at Appalachian State University, reported in a student study conducted three years ago 66 percent of male fish downstream of the Boone sewage plant were being feminized due to estrogen, likely from pharmaceuticals in the water.
Studies like this,
along with the increasing abuse of pharmaceutical drugs, have led
several agencies and organizations from Watauga County to found
Operation Medicine Cabinet (OMC), the High Country’s first drug
take-back program.
The
program will focus on collecting expired or unused pharmaceuticals for
proper disposal, while educating citizens about problems incorrect
disposal can cause.
The N.C.
Cooperative Extension Service, Watauga River Conservation Partners, the
Town of Boone, Watauga County Sheriff's Office, the Charlotte office of
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Boone Drug are just some of the
organizations that have united to eliminate improper disposal and abuse
of pharmaceuticals.
“Its
been a great collaboration of groups that have come together to fix
this problem,” N.C. Cooperative Extension Natural Resources agent Wendy
Patoprsty said. “We’ve had a lot of help and cooperation from the
Watauga County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement groups.”
Most
pharmaceutical labels, such as antibiotics, anti-depressants or birth
control, still request users flush unused or expired pills down the
toilet, where they travel to the nearest sewage plant.
Because
sewage plants are not designed to remove pharmaceutical compounds, the
effluent, or water exiting a sewage plant, often contains traces of
random prescription drugs. The effluent then travels downstream,
forcing wildlife to deal with a mix of drugs not suited for their
bodies.
“About
15 to 20 years ago, people started realizing that a lot of these
bioactive chemicals [or pharmaceutical compounds] are still active in
rivers,” Tuberty said. “Fish, vertebrates, amphibians and all of these
organisms are basically dealing with this soup of toxins.”
OMC will
use incineration to dispose of all collected pills. In doing this, OMC
members believe they are eliminating both the possibility of water
contamination, as well as substance abuse by “dumpster divers” and
teens.
“It’s
getting rid of the dangerous toxins that are sitting around the house,”
Watauga County Recycling Coordinator Lisa Doty said. “It’s cleaning the
water ways and keeping the streets clean [of drugs].”
Doty
will head the annual Household Hazardous Waste Day Oct. 3 at the
Watauga Landfill from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., where paint, pesticides,
household cleaners and other toxic items will be collected.
By
collaborating with this event, OMC will also kick off its program,
collecting all pharmaceutical drugs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at all three
Watauga County Food Lion locations, as well as the Seven Devils Town
Hall.
Both of
these collection periods are “amnesty events,” meaning no questions
will be asked and toxins and pharmaceuticals can simply be dropped off,
Doty said.
The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office will hold all toxins and pharmaceuticals until they are taken for incineration.
Photo by Holt Menzies | Chief Photographer
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