Lake Superior Interfaith Communication Network - 2007 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep

2007 Earth Keeper Clean Sweep

Here is an Associated Press story issued on April 25, 2007 about the results of the
2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep across northern Michigan

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Earth Day collection brings in ton of unwanted drugs

MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) -- People turned in more than a ton of unwanted pills, powders and liquid medicines - including an estimated $500,000 worth of narcotics - during an Earth Day collection across the Upper Peninsula, organizers said Wednesday.

The annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep, sponsored by a coalition of faith-based and environmental groups, gives people a place to bring hazardous household wastes for disposal.

The focus this year was on unused drugs, which scientists say are making their way into the nation's waters after being flushed down toilets or drains.

Dropoff stations were open last Saturday at 19 church parking lots - at least one in each of the peninsula's 15 counties.

About 2,000 people showed up. Many said they had gotten castoff medicines from relatives and friends as well as their own cabinets. Some also brought personal care products such as soaps and shampoos.

"We had a great public turnout," said Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership, one of the organizing groups.

The medications were being hauled to a licensed incinerator near St. Louis, Mo., Lindquist said.

Police and pharmacists were on hand to make sure drugs strong enough to be controlled substances, such as narcotic painkillers, were handled properly.

"Some of the most abused things in the area are prescription drugs," said Brandon Boesl, a Marquette city police officer.

They sometimes fall into the wrong hands when people refill their prescriptions and don't take all their medications, he said.

Mary Sloan, of Harvey, brought 18 dust-covered, antique bottles of liquids and powders to the Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette. They belonged to her late father, a druggist.

"This stuff goes back about one hundred years," pharmacist Dave Campana said, lifting several of the bottles from an old wooden crate.

Studies have detected traces of pharmaceuticals such as birth control hormones, antidepressants and antibiotics in waterways downstream from waste treatment plants.

Their effects are unknown, but scientists believe they may be causing reproductive and development problems for aquatic wildlife.

The federal government this year urged people to return unwanted drugs to pharmacies - or blend them with cat litter or sawdust, then put the mixture in sealed containers for disposal in the trash.

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On the Net:

Superior Watershed Partnership: http://www.superiorwatersheds.org

Federal guidelines on drug disposal: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press07/022007.html