Dispose of your expired medications properly, until laws are in place that require someone else to do it.

Don’t need them? Don’t flush them.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Getting Big Pharma to take back unused or expired prescription drugs could protect fish and wildlife and keep our drinking water safe, says the National Association of Counties (NACo), an organization that represents U.S. county governments. The group recently adopted a resolution pushing for laws that could force drug companies to accept and dispose of unwanted medicines. They hope such legislation will encourage drug makers to design medications that degrade rapidly and harmlessly when released into the environment.

THE DETAILS: Pharmaceutical contamination of water supplies is a nationwide phenomenon. The U.S. Geological Survey found pharmaceuticals and chemicals from personal-care products in every stream it sampled in a 2003 water-quality test, and a Baylor University study published in March 2009 found medications building up in fish, including over-the-counter antihistamines, antidepressants, and medicines that treat blood pressure, epilepsy, and bipolar disorder. While a large majority of these medications come from people eliminating them from their bodies, many of us add to that burden by flushing unused medications down the toilet or pouring them down the drain. Because wastewater treatment plants are designed to remove biological contaminants more so than chemical contaminants, the chemicals in pharmaceuticals make it back into waterways and even drinking water. An Associated Press report published in 2008 found that at least 46 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with everything from antibiotics to birth-control hormones.

The resolution unanimously adopted by NACo supports legislation that would require pharmaceutical companies to take back their medications, similar to the legislation adopted in many states to get electronics manufacturers to take back and recycle their products. The concept is called “extended producer responsibility,” says Bill Sheehan, director of the Product Policy Institute, which helped NACo draft its proposal. It’s meant to take the financial burden off local governments and pharmacies, which currently run the few drug take-back programs that currently exist in the U.S. And, he says, it forces drug companies to put more thought into the environmental impacts of their products.