An Introduction to How to Dispose of Unutilized and Expired Medicine: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Medication is chemical compounds that are administered systemically to cure a disease or treat a particular illness's symptoms. The waste of drugs has significant environmental impact. The health care system cannot function without medicines. However, once people recover from the condition, they no longer need the medicines, so they often throw them away. After you throw your medicines in the dustbin, they may get eroded into the soil, reach plants and animals, or get mixed with rain and reach ponds and rivers animals and even humans. Human, cow, and goat milk contain several pharmaceuticals. It is important to keep and discard of medicines in an appropriate way; so that children, teenagers, pets, or even houseguests cannot get access to them easily. Drug disposal is the process of discarding drugs. Expired drugs should be disposed of in a safe and environmentally friendly manner, and the USFDA implemented a 'Drug Take Back program' in order to stop harmful drugs from getting into the environment. Due to inappropriate drug disposal practices, which include flushing drugs down the toilet, burning them and discarding them, or putting them in wastebaskets, which can contaminate water supplies, the nation is currently dealing with a number of issues. It is important to understand the level of community knowledge about this issue. Pharmaceuticals and their byproducts have the potential to be dangerous when present in the environment. They can cause a population's exposure to medications, including aquatic creatures, and increase antibiotic resistance.