{"id":1700,"date":"2010-05-18T10:37:46","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T17:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unrbep.org\/?p=1700"},"modified":"2013-10-30T15:22:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T22:22:39","slug":"report-released-on-pharmaceutical-mail-back-pilot-program-funded-by-epa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/report-released-on-pharmaceutical-mail-back-pilot-program-funded-by-epa\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Released on Pharmaceutical Mail-back Pilot Program Funded by EPA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><EM>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/yosemite.epa.gov\/opa\/admpress.nsf\/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d\/97c00306844616bb852577270052ab58!opendocument\" target=\"_blank\">EPA<\/a><em><\/p>\n<p>Through a grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the University of Maine\u2019s Center on Aging has completed the first statewide mail-back pilot program for managing pharmaceutical waste from consumers. \u00a0Studies show that pharmaceuticals are present in our nation\u2019s water bodies and that certain drugs may cause ecological harm. \u00a0EPA is currently evaluating the potential risks associated with pharmaceuticals and personal care products on public health and aquatic life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dThis pilot is important because it has filled research gaps about the volumes and types of medications that can end up in our waters, and affect our ecosystems,\u201d said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA\u2019s Office of Water. \u00a0\u201cThe pilot also gave residents a way to serve as environmental stewards to reduce water pollution.\u201d<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe program included the use of mailers to return unused and unwanted medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, from households.<\/p>\n<p>Maine Care (Maine\u2019s Medicaid program) established a limit for certain drugs on the quantity that can be filled with an initial prescription. \u00a0This policy is targeted at reducing the supply and accumulation of unused medications and to prevent pollution. \u00a0The Maine legislature also recognized the value of the take-back pilot and enacted legislation to continue the program for an additional two years. \u00a0As part of the EPA grant, the University of Maine\u2019s Center on Aging developed a handbook on the project and collected data on the type and amount of unused medications.<\/p>\n<p>The grant is part of EPA\u2019s larger efforts to protect the health of older adults and encourage older adults to engage in environmental stewardship in their communities. \u00a0Older adults were actively involved in the design and implementation of the safe medicine disposal; for Maine pilot program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through a grant awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the University of Maine\u2019s Center on Aging has completed the first statewide mail-back pilot program for managing pharmaceutical waste from consumers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6232,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions\/6232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}