Danger in your first aid kit. What to do with needless and expired drugs?

Oleksandra Neklesa

Experts recommend checking your home medicine cabinet every six months. From time to time, some medications break down. Most often the expiration date comes. Medical facilities dispose of such waste with a special method. Ordinary citizens can't use it, although the danger is the same. What should you do in this case, and why expired medication is hazardous waste? We asked the pharmacists.

Why are medicines considered hazardous waste?

All drugs, like any product, have an expiration date. However, it doesn't mean that the active substance in them ceases to act. After some time, the active components of the drug only reduce the concentration or change their structure. Further reactions can be different, since everything affects chemical compounds, i.e. water, temperature, oxygen, fire, etc. The pharmacist explains:

"There are carcinogenic substances that can provoke cancer, malignant tumor growth. There are genotoxic substances affecting genes. There are mutagenic substances causing mutations. And so on, an incredible number of compounds. Perhaps some are less toxic but not completely safe. If a certain amount gets into the soil and a plant grows there, it is not good to eat the fruits. It can cause food poisoning. It is also scary if some drugs get into the dump."

Scientists confirm that antibiotics microparticles can be found in soil, water, and food. When micro-doses of drugs enter the body, they "train" the bacteria: the latter become resistant to certain substances, and the next time a person gets sick, the drug will not work.