Expired drugs have been added to China's list of hazardous wastes but few yet realize the harms of disposing of them in household garbage, the Economic Information Daily (EID) reports.
According to Ning Yidong, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Corporation, drugs disposed of in domestic waste can pollute the air, soil and water and create toxic gases which harm human health.
They also distort the market: unscrupulous speculators sometimes recover expired drugs and resell them in poor, remote parts of China for a profit. The problem is ineffective laws and regulations on how to deal with expired drugs, EID reports. National laws lack detail on how they should be disposed of and how those who discard them improperly should be punished, though some provinces have local measures on the books. The recovery of improperly discarded drugs is generally poorly funded and resourced.
Liu Junhai, a law professor at the Renmin University of China, says the national supervisory department should regulate expired drug recovery in order to influence people's behavior. Drug stores and pharmaceutical companies should also be held responsible. An unnamed expert proposes strengthening education about drug safety for patients and trying to change consumer habits about excessive drug hoarding.
Old Version
