NEWS

from the Illinois Senate

State Senator Susan Garrett
Majority Caucus Whip, 29th Senate District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2009

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Susan Garrett (847) 433-2002

GARRETT TELLS ILLINOISANS TO STOP FLUSHING!

HIGHWOOD, IL— Majority Caucus Whip and State Senator Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) announced that Senate Bill 1919 passed out of the Public Health Committee Tuesday. The bill amends the Environment Protection Act and supports the “Do Not Flush” campaign in Illinois.

Senator Garrett has been an advocate of the “Do Not Flush” campaign since August of 2008. In September of 2008, Garrett hosted a hearing on the water quality in Illinois. Based on newspaper accounts and scientific studies showing trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in water, she sponsored Senate Bill 1919. Garrett also worked closely with Sierra Fletcher of the Product Stewardship Institute to obtain accurate information on water contamination.

According to the Product Stewardship Institute, there is a lack of understanding as to whether there are convenient, consistent, legal, and safe ways to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals. This has led to environmental damage, as well as to unsafe storage practices that have resulted in accidental poisonings. Currently, residents are often instructed to flush unwanted pharmaceuticals down toilets, leading to potential contamination of surface waters, ground waters, and biosolids, and resulting in exposure to aquatic organisms.

“Recent water testing has indicated trace amounts of pharmaceuticals appearing in our drinking water,” explained Senator Garrett. “While the United States EPA has not deemed these results harmful, we need to ensure that these amounts do not increase.”

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) currently sponsors collection events twice a year where residents can bring household hazardous waste. If residents are not able to attend these events, the IEPA recommends that unused medications be discarded with regular household waste in a plastic bag with coffee grounds or kitty litter to prevent diversion.

“The goal of Senate Bill 1919 is to find a way to safely and easily dispose of unused medications, rather than have them flushed down toilets or thrown into the garbage,” explained Senator Garrett. “By instituting this act, my hope is that the amounts of medications found in water will decrease.”

The Environmental Protection Act ensures that no health care institution, or any employee, staff person, contractor, or other person under the direction or supervision of a health care institution, may discharge, dispose of, flush, pour, or empty any unused medication into a public wastewater collection system of septic system.

“In the past, medical and hospice staff have been under the direction of management to flush unused medication,” said Senator Garrett. “This bill will prevent future management from instructing their employees incorrectly.”