Chinanews.com, February 3rd (Zhongxin Finance Zuo Yuqing) Recently, #上百盒蓝贝贝被打着睿# #网络旗1000吃防液药单盗手了# was posted on Weibo’s hot search, triggering Netizens pay attention.

How should expired medicine be disposed of?

How dangerous is it to throw it away?

Media: Hundreds of boxes of unopened ibuprofen were thrown away

  According to media reports, recently, some netizens discovered that a large amount of ibuprofen was discarded in the trash can downstairs together with other medicines. These medicines were not opened. It is conservatively estimated that there are hundreds of boxes.

Another netizen posted on the Internet the 1,000 tablets of antipyretics he bought, and said: "I bought it before Yang Kang, and it took a long time after Yang Kang, and it didn't arrive until the 27th or 8th of the year."

  In this regard, some netizens said that this is "the result of some people hoarding goods irrationally, which is a waste of resources." Some netizens think that this is the behavior of scalpers hoarding goods, which is infuriating.

Another netizen said distressedly: "Which trash can, I will go to collect the junk." "Ibuprofen can still be eaten after one year expires, why throw it away?"

Some netizens commented.

Screenshot from Weibo.

  However, some netizens expressed different views: "Hoarding goods is like buying insurance. I don't want to waste it, but I don't want to use it."

  Prior to this, relevant departments have repeatedly called for not to blindly hoard medicines, and to crack down on reselling at high prices and driving up drug prices.

For example, the Guangdong Provincial Food and Drug Administration once issued a document to remind: drugs have a shelf life, and storage also has certain requirements. Improper storage is easy to deteriorate, and too many drugs are easy to cause waste if stored for a long time.

Can I take ibuprofen after the expiration date?

  So, can expired ibuprofen be taken as usual?

  A pharmaceutical industry insider told Zhongxin Finance and Economics that it is not recommended to take the medicine after its expiration date.

"Even if the storage is good, the efficacy of the medicine will decrease, and the expired medicine will deteriorate, mildew and other problems. Instead of curing the disease, it will harm people."

  She said that medicines should also be properly stored within the validity period.

"If you find that the medicine is damp, mildewed, cracked, or it is not stored in a dark, cool place as required by the medicine, or it is not stored in the refrigerator as required, do not eat it again."

Can expired medicines be discarded at will?

  In addition, expired medicines should not be discarded at will.

A large number of discarded drugs will not only cause waste of resources, but also cause pollution to the environment.

  According to the "National Hazardous Waste List (2021 Edition)",

expired medicines are classified as hazardous waste.

Randomly discarded medicines are likely to pollute soil and water after decomposition, causing harm to humans, animals and plants.

Some highly volatile expired medicines may also become allergens.

In addition, expired drugs may be recycled by unscrupulous vendors or unscrupulous medical institutions and sold again after being discarded at will, which is harmful to the health of patients.

  In 2022, the Supreme People's Court notified a number of typical cases of solid waste polluting the environment.

Among them, a biochemical pharmaceutical company dumped and disposed of a batch of more than 3 tons of expired drugs without harmless treatment. The defendant was sentenced to a maximum of 10 months in prison and a fine.

  However, the appendix "Hazardous Waste Exemption Management List" of the "National Hazardous Waste List" also clarifies that waste medicines generated in household daily life or activities that provide services for daily life are hazardous wastes in domestic garbage. Waste medicine may not be managed as hazardous waste, but treated as domestic waste.

Data map: Medical staff are putting the delivered cold medicine into the medicine rack.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yi Haifei

  In 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other departments issued a document to fully launch the domestic waste classification work in cities at the prefecture level and above across the country.

According to the classification, "waste drugs and their packaging" are hazardous waste, which should be scattered and discarded along with domestic waste, and classified and recycled.

  Previously, the State Food and Drug Administration stated in response to netizens' "how to dispose of expired drugs" that

if the expired drugs in the home are not collected in a classified manner, they can be destroyed after the drug packaging box is scattered and discarded with domestic garbage, and the relative risk is relatively small

.

If household expired medicines are sent to regular collection points for unified recycling, they need to be treated in a centralized and harmless manner to reduce the harm to the environment.

(Finish)