Water: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Water
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Highlights
Federal Guidelines for Consumers:
Proper Disposal of Prescription Drugs
How to Protect Our Waters By Disposing of Medicines Properly:
How to Dispose of Medicines Properly (PDF) (2 pp, 498K)
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are being discovered in our Nation's waters at very low concentrations. Pharmaceuticals refer to prescription and over-the-counter therapeutic drugs and veterinary drugs. Personal care products refer to products used for personal and cosmetic reasons such as soaps, fragrances, and cosmetics.
We are responding to the issues of PPCPs in water with a four-pronged strategy aimed at:
- improving science;
- improving public understanding;
- identifying partnership and stewardship opportunities; and
- taking regulatory action when appropriate.
Press Release: EPA Continues Work to Understand Potential Impacts of Pharmaceuticals in Water (August 6, 2008)
- Managing Unused Pharmaceuticals
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- Best Management Practices for Unused Pharmaceuticals at Health Care Facilities - Draft for Public Comment
- Health Care Industry Unused Pharmaceuticals Detailed Study 2007-2009 Data Collection and Outreach (PDF) (17 pp, 164K)
- Interim Report on Unused Pharmaceuticals in the Health Care Industry (PDF) (17 pp, 409K) August 2008 [c2]
- Universal Waste Rule November 2008 [c3]
- National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- Fish Tissue
- Aquatic Life
- Sewage Sludge/Biosolids
- Analytical Methods
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- PPCP Methods Development August 2008
- Other