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Disposal of Unused Drugs: Knowledge and Behavior Among People Around the World

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Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 240

Part of the book series: Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology ((RECT,volume 240))

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the practice of medication disposal around the world and get insight into possible association between environmental awareness and people’s behavior regarding this issue. A literature search (2005–2015) was performed to identify reports with quantitative data on disposal practices published in peer-reviewed literature. The most common method for disposal of unused medications in households is disposal in the garbage (Kuwait, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Qatar, Serbia, Ghana, Bangladesh, Malta and Saudi Arabia). The practice of flushing drugs into the sewage system still takes place in New Zealand, USA and Bangladesh. Only in Sweden and Germany, practice of returning drugs to pharmacy was practiced to a larger extent. The environmental impact of improper medication disposal is expected in countries with poorly functioning waste management schemes (Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries). Lack of the adequate information and clear instructions on proper manners of drug disposal was reported in many surveyed countries (USA, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Malta and Ireland). Clear and definite connection between knowledge about environmental detrimental effects of improper drug disposal and the preference towards disposal methods could not be established. Many respondents were generally concerned with issues of inadequate medicines discarding but the behavior regarding disposal of unused drugs often did not equate the awareness (Serbia, USA, Kuwait, Malta and UK). The current data emphasizes the global issue of improper medicine disposal, prevalent in environmentally-aware people.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technological development, Republic of Serbia, Project No. 41012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Milica Paut Kusturica, Ana Tomas & Ana Sabo

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  1. Milica Paut Kusturica
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  2. Ana Tomas
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Correspondence to Milica Paut Kusturica .

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  1. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Pim de Voogt

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Paut Kusturica, M., Tomas, A., Sabo, A. (2016). Disposal of Unused Drugs: Knowledge and Behavior Among People Around the World. In: de Voogt, P. (eds) Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 240. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, vol 240. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/398_2016_3

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