Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

February 26

Bill targeting unused drugs moves ahead despite foes

JOHN RICHARDSON

— By

Staff Writer

Maine could soon become the first state to require drug manufacturers to establish a system for collecting unused medications from consumers to keep the drugs from getting into the environment or falling to the wrong hands.

The idea was endorsed by a legislative committee last month and could reach the full Legislature as soon as this week. If approved, it would strengthen Maine's position as a national leader in requiring product manufacturers to take responsibility for disposing of potentially harmful products -- such as computers, televisions, mercury thermostats and fluorescent light bulbs.

But the proposal is running into powerful opposition from the national pharmaceutical industry, which fought successfully to block a version of the bill in the committee last year. Regional and national groups representing drug makers and research companies have placed ads in Maine newspapers saying the proposal will do little except drive up the cost of medicines, and urging readers to call their legislators to oppose the bill.

''It economically doesn't make sense to set up a program across an entire state to handle that, when it can be effectively handled in household trash,'' said Marjorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, one of the sponsors of the ads.

Supporters say they're optimistic the idea can overcome the opposition this time around, in part because of a recent study by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP tested the water draining out of three municipal landfills -- in Augusta, Brunswick and Bath -- and found measurable levels of antidepressants, antibiotics, steroids, hormones, heart medications and pain medications. The tests provide clear proof that discarded drugs -- whether thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet -- are a threat to the environment and a potentially expensive problem, according to the DEP and other advocates of the legislation.

''We will be responsible for the cleanup,'' said Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, the bill's sponsor. ''It is the general public that will pay for that.''

The landfill findings followed tests by the Portland Water District last year that found the first evidence of a pharmaceutical in Sebago Lake, the source of greater Portland's drinking water. The district found a trace amount of ibuprofen, an over-the-counter pain and anti-fever drug.

While not considered a health risk at such low levels, the finding showed that Maine's water supplies are not immune to contamination that has been found in waterways and water supplies in more urban parts of the country.

Drugs can find their way into groundwater and surface water in two ways. Leftover drugs flushed down toilets or put into trash headed to a landfill can eventually drain into groundwater or get discharged through a sewer system. And, drugs that are taken as prescribed only get partially absorbed by the body, so that a certain amount of the compounds is excreted into the sewers and, eventually, discharged into a waterway.

Under the proposed Maine law, drug manufacturers would have to pay for a collection and disposal program and education effort. The drugs would be incinerated in a specially equipped facility, Perry said.

Maine is one of three states -- Washington and Minnesota are the others -- actively debating drug take-back proposals, said Sierra Fletcher, a senior associate at the Product Stewardship Institute in Boston. Several others states are discussing the idea and the institute is working to develop a national program, and running into similar opposition from drug makers, she said.

Maine's bill also is part of a national movement toward making product manufacturers bear the costs of disposal and recycling, services that are now paid for by municipalities and property taxpayers.

Maine has passed more so-called producer responsibility laws than any other state. It was the first to require manufacturers to recycle televisions and computer monitors, mercury switches, mercury thermostats and, soon, compact fluorescent bulbs.

A separate bill pending in the Legislature would set up standards so that the DEP could add new products to that list without having to pass a new law for each item. That also would be the first law of its kind in the United States.

''The idea in principal is to internalize into the product price the disposal costs. In theory, it could increase the price'' of those products, Fletcher said. Or, companies such as drug makers could cut advertising costs or other expenses and pay for it without raising prices, she said.

''How they cover the cost is up to individual companies,'' she said. ''It will likely vary product to product and company to company.''

Maine's law requiring manufacturers to recycle televisions and computer monitors is widely seen as the state's first successful effort to shift disposal costs to producers.

''With (electronic) waste, we've seen no evidence that, as a result of the program in Maine, that the price has increased,'' said Travis Wagner, a University of Southern Maine professor who has studied producer responsibility programs in Maine and around the world.

''The producer is able to process and recycle the waste much cheaper than municipalities'' because it can handle greater quantities and benefit from competition among disposal companies, he said.

Drug makers, nevertheless, are warning that the cost of a statewide collection program in Maine would raise drug prices here. The large ad published in newspapers during the past two weeks shows a broken pill with dollar signs spilling out and the headline, ''Maine's Legislature Is About To Raise Your Medicine Costs.''

The pending legislation sets a maximum cost to the industry of $1.5 million a year, which is enough of an expense to raise prices, especially of generic drugs, Powell said.

''They are competing in a very narrow price range. They have to find that (money) some place,'' she said.

Powell said the cost is not necessary because there is no significant environmental damage or health threat from discarded drugs, despite the DEP study.

''We're developing technologies to measure tinier and tinier and tinier amounts'' of chemicals in then environment, she said. ''We can find them, but they don't necessarily have an effect.''

And, Powell said, industry studies have shown that medications are excreted by patients in far larger quantities than they are discarded. ''We don't believe there is a need for any kind of take-back program.''

Perry, the bill's sponsor, is a registered nurse and said she knows how much potential contamination is lurking in Maine homes and medicine cabinets, and how much is getting discarded every day.

''The issue is what is the best way to take care of this,'' Perry said. ''Looking at the cost in terms of the billions of dollars of pharmaceuticals sold in Maine, I think (any impact on prices) would be very little.''

Perry said opposition from the drug industry last year led to the cap on costs and other changes to the proposal, including less stringent reporting requirements and more flexibility for the industry to set up its own program.

Members of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee voted 8 to 4 in favor of the bill late last month. Perry, however, is sure opposition will pick up when the bill reaches the House and Senate.

''I'm always worried,'' she said, ''but I think we have a good chance.''

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:

jrichardson@pressherald.com