Hospital nurses regularly dispose of unused medicines in sinks or toilets, but hospital leaders may want to reconsider this practice to avoid harm from dangerous substances entering the water supply, CNN reports.
"Many times during a typical workday, American hospital nurses routinely discard unused portions of narcotics and other controlled substances into municipal water supplies," researchers wrote in a 2017 study.
The reason the practice is routine, the authors said, may stem from inconsistencies in regulations and how hospitals interpret them.
"There are agencies at the federal, state, and local levels that have issued conflicting rules" about pharmaceutical disposal methods for hospitals, the researchers wrote.
The EPA strongly discourages pouring or flushing pharmaceuticals down the drain since they can contaminate the water supply and bans the sewering (pouring down the drain or toilet) of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals at healthcare facilities.
However, the EPA's rule, which was finalized in December, applies only to drugs considered hazardous waste, and most pharmaceuticals are not in this category.
The FDA, on the other hand, advises individuals to sewer narcotics and controlled substances, such as morphine and other opioids, to prevent animals and humans from accessing them.
"To date, scientists have found no evidence of harmful effects to human health from medicines in the environment," according to the FDA's website.
Althugh more research is needed to uncover the human health effects of pouring or flushing drugs, hospital leaders can employ simple solutions, Patricia Deesy, a registered nurse in North Carolina, told CNN.
"There is a company that has a safe box that comes with a neutralizing solution in it that can be used for wasting narcotics, but I have yet to see anyone use it," Ms. Deesy said, adding that she's asked several hospitals "to investigate using them with no response."
Hospital leaders can also help make hospital staff more aware of the potential harm of pouring drugs down the drain, Ms. Deesy said.