It is difficult to waste expired drugs. Experts say that there are too many drugs in the family.

　　Beijing, April 29 (Reporter Yang Boyu) According to the Voice of China "News Night" report, some surveys show that about 78.6% of households in China have spare drugs. However, once the drug expires, its chemical composition, effectiveness and toxicity may change. Recently, some media reported that although family expired drugs have been clearly listed in the National Hazardous Waste List, for a long time, expired drugs have faced the embarrassing situation of no one recycling, nowhere recycling and difficult recycling. It is difficult to recover expired drugs. What is the difficulty?

　　Although expired drugs have multiple risks to people’s health and living environment, many people have not realized the harm of expired drugs for a long time. In a third-class hospital in Beijing, a patient who is prescribing drugs said that expired drugs at home are generally discarded with domestic garbage. Another patient said that although he was worried that discarded drugs would be reused by criminals, the destination of expired drugs could only be the garbage bin. "I usually take the medicine out of the package one by one. I am afraid that someone or someone who picks up waste will see this medicine. I don’t know if it is an expired medicine and it is bad." In the interview, the reporter found that many people have insufficient understanding of the dangers of expired drugs and lack the awareness of active recycling.

　　Relevant experts said that after the drug expires, its efficacy will be reduced and mildew will occur. If it is taken by mistake, it may cause adverse reactions. The chemical substances of some expired drugs will decompose, and the new substances will easily lead to allergies, diarrhea and even life-threatening. If discarded casually, it may also pollute the air, water and soil. At the same time, some unscrupulous traders buy expired drugs and put them on the market after "renovation and processing", which not only harms the health of the people, but also disrupts the order of the drug market.

　　Although expired drugs have multiple hazards and risks, recycling has always been a long-standing problem. Most people have never heard of the recycling channels of expired drugs in their lives. Can the hospital have corresponding channels for the recovery of expired drugs? The reporter consulted a third-class hospital, and the staff of the hospital also said that they had never heard of recycling drugs.

　　Later, the reporter visited a number of chain pharmacies, and the staff also said that pharmacies did not recycle expired drugs. "Chain pharmacies generally listen to the arrangement of the headquarters, and have not worked here for such a long time. It can only be organized or authorized by the pharmaceutical industry association and the Food and Drug Administration. It is not a pharmacy that wants to recycle it, and it can’t be thrown casually. Others don’t know what to do if they find it or use it indiscriminately. "

　　Relevant surveys show that about 78.6% families in China have small family medicine boxes. Among them, 30% to 40% of drugs have expired for more than 3 years, and more than 80% of families have no habit of cleaning medicine boxes regularly. About 15,000 tons of expired drugs are produced in the country every year. Wang Yue, a professor at Peking University Institute of Medical Humanities, said that the proportion of expired drugs correctly handled in China is extremely low, which is not unrelated to the widespread drug waste. He said: "At present, about 20% of expired drugs in China can be properly handled. In addition, the phenomenon of drug waste in China is very serious. The reason why there are a large number of expired drugs is because our family reserves too many drugs. How to improve the utilization rate of drugs and reduce the number of drug reserves at home is also something that the new drug administration law should consider, such as establishing a sub-packaging system for drugs, that is, hospitals should no longer sell whole boxes of drugs as they do now, and be more economical and more economical, and avoid the waste of expired drugs. "

　　Wang Yue believes that although the current Drug Administration Law clearly requires the production, sale and use of drugs, it has not established a recycling system for expired drugs. "First of all, many drugs contain harmful ingredients, which is often said to be three-point drugs, such as anti-tumor drugs, which have very toxic substances, so the proper handling of expired drugs is of great significance to environmental safety and environmental sanitation. At present, we have not established a legal system for the recovery of expired drugs, which can be added to the Drug Administration Law, which is being revised recently. Because developed countries have relatively perfect systems for the recovery of expired drugs, for example, in the United States and Japan, the enterprise recovery model is generally used, that is, people make a phone call and enterprises can come to replace expired drugs. There is also Germany, which has set up corresponding recycling channels and recycling windows in pharmacies. "

　　It is understood that although some local regulations on the treatment of expired drugs have been issued in various places, they only stay at the level of "measures" and "opinions". At present, the recovery of expired drugs in families is only implemented by public welfare activities of individual enterprises or government departments. How to solve the problem of expired drug recycling? Voice of China will continue to pay attention.