NY State Use Expired Medication

What You Should Know

With curdled milk or petrified cucumbers it’s not hard to know when your food is past its prime, but how do you know when your medicine is past its prime? Using expired medical products is risky and possibly harmful to your health. In the late 1970s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began requiring an expiration date on prescription and over-the counter medicines. “Expiration dates on medical products are a critical part of determining if the product is safe to use and will work as intended,” says FDA pharmacist, Ilisa Bernstein. Sometimes following “EXP,” the expiration date can be found printed on the label or stamped onto the bottle or carton; it is important to know and adhere to the expiration date on your medicine.

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NY State Programs

Medicine Take-Back Programs

Improper management of discarded needles and other sharps can pose a health risk to the public and waste workers. For example, discarded needles may expose waste workers to potential needle stick injuries and potential infection when containers break open inside garbage trucks or needles are mistakenly sent to recycling facilities. Janitors and housekeepers also risk injury if loose sharps poke through plastic garbage bags. Used needles can transmit serious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis.

The Coalition for Safe Community Needle Disposal comprised of businesses, community groups, nonprofit organizations, and government, promotes public awareness and solutions for safe disposal of needles, syringes, and other sharps in the community.

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NY State Methode

Disposal in Household Trash

After medical wastes washed up on several East Coast beaches, concern over the potential health hazards prompted Congress to enact the Medical Waste Tracking Act (MWTA) of 1988. Specifically, this act, which amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act, did the following:

• Defined medical waste and established which medical wastes would be subject to program regulations.
• Established a cradle-to-grave tracking system utilizing a generator initiated tracking form.
• Required management standards for segregation, packaging, labeling and marking, and storage of the medical waste.
• Established record keeping requirements and penalties that could be imposed for mismanagement.

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NY State Drug Unused

Do expired medications lose their potency ?

Examples of common drug products that were tested with no failures included amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, diphenhydramine, and morphine sulfate injection. Drug expiration extension dates on these products ranged from 12 to 184 months.
These results suggest that many drug products may have extended shelf lives beyond their expiration date. However, it is difficult for any one consumer or health care provider to know which product could have an extended shelf life. The ability for a drug to have an extended shelf life would be dependent upon the actual drug ingredients, presence of preservatives, temperature fluctuations, light, humidity, and other storage conditions. Additionally, the drug lots tested in the SLEP program were kept in their original packaging. Once a drug is repackaged into another container, as often happens in the pharmacy, the shelf-life might decline.

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These medicines have generic versions available or are only available in generic formulations. FDA continually evaluates medicines for safety risks and will update the list as needed .List revised: February 2015.

NY State By Flushing

Medicines Recommended for Disposal by Flushing

This list from FDA tells you what expired, unwanted, or unused medicines you should flush down the sink or toilet to help prevent danger to people and pets in the home . Flushing these medicines will get rid of them right away and help keep your family and pets safe .

Links in the list below go to medicine information for consumers that includes specific disposal instructions .

FDA list

NY State Resources

Additional Resources

• DEA Nationwide Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative
• Safe Use Initiative: Fentanyl Transdermal System “Patches”: Safe Disposal
• Don't Be Tempted to Use Expired Medicines
• Needles and Other Sharps (Safe Disposal Outside of Health Care Settings)
• Expiration Dates Matter
• New FDA Web Page Lists Disposal Instructions for Select Medicines  [ARCHIVED]