REDUCCION DE LA CONTAMINACION EN TIRADEROS MUNICIPALES; MEDIANTE LA UTILIZACION DE MEDICAMENTOS CADUCOS DE USO HUMANO EN LA TERAPÉUTICA DE PEQUEÑAS ESPECIES.

Abstract

Expired medicaments represent a highly contaminating factor for the final disposal sites of Urban Solid Waste (USW) which is usually disposed in municipal landfills. The WHO states that no antibiotic, controlled drug or antineoplastic must be deposited in the final disposal sites. In this research project, a solution to the previous problem based in the use of expired medicaments for human consumption in the therapeutic treatment of small species, i.e. dogs, cats, is proposed. In the elaboration of this research project an analysis of the expired medicaments in a typical pharmacy, in the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli, during an 8 year period was conducted. A total of 1018 expired medicaments were obtained, they were classified according to their therapeutic use, appearance, expiration date, state of aggregation (solid or liquid), microbial affectation based on the USW degradation and according to their use in the veterinary therapeutic of small species, as well as in the interaction between the mentioned classifications. Based on the analyzes conducted was established that 58.3 % of the expired medicaments may still be used, and in such a case an important reduction in the quantity of medicaments disposed as USW is achieved, avoiding the arrive of 3,168.12 kg of medicaments to the Cuautitlán Izcalli landfills. The benefit on the use of expired medicaments in the therapeutic of small species would be relevant to the scope of public health care, given that the possibility of Zoonosis would be reduced. In the environmental area, a reduction in the contamination for the disposal of expired medicaments would favor the biodegradation on open dumps and landfills, increasing the rate of biogas generation and reducing the time required for the definitive closure of the municipal final disposal site. To promote the recycling of expired medicaments would be necessary to create a list of the medicaments that can be used, and would be necessary to promote the use of the rabies control centers as collection centers, distribution and/or final disposition centers for the medicaments. Hence, the elaboration of such a list was part of this research. With those measures, the appropriate disposition of the expired medicaments is warranted, with a favorable cost benefit, producing enough resources to allow the collection-use-final-disposition chain of pharmaceutical waste succeed in being self-funded and therefore sustainable.