List of Participating Pharmacies
(3/8/99)
Hundreds of bottles of expired medicines are flowing into designated local
pharmacies.
It's part of a campaign to get outdated products out of your medicine
cabinets.
Science Specialist Ed Yeates says consumers are bringing in some real
oddities.
Lee Christensen brought in this unopened bottle of prescription whiskey
dating back to 1915.
It's Old McBrayer for medicinal purposes only. The original
prescription label from Locke Drug Company is still attached, guaranteeing 100
proof - but the dosage information has faded away.
Christensen says, "With cold of flu or things of that nature - why on occasion,
they did prescribe a strong swig of whiskey."
The bottle clearly identifies it's use as a medicine and warns of
consequences if used otherwise.
Besides the whiskey -- a 1945 bottle of topical cream was turned in -
minus the cream of course.
There's one from the Latter-day Saints Hospital - LDS - when it was still
owned by the Church in the 1970's.
Another interesting return.. back in the 50's pharmacies were not required to
identify the drug inside the container. Not only did this drug expire in March
of '59, the pills inside have started to decompose.
Some of these drugs not only expired - but they've been recalled as well.
Pharmacist Greg Meyers says, "One drug in particular, Seldane, which was
withdrawn due to its high incidence of cardiac arrhythmias and fatalities in
numerous cases."
One lady brought in an old 1937 container which used to contain what are
called apothecary prepared powder papers.
"They would combine two, three, four different products and fold them in a
paper. And when the patient needed to take medication, they would just gently
open up the paper and dispense them in a glass of water."
Again, medicines lose their potency or get too much as they age.
For the most part, they're dangerous - so take your collection to the
nearest pharmacy participating in this campaign.
Click here for a
complete list.
