¹Eczacı, Adana,Türkiye
²Mersin Üniversitesi, Eczacılık Fakültesi Farmasötik Toksikoloji Anabilim Dalı, Mersin, Türkiye
³Yakın Doğu Üniveristesi, Eczacılık Fakültesi, Farmasötik Toksikoloji Anabilim Dalı, Lefkoşa, KKTC DOI : 10.12991/2013171308 Unused and expired medicines kept in households pose a growing threat to the environment and human health day by day. Our purposes in the present study are (a) to determine families' habits of dispose for unused and expired medicines accumulating in households., (b) to get noticed on potentially detrimental effects to the nature and the economy of this medicines and (c) to give some suggestions on harmonization for this medicines. Within the scope of the study, questionnaires were applied to 51 voluntarily participating families living in Cukurova Region between 18.11.2010 and 15.04.2011. In the study it was determined that 82% of the total 51 participating families were covered by social security (either through Social Security Authority, Bagkur as the Turkish social security organization for artisans and the self-employed or retirement fund), 12% of the remaining families had green card, 57% of the families were with children and 15.7% of these children were within the age group of 0 - 6. It was determined that there were a total of 288 packages of unused and expired medicine (6 packages/family). While the medicine groups which were determined to be accumulated the most in households were analgesics (20.1%), respiratory system related medicines (12.5%) and antibiotics (9.7%). In conclusion, the necessity to carry out further and more comprehensive studies for transferring the obtained information to health professionals and to the public, and to enact laws and regulations intended for the solution of the problem has to be taken into consideration. Keywords : Pharmaceutical waste, human health, environment, waste management, pharmaceutical waste management