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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 14, 2016 02:47 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative William C. Kortz, II |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Legislation Establishing the Pharmaceutical Stewardship Act (Former HB 686) |
| In the near future, I will be re-introducing legislation – former HB 686 of the 2015-16 Legislative Session – which would give consumers a means to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals through a convenient, efficient, and safe disposal program. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s most recent data available, from 1999 to 2009, the number of prescriptions dispensed in the United States increased from 2.8 billion to 3.9 billion. According to a study conducted by the Teleosis Institute of California, approximately 45% of these prescriptions went unused. These unwanted pharmaceuticals are often stored in unlocked medicine cabinets, disposed of with the household trash, or flushed down the toilet. The legislation I will be introducing would establish a program to require that all manufacturers selling covered drugs in the Commonwealth participate in a pharmaceutical stewardship program. Pharmaceutical stewardship programs establish a framework for manufacturers to accept responsibility in reducing the environmental and societal impacts of their products. These programs include collection sites, mail-back options, safe-handling systems, and environmentally sound disposal methods for unwanted covered drugs from residential sources. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. Previous co-sponsors: Cohen, Sturla, Kotik, Caltagirone, O'Brien, Deasy, Davis, Murt, Readshaw, Gibbons, Rozzi, Kinsey, McNeill, Boback, Fabrizio, Everett and Thomas |
Introduced as HB1132