Today I met someone who I will be working with in the near future. Our employment together will be for a side job that it seems is both near and dear to our passion of running and fitness but sadly, is one that at this moment in time, cannot fulfill as our full-time employment.
In our meeting we discussed what our “day-job†is and what we do. He revealed to me that he works for a company that travels to the Bay Area to talk with Universities about pharmaceutical waste. Studies have shown that the water in the Bay Area has been tested and contains many harmful pharmaceuticals that have been discarded by the general public (hospitals, families, correctional facilities), agriculture (factory farms injecting animals with antibiotics to treat infections) and industry (pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities dumping excess).
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This stirred something inside of me. I commended him for his work and his company’s efforts to try to stop our water ways from being infected and for finding different methods of disposal however, what really hit home with me, is the cause at hand. We talked about the cycle. We talked about how Americans are quick to jump to medication to fix their “problems†and doctors, it seems are quick to prescribe them. If the average American stopped and looked at their diet and what they are poisoning their body with each day, they would see the connection. They would see that the high fat french fries filled with cholesterol and the big juicy burger they are eating are contributing to their high blood pressure and clogging their arteries. Instead of opting for a green salad they choose to take their blood pressure medication or suffer a heart attack that requires surgery where they will be pumped with more medication only to be released from the hospital to start the cycle all over again.
Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of our medical advances. I want to find cures for cancer, AIDS and all the other diseases that are taking our loved ones too soon but I also want my children to have a place to grow up where they are not afraid to drink the water from the faucet or swim in a local waterway. There has to be a compromise of some sort right?
 “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.†Kofi Annan
 The study I linked to above is from 2010 and apparently, things are much worse only 3 years later. In 2012 the Environmental Protection Agency said that California’s waterways are 170% more polluted than scientists thought. If we continue on this path, we are going to lose our precious lakes and streams not to mention our soil.
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To me this just seems like a cycle. A cycle that could be broken if people were educated (by physicians, their own motivation, teachers) about the value of a nutritious diet versus one full of chemicals, additives and processed foods. If we can stop certain diseases with food instead of medicine, why don’t we encourage that, teach that, live that each day? I am by no means perfect in my diet but at the same time, I am not on any medication and if given the choice of having to pop a pill daily and eating a salad, I would eat a salad every day of my life. I should also say that my own father was saved by heart surgery after his heart attack but he is living a much healthier lifestyle now and is more aware of what he puts into his body.
All I ask is that you be conscious in your choices. In the meantime, think before you go through your medicine cabinet tossing all those expired bottles of Advil, Tylenol or prescription medications into the trash or down the drain. After my recent ankle surgery, my doctor told me that I can bring in my unused Vicodin (that she insisted I get even though I took nothing for pain) to my local Kaiser and that they will dispose of it properly however their website advises not to do this.
Kaiser’s page does link to the No Drugs Down the Drain site however: which lets you put in your zip code to see where you can bring your used or unused drugs for disposal.
I am anxious to work with my new coworker so I can ask more about his “day-job†as I suspect his company is developing a much better method of disposal however, wouldn’t it be great if we could just reduce the amount of medication tossed annually by just eating a salad and having an apple a day?
~Trailmomma
