Trevor Sargent
Question:143 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health if he will give details of any proposals the Government may have to regulate the management of medicines which have passed their shelf life.
Written Answers. - Management of Medicines.
The Medical Preparations (Labelling and Package Leaflets) Regulations, 1993 (S.I. No. 71 of 1993) require that the expiry date shall appear on the outer and inner packaging of a medical preparation. The Medical Preparations (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations, 1993 (S.I. No. 69 of 1993) provide that a person shall not supply any medical preparation for use as such after the date specified thereon by the manufacture as the expiry date.
Compliance with these requirements is monitored as follows: 1. Medicines Wholesalers are inspected by inspectors of the National Drugs Advisory Board; 2. General Wholesalers who carry medicines are also inspected by inspectors of the National Drugs Advisory Board and by Environmental Health Officers of health boards; 3. Community pharmacies are inspected by pharmacist inspectors of health boards and of the Pharmaceutical Society; 4. Non-pharmacy retail outlets are inspected by Environmental Health Officers.
The storage, treatment or deposit of waste chemical laboratory materials or pharmaceutical compounds is subject to a permit requirement under the European Communities (Toxic and Dangerous Waste) Regulations, 1982.