24/05/2005 - A Birmingham
chemist who illegally allowed waste drugs,
including the clinical form of heroin, to
be stored in an unsecured garage, was fined
£10,000.
On 23 May 2005 Rakesh Panesar, of Sheldon,
Birmingham, pleaded guilty at Birmingham
Magistrates to one charge relating to him
illegally storing waste and one charge of
failing to ensure he prevented the illegal
storage of waste.
The charges were brought by the Environment
Agency under Section 33 and 34 of the Environmental
Protection Act 11000. Mr Panesar was fined
£10,000 and ordered to pay £7,800
costs.
Speaking after the case, Michael White,
an Environment Agency officer involved in
the investigation, said: ‘The main issue
of this case was that waste produced by
Mr Panesar’s business was stored illegally
in an area which was not designed for this
use.
‘This posed a threat to both human health
and the environment and we will not hesitate
to take action when we discover this taking
place. The nature of the waste was another
reason why Mr Panesar’s behaviour was both
highly irresponsible and totally unacceptable.’
For the Environment Agency, Carolyn Pickering
told the court that on 27 August 2004, contractors
working for Birmingham City Council were
clearing waste illegally dumped on land
at the rear of shops at Church Road, Sheldon.
They found a garage containing out of date
prescription only medicines and controlled
drugs, including both injectable and tablet
forms of diamorphine. The garage door was
fully open. The Environment Agency was called
and officers inspected the site. The drugs
had come from Pan Pharmacy.
On 1 September specialist contractors cleared
the garage for the Environment Agency. A
total of 8880 litres of waste was removed.
West Midlands police estimated that the
street value of the controlled drugs found
in the garage was £15,382.
Investigations indicated that the waste
found in the garage had come from the Pan
Pharmacy, run by Mr Panesar. He had been
storing the waste drugs in the upstairs
room of his pharmacy until about five years
ago when it was cleared by builders in preparation
for building work.
He had instructed the builders to remove
the waste to the garage but did not oversee
the removal, had no real knowledge of exactly
what was being removed and did not validate
the security of the garage. The garage had
been insecure for an unknown period.
The rules set down by Mr Panesar’s professional
body, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, state that he must destroy
controlled drugs returned by patients and
that out-of-date pharmacy stock must be
destroyed in the presence of an authorised
witness.
He was also required to make arrangements
for the regular collection and safe disposal
of pharmaceutical waste. He must also ensure
a contract is made with an authorised carrier
for the collection and disposal of pharmaceutical
waste at regular intervals or on demand.
In mitigation Mr Panesar’s solicitor stressed
that this was a one off offence, that Mr
Panesar would be subject to an investigation
by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain and that Mr Panesar had pleaded
guilty at the first opportunity.
