RFK Jr. urges Americans to dispose of medicine safely - and to not flush them

While some may think that flushing prescriptions down the toilet is a safe alternative to throwing them away and can prevent people from accidentally ingesting it, Kennedy warns that there are dangers to that too. The HHS chief explained that once flushed, the medications will go into the water system, potentially exposing anyone who drinks the water to those substances.

"We don't fully know the effects of low levels of birth control hormones or antibiotics or chemotherapy agents and so on, in the water, but it's not good," Kennedy said in the video.

However, there are some medications that are safe to flush. According to the FDA's "Flush List," there are several opioid medications that are safe to flush, including Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet. However, the FDA warns that drugs that do not appear on its Flush List should not be flushed down the toilet.

For those who miss National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, there are drug take-back sites open year-round. The FDA provides instructions on how to safely dispose of medications, as well as needles and syringes safely.