# Medication : EXPIRATION DATES ON MED BOTTLES...by Sue Reith



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

RE: EXPIRATION DATES ON MED BOTTLES... 
(I say, 'forgeddaboudit! (VBG)

I frankly never concern myself with expiration dates so long as the product remains sanitary, and well refrigerated when not in use, as there is no diminishment of the effectiveness over time that I have seen when handled properly.

I have had little-used things on hand for literally years after their expiration dates have passed, and they still work fine. If you keep the meds refrigerated, and handle them carefully and in a sanitary fashion, you will have no trouble using them until they are all gone. Unless a med starts to look 'funny' as in drastically changing color (not including LA200 that darkens little by little when it is exposed to oxygen), or consistency, for example, the only thing that can possibly go wrong is that it might lose a bit of its potency. It will never get stronger than it originally was. I once used a 100ml bottle of oxytocin for 14 years (exp date 5/86, finally used up in 2000) and it was still working just fine when I used the last of it during my Aussie female's last whelping. 
If you are worried about expiration dates, you might want to consider that those dates are on there not for your benefit, but for the benefit of the manufacturer.

As I see it the law requires expiration dates for 2 reasons...

1) If the product becomes contaminated due to mishandling by the purchaser, then a short expiration date protects the manufacturer from liability in the event that the purchaser complains about it once it has expired.

2) A short expiration date is very lucrative for the manufacturer, who gets to sell a new product to the person that has discarded a perfectly good bottle of something because the expiration date has passed! 
Sue Reith
Carmelita Toggs
Bainbridge Island WA 
[email protected]


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