Effective Use?

[dartanyon]

I've been going through my kits and checking "use by dates" and wondering if anyone knows what is ok even though its expired? I feel really wastefull just throwing things in the bin if it can still be used and also want to know what could happen if the iten is still used in an emergency.

What happens to the following when its expired:

-water purifying tablets
-painkillers
-antihistamines
-iodine
-potassium permanganate crystals
-tea tree oil

I include a list of whats in the kit (including use by dates) inside the lid and wand to give a life expectancy.
I understand that storage temperature and humidity also affect but lets assume zero humidity and 20 deg C storage.

 

[Watchful]

Well, painkillers and antihistimines merely tend to lose their punch over time. I would suggest that you could probably tack two years on to the expiration dates of those items... any loss of potency would be minimal at that point.

After five or six years, you're probably lowering the efficacy.

 

[longbow50]

I would toss

-water purifying tablets should go, because you do not want those nasty bugs in your intestinal tract.

-iodine, because it's used as a topical antibacterial and cleanser, should also be tossed.

-potassium permanganate crystals are hazardous anyways.

Don't know about the tea tree oil.

 

[skammer]

I remember reading somewhere the government in an attempt to save money a few years back tested its stockpile of medications and found that 99.99% of them which were stored in hot desert like warehouses were just fine years after the expiration date.

Manufacturers must put an expiry date on their products to avoid litigation even though the product is fine. I have personally used meds 5yrs out of date stored in a freezer to great results.

Tea tree oil will outlast you as long as its out of the sunlight.

SKam

 

[dartanyon]

I usually add about a year or two to dry sealed medications but the one i'm most concerned about is the water tablets which i agree are the first ones destined for the bin.
Is there a chemist or like that can tell me what is going to deteriorate and why?

 

[mr_calico]

i cant see anything going wrong if the pottasium permanganate crystals are pure and they are not getting damp. im not a scientist but i really cant see them deteriorating into other chemicals in the near future, maybe in a 1000 years or so?, but the safety data sheet i got with mine says nothing about storage times.
i also carry tee tree oil and mine has about 2years from when i bought it to when it goes out of date. i was wondering how it could go out of date so quickly if it is supposed to be such a strong antiseptic.

i think a lot of the dates are cautious and put well within the real storage times so the companies run less risk of having someone sue them because there product has gone off.