Drugs found in US drinking water
p2pnet news | Off Topic:- Drugs used for humans and animals are being flushed into America’s drinking water, says the Associated Press.
It surveyed 52 small water providers serving communities with populations of around 25,000, one in each state, and two in Missouri and Texas, and, “All but one said their drinking water had not been screened for pharmaceuticals,” it says, naming Emporia, Kansas, as the hold-out, refusing to answer AP’s questions because of “post-9/11 security concerns”.
Scientists say the health effects of long-term exposure to such drugs aren’t known, says the Washington Post, going on:
“Pharmaceuticals, along with trace amounts of caffeine, were found in the drinking water supplies of 24 of 28 U.S. metropolitan areas tested.
“The findings were revealed as part of the first federal research on pharmaceuticals in water supplies, and those results are detailed in an investigative report by the Associated Press set to be published today.”
Says the Associated Press report >>>
“People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that’s not the case,” said EPA scientist Christian Daughton, one of the first to draw attention to the issue of pharmaceuticals in water in the United States.
Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.
Veterinary drugs also play a role. Pets are now treated for a wide range of ailments — sometimes with the same drugs as humans. The inflation-adjusted value of veterinary drugs rose by 8 percent, to $5.2 billion, over the past five years, according to an analysis of data from the Animal Health Institute.
Ask the pharmaceutical industry whether the contamination of water supplies is a problem, and officials will tell you no.
“Based on what we now know, I would say we find there’s little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to human health,” said microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
But at a conference last summer, Mary Buzby – director of environmental technology for drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. – said: “There’s no doubt about it, pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they’re at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms.”
Nationwide, “the AP reported that researchers found anti-depressants, antacids, synthetic hormones from birth control pills, and many other human and animal medicines in the water,” says the Washington Post.
“In San Francisco, tests found a sex hormone. In New York, the water tested positive for heart medicines and a prescription tranquilizer.”
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Also See:
Associated Press – Smaller Burgs Don’t Test Water for Drugs, March 9, 2008
Washington Post – Area Tap Water Has Traces of Medicines, March 10, 2008
copyright cops – Britain to turn ISPs into corporate copyright cops, February 12, 2008
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March 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am
How the fuck did they get there in the first place? Why would they be there? WTF.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
no wonder everyone in the US lives like they are in a dream world where everyone speaks english.