Several years ago I began hearing reports of problems of pharmaceuticals in our water supplies; that is the
prescriptions that we take for a myriad of problems--high cholesterol, birth control, anxiety, tranquilizers, chemotherapy, etc--aren't being removed from our water at treatment plants and thus are coming back in our drinking water. I heard these reports from scientist friends but surprisingly hadn't heard anything big in the news (one of the big issues on the science front has been the issue of trans-
gendering fish. That is, hormones are causing male fish to become feminized and thus sterile. It's a much bigger deal than it sounds. Things start at the bottom of the food chain and work on up. Think DDT.)
Today the AP had this "Investigation" about
it.
It's long, so here's some bits (though please consider reading it):
* "A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-
convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
* But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.
* How? People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The
wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.
* The
AP's investigation also indicates that watersheds, the natural sources of most of the nation's water supply, also are contaminated. Tests were conducted in the watersheds of 35 of the 62 major providers surveyed by the AP, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28.
* Rural consumers who draw water from their own wells aren't in the clear either, experts say.
* Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.
* Another issue: There's evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic.
* 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."
*There's growing concern in the scientific community, meanwhile, that certain drugs — or combinations of drugs — may harm humans over decades because water, unlike most specific foods, is consumed in sizable amounts every day.
* "These are chemicals that are designed to have very specific effects at very low concentrations. That's what pharmaceuticals do. So when they get out to the environment, it should not be a shock to people that they have effects," says zoologist John
Sumpter at
Brunel University in London, who has studied trace hormones, heart medicine and other drugs. "
Some are from the trees that are now the parents to the blight-resistant strain currently in testing.
In that little spiny urchin could be history changed. I picked up a chestnut seed and put it in my pocket. It'll remind me what hope can look like, no matter the odds.
