AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

[Tommie Lyn]

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/general/2008/03/09/PharmaWater.I/

[Cymrugirl]

I'm watching this story on the news right now. Freaky. At least they're saying that the drugs are showing up in "parts per billion" - however, that doesn't cancel out the Molotov cocktail effect. Did I completely butcher that spelling?

The mention of sex hormones in some upper states water mixed with footage of a heavily moustached woman drinking a glass of water didn't do much to ease my mind.

[Xenia]

I never drink tap water but who knows... the stuff is probably in bottled water too (depending on what kind you get). Even if we are able to get pure bottled water it doesn't eliminate the fact that we take showers in this stuff. Chemicals are absorbed through our skin too!

[Ransom v. Unman]

Hmm...

What do Brita filters do for trace pharmaceuticals?

That is unnerving, but I'll have to say it's better than some of the alternatives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterborne_diseases)...

[ProfessorAlan]

At least they're meds ...... I am looking at it as a net positive!

[lynnmosher]

The scientists have found some male fish in these waters have developed female parts. I wanna know how they can tell!

Reverse osmosis is the only things that takes it all out. I know they are rather expensive but I may look into getting one!

[MissyKay]

on the upside, no one should have to pay for pharmaceuticals anymore - just drink the tap water! :D

Just kidding. In all seriousness, I was listening to a radio program yesterday that cited a study done a while ago. It found that when you add trace amounts of mulitple drugs into the diet of animals, it doesn't matter if the trace amount of the individual drugs are safe - when combined the result was always sickness in the animals.

Remember when they fined Exxon to clean up the oil spill in the Pacific? I know it'll never happen, but they should make the pharmaceutical companies clean up the water. And mandate tainted pee be treated like a biohazard.

My $0.02.

[Ransom v. Unman]

on the upside, no one should have to pay for pharmaceuticals anymore - just drink the tap water! :D

Just kidding. In all seriousness, I was listening to a radio program yesterday that cited a study done a while ago. It found that when you add trace amounts of mulitple drugs into the diet of animals, it doesn't matter if the trace amount of the individual drugs are safe - when combined the result was always sickness in the animals.

Remember when they fined Exxon to clean up the oil spill in the Pacific? I know it'll never happen, but they should make the pharmaceutical companies clean up the water. And mandate tainted pee be treated like a biohazard.

My $0.02.

Well, problem is, firstly that the pharma companies aren't directly to blame. I was talking with a pharmacist friend on another messageboard who agreed that there's cause for concern, but also clarified that the main reason this happens is that people aren't aware of how to properly dispose of pills and pharmaceuticals. He said the best thing to do is throw them away in tea bags or coffee grounds, and to not flush them down the toilet. Oh, and always break up pill capsules first...

Anyway, the companies can't be held liable for people not knowing the proper way to dispose of these things. Secondly, the trace pharmaceuticals in our water aren't nearly close to the scale of oil spills as far as environmental damage is concerned. There's damage here, yes, but it's not so dramatic, and in that, it's also not nearly as easy to clean up.

[ProfessorAlan]

The society as a whole takes way too many pills, and this is a weird side effect of that. It's a nexus of trial lawyers, big pharma, doctors, insurance companies, gov't payments, etc ........

[kluchar70]

Agreed. There is a pill out there for everything.