Drinking Water, Brought to You By Pharma
The Associated Press today released a report that claims the drinking water of 41 million Americans, across 24 major metropolitan areas, contains pharmaceuticals (including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones). Now, these drugs are registering at parts per billion, which is very weak, but it is still alarming because of how the drugs got in the water system.Let's take the example of Philadelphia. They found 56 types of pharmaceuticals in their drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. In the city's water shed, though, they identified 63 drugs. Ay yay!
What happens is that we don't absorb all of the medication we are prescribed, expelling a portion in our urine. Our drug-laced urine goes, along with everything else in the toilet, to a water treatment facility where it is treated before it's dumped into rivers, lakes or reservoirs. Some of that water, then, is pulled back into water treatment plants before consumption. These treatment facilities' processes, though, rarely remove pharmaceuticals. On top of that, the facilities are not required to report what pharmaceuticals they are finding, nor at what strengths. But there are pharmaceuticals in there, even after all the treatment and dumping into rivers/lakes/reservoirs and then the recollecting! Still! The spokesperson for major California suppliers said (justifying them not releasing how much Prozac I'm cooking my pasta in): the public, "doesn't know how to interpret the information." Holy moly.
So, why don't they have to legally disclose this information? That's a rhetorical question. When does big business do anything they don't have to? Quite simply, there is no law setting limits of pharmaceuticals in water. Nor is there a law saying they have to report those quantities. They simply don't have to. WHAT?!!?!? Do I hear an emergency congressional commission? Drop the steroids scandal where one man willingly put drugs in his system and focus on the drugs 41 million people are unknowingly putting in their systems. If we don't start getting a handle on this now, doctors will prescribe geriatric de Guzman a glass of water a day.
Here's the odd thing. You would think bottled or filtered water would be safe. Well? Not so much. Bottled water's usually just tap water in a bottle. Either way, neither is required to test pharma levels.
What about personal wells? Not so much. Not even personal wells? Pharmaceuticals are also found in aquifers deep underground, which are the source of 40 percent of U.S.'s water supply. Water near contaminant sources (i.e., landfills and animal feed lots) in 24 states found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.
The question I have, then, is how many freakin' pharmaceuticals are we taking, as a country? If we're peeing out enough to contaminate lakes, rivers and our tap water, how much is going into our systems? (Hold on to your shorts, 'cause it's an insane number.) Last year, there were 3.7 billion drug prescriptions in the U.S., up 12% from the year before. That is approximately twelve prescriptions for every American! One a month! Non-prescription drugs sit around 3.3 billion, so... 7.0 billion total. That's around 23 per citizen. My lordie. But this isn't just an American concern. Drugs have been found in many countries, including the Swiss lakes and the North Sea.
How bad can it be? The drug and water treatment companies will tell you it's nothing. Meh. It's like putting a pharmaceutical lemon in your water. But, to anyone outside of those industries, we see the main concern is that there are no studies that look at the long-term effects of steady exposure to trace amounts of drugs. Of course, the EPA tests the one-time effects of drugs on our system, but long-term? Not so much. In labs, trace amounts of drugs have been known to affect embryonic kidney cells (grew too slowly), human blood cells (showed signs similar to inflammation), and human breast cancer cells (proliferated too quickly). Shouldn't we be looking into this? People?
I think of all the rivers and lakes out there we dump our waste water into, and I think of all those fish swimming in our pharmaceutical-traced water. Pharmaceuticals have been linked to male fish creating egg yolk proteins (a process females do). Is there any way we aren't putting our stamp on this planet? Holy moly.
I need something to drink/sooth my nerves. Tap water it is. On the rocks.
So, why don't they have to legally disclose this information? That's a rhetorical question. When does big business do anything they don't have to? Quite simply, there is no law setting limits of pharmaceuticals in water. Nor is there a law saying they have to report those quantities. They simply don't have to. WHAT?!!?!? Do I hear an emergency congressional commission? Drop the steroids scandal where one man willingly put drugs in his system and focus on the drugs 41 million people are unknowingly putting in their systems. If we don't start getting a handle on this now, doctors will prescribe geriatric de Guzman a glass of water a day.
Here's the odd thing. You would think bottled or filtered water would be safe. Well? Not so much. Bottled water's usually just tap water in a bottle. Either way, neither is required to test pharma levels.
What about personal wells? Not so much. Not even personal wells? Pharmaceuticals are also found in aquifers deep underground, which are the source of 40 percent of U.S.'s water supply. Water near contaminant sources (i.e., landfills and animal feed lots) in 24 states found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.
The question I have, then, is how many freakin' pharmaceuticals are we taking, as a country? If we're peeing out enough to contaminate lakes, rivers and our tap water, how much is going into our systems? (Hold on to your shorts, 'cause it's an insane number.) Last year, there were 3.7 billion drug prescriptions in the U.S., up 12% from the year before. That is approximately twelve prescriptions for every American! One a month! Non-prescription drugs sit around 3.3 billion, so... 7.0 billion total. That's around 23 per citizen. My lordie. But this isn't just an American concern. Drugs have been found in many countries, including the Swiss lakes and the North Sea.
How bad can it be? The drug and water treatment companies will tell you it's nothing. Meh. It's like putting a pharmaceutical lemon in your water. But, to anyone outside of those industries, we see the main concern is that there are no studies that look at the long-term effects of steady exposure to trace amounts of drugs. Of course, the EPA tests the one-time effects of drugs on our system, but long-term? Not so much. In labs, trace amounts of drugs have been known to affect embryonic kidney cells (grew too slowly), human blood cells (showed signs similar to inflammation), and human breast cancer cells (proliferated too quickly). Shouldn't we be looking into this? People?
I think of all the rivers and lakes out there we dump our waste water into, and I think of all those fish swimming in our pharmaceutical-traced water. Pharmaceuticals have been linked to male fish creating egg yolk proteins (a process females do). Is there any way we aren't putting our stamp on this planet? Holy moly.
I need something to drink/sooth my nerves. Tap water it is. On the rocks.
no surprise with the american lifestyle. eat healthy, exercise, do tai chi or chi kung or yoga... no prescriptions necessary!