Think you know whats in your drinking water? Its Just good old hydrogen and oxygen? Think Agian. According to Associated Press (AP) 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 http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,336286,00.html.
To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe. 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.
To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe. 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.
The big question is How Do These Drugs Seep In? http://www.epa.gov/No one plotted to dump prescription drugs into U.S. water supplies. The drugs got there on their own, with a little help from the human body. It works like this: Doctors prescribe drugs to patients, who swallow the pills. The body doesn't completely absorb some drugs, though. When nature takes its course, traces of the drugs pass through people's bodies, down toilets, and into sewers. The sewer water is treated and returned to rivers and reservoirs. City water systems later take some of that water to treat and use as drinking water. Treatment plants filter out most impurities, but the plants don't catch all of the drugs. That's how tiny amounts of drugs get into tap water, which people drink.
Prescription drugs are a big business. People in the United States take more drugs today than ever before, 3.7 billion prescriptions' worth. When drugs get old, some people flush them. That's a bad idea. People aren't the only users contributing drugs to the water supply. Farm animals are given antibiotics to keep them healthy. Dairy cows are given hormones to help them make more milk. Those drugs pass into the groundwater and into city water supplies. Chemicals from factories and golf courses wash into the water too.
No comments:
Post a Comment