What do sex hormones, anti-depressants, pain-killers, anti-cholesterol pills, Tamiflu, and other drugs have in common? Well they have all found their way into our drinking water through excretion or disposal. “U.S. manufacturers, including major drug makers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water”.
Although there is no consistent testing it has caught the attention of people around the world. Many major metropolitan cities have completed testing independently and the results illustrate contamination of not only water but potentially watersheds as well with pharmaceutical chemicals. Some surprising statistics include: “In Philadelphia officials discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds. In Southern California anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people.”
Chicago decided to start testing their water for pharmaceuticals after the Tribune found trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated chemicals in the city’s tap water. Chicago’s findings of trace amounts of a variety of drugs from anti-seizure to over the counter painkillers did not demonstrate a strong enough pattern. The EPA stated that “it still doesn't have enough evidence to limit pharmaceuticals and many other unregulated chemicals in drinking water -- in part because cities haven't been required to test routinely for the compounds”.
This is not just an issue within the U.S. but a global issue as well. For example, in India it was found that “levels of antibiotics measured in streams, lakes and well water near pharmaceutical factories in India are 100,000 to 1,000,000 times higher than that of U.S. or China”.This is definitely an emerging issue that needs action to be taken immediately. Although the EPA doesn't believe there is compelling enough evidence scientists have witnessed adverse effects of hormones drugs on wildlife such as fish. Fish have been found to have a condition called intersex meaning that the male fish contain immature eggs in the testes. Another issue is the fact that it makes pathogens stronger and more resistant to our drugs which pose a public health issue.
I think this issue should be addressed as soon as possible. Whether it is placing pharmaceuticals on the list with the other drinking water contaminants or having a whole new policy just to deal with pharmaceuticals in waterways. I know that this is a very complex issue and to create such a policy would take time. This issue deals with many of the themes of the course from cross boundary issues to scientific uncertainty (many scientists don’t know if there is an effect on public health due to the low exposure while others are concerned about the long term effects it might have on public health). It also touches on economic benefits vs. environmental benefits and conflicting environmental problems. According to the Chicago Tribune because this idea is so new many say there is not enough information known about the side effects of a low dose exposure to these drugs to “justify spending millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade treatment plants so they could strip the chemicals from the water. The most effective method, reverse osmosis, is expensive and creates a large amount of waste.”
The EPA does have a small part in monitoring these chemicals, but not as drugs. A CBS news article I read said that they are instead monitored only if they are manufactured from factories monitored under federal pollution laws. Even so, this data collection is not clearly directed or documented, so I think there should be a better organized and widespread research system created. Also, I think notifying the public about home water treatment systems and prevention techniques (don't flush drugs down the toilet!) would be beneficial to keep pharmaceutical chemical concentrations low in our waterways.
ReplyDeleteKELLEY JUNCO
A recent (terrifying) story in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090501384.html
ReplyDeleteThe article describes how fish in the Potomac River are exhibiting sexual mutations and other anomalies due to antibiotics and hormones in the waterways.
I have to think that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations are to blame. Approximately 185 million animals are raised in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (of which the Potomac River is part of), and most of these animals probably receive a cocktail of antibiotics and growth hormones daily.
Let's hope that the source of the mutations is from drugs fed to animals raised for slaughter because I would imagine that treating waste water for the vast array of pharmaceuticals humans take would be far more difficult than outlawing the usage of growth hormones to raise livestock.
-Sam Shelby