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. This shocking news comes as a result of the findings by an Associated Press investigation. The concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are very small, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. 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 nation’s drinking water is not good news by any stretch of the imagination. It has increased concerns among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

It was reported that members of the Associated Press National Investigative Team reviewed hundreds of scientific reports, analyzed federal drinking water databases, visited environmental study sites and treatment plants, and interviewed more than 230 officials, academics, and scientists. They also surveyed the nation’s 50 largest cities and a dozen other major water providers, as well as smaller community water providers in all 50 states. Here are some of the key test results obtained by the investigators:

• Officials in Philadelphia said testing there 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.
• Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in southern California.
• Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.
• A sex hormone was detected in San Francisco’s drinking water.
• The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.
• Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, Ariz.

The situation could be much worse than suggested by the positive test results in the major population centers documented by the Associated Press. The federal government doesn’t require any testing and hasn’t set safety limits for drugs in water. Of the 62 major water providers contacted in the investigation, the drinking water was tested for only 28. Among the 34 that haven’t been tested are: Houston, Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, Phoenix, Boston and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people. Some providers screen only for one or two pharmaceuticals, leaving open the possibility that others are present. The 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 Associated Press, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28. This appears to be a problem area that could be much worse than anybody knows. Governments at every level have a duty to do whatever is required to assure that the water we drink is safe!

Source: Associated Press

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