Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

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AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGsoyElv4ZL879LW6z2aZS0Pix7AD8VA14500

 

By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD – 4 hours ago

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.

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.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been

detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from

Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless

pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major

California suppliers said the public " doesn't know how to interpret the

information " and might be unduly alarmed.

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of

it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated

before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the

water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to

consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of

persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals,

recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public —

have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

" We recognize it is a growing concern and we're taking it very seriously, "

said Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency.

Members of the AP 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 AP:

_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 is undoubtedly worse than suggested by the positive test results

in the major population centers documented by the AP.

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, the

drinking water for only 28 was tested. Among the 34 that haven't: 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 AP's 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 AP, and

pharmaceuticals were detected in 28.

Yet officials in six of those 28 metropolitan areas said they did not go on to

test their drinking water — Fairfax, Va.; Montgomery County in Maryland; Omaha,

Neb.; Oklahoma City; Santa Clara, Calif., and New York City.

The New York state health department and the USGS tested the source of the

city's water, upstate. They found trace concentrations of heart medicine,

infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a

tranquilizer.

City water officials declined repeated requests for an interview. In a

statement, they insisted that " New York City's drinking water continues to meet

all federal and state regulations regarding drinking water quality in the

watershed and the distribution system " — regulations that do not address trace

pharmaceuticals.

In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers told the

AP that pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but the AP obtained the results

of tests conducted by independent researchers that showed otherwise. For

example, water department officials in New Orleans said their water had not been

tested for pharmaceuticals, but a Tulane University researcher and his students

have published a study that found the pain reliever naproxen, the sex hormone

estrone and the anti-cholesterol drug byproduct clofibric acid in treated

drinking water.

Of the 28 major metropolitan areas where tests were performed on drinking

water supplies, only Albuquerque; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Va.; said

tests were negative. The drinking water in Dallas has been tested, but officials

are awaiting results. Arlington, Texas, acknowledged that traces of a

pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security

concerns in refusing to identify the drug.

The AP also contacted 52 small water providers — one in each state, and two

each in Missouri and Texas — that serve communities with populations around

25,000. All but one said their drinking water had not been screened for

pharmaceuticals; officials in Emporia, Kan., refused to answer AP's questions,

also citing post-9/11 issues.

Rural consumers who draw water from their own wells aren't in the clear

either, experts say.

The Stroud Water Research Center, in Avondale, Pa., has measured water samples

from New York City's upstate watershed for caffeine, a common contaminant that

scientists often look for as a possible signal for the presence of other

pharmaceuticals. Though more caffeine was detected at suburban sites, researcher

Anthony Aufdenkampe was struck by the relatively high levels even in less

populated areas.

He suspects it escapes from failed septic tanks, maybe with other drugs.

" Septic systems are essentially small treatment plants that are essentially

unmanaged and therefore tend to fail, " Aufdenkampe said.

Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily

avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not

typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main

trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.

Contamination is not confined to the United States. More than 100 different

pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams

throughout the world. Studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout

Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the North Sea.

For example, in Canada, a study of 20 Ontario drinking water treatment plants

by a national research institute found nine different drugs in water samples.

Japanese health officials in December called for human health impact studies

after detecting prescription drugs in drinking water at seven different sites.

In the United States, the problem isn't confined to surface waters.

Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40 percent of

the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from

aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found

minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.

Perhaps it's because Americans have been taking drugs — and flushing them

unmetabolized or unused — in growing amounts. Over the past five years, the

number of U.S. prescriptions rose 12 percent to a record 3.7 billion, while

nonprescription drug purchases held steady around 3.3 billion, according to IMS

Health and The Nielsen Co.

" People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it

disappears, but of course that's not the case, " said EPA scientist Christian

Daughton, one of the first to draw attention to the issue of pharmaceuticals in

water in the United States.

Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and

anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater

treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems

specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.

One technology, reverse osmosis, removes virtually all pharmaceutical

contaminants but is very expensive for large-scale use and leaves several

gallons of polluted water for every one that is made drinkable.

Another issue: There's evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in

conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more

toxic.

Human waste isn't the only source of contamination. Cattle, for example, are

given ear implants that provide a slow release of trenbolone, an anabolic

steroid used by some bodybuilders, which causes cattle to bulk up. But not all

the trenbolone circulating in a steer is metabolized. A German study showed 10

percent of the steroid passed right through the animals.

Water sampled downstream of a Nebraska feedlot had steroid levels four times

as high as the water taken upstream. Male fathead minnows living in that

downstream area had low testosterone levels and small heads.

Other veterinary drugs also play a role. Pets are now treated for arthritis,

cancer, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, dementia, and even obesity —

sometimes with the same drugs as humans. The inflation-adjusted value of

veterinary drugs rose by 8 percent, to $5.2 billion, over the past five years,

according to an analysis of data from the Animal Health Institute.

Ask the pharmaceutical industry whether the contamination of water supplies is

a problem, and officials will tell you no. " Based on what we now know, I would

say we find there's little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to

human health, " said microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

But at a conference last summer, Mary Buzby — director of environmental

technology for drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. — said: " There's no doubt about it,

pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine

concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they're at, could

be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms. "

Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have

affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer

cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too

slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with

inflammation.

Also, pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and

around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized,

creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females.

Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the

pyramid of life — such as earth worms in the wild and zooplankton in the

laboratory, studies show.

Some scientists stress that the research is extremely limited, and there are

too many unknowns. They say, though, that the documented health problems in

wildlife are disconcerting.

" It brings a question to people's minds that if the fish were affected ...

might there be a potential problem for humans? " EPA research biologist Vickie

Wilson told the AP. " It could be that the fish are just exquisitely sensitive

because of their physiology or something. We haven't gotten far enough along. "

With limited research funds, said Shane Snyder, research and development

project manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority, a greater emphasis

should be put on studying the effects of drugs in water.

" I think it's a shame that so much money is going into monitoring to figure

out if these things are out there, and so little is being spent on human

health, " said Snyder. " They need to just accept that these things are everywhere

— every chemical and pharmaceutical could be there. It's time for the EPA to

step up to the plate and make a statement about the need to study effects, both

human and environmental. "

To the degree that the EPA is focused on the issue, it appears to be looking

at detection. Grumbles acknowledged that just late last year the agency

developed three new methods to " detect and quantify pharmaceuticals " in

wastewater. " We realize that we have a limited amount of data on the

concentrations, " he said. " We're going to be able to learn a lot more. "

While Grumbles said the EPA had analyzed 287 pharmaceuticals for possible

inclusion on a draft list of candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking

Water Act, he said only one, nitroglycerin, was on the list. Nitroglycerin can

be used as a drug for heart problems, but the key reason it's being considered

is its widespread use in making explosives.

So much is unknown. Many independent scientists are skeptical that trace

concentrations will ultimately prove to be harmful to humans. Confidence about

human safety is based largely on studies that poison lab animals with much

higher amounts.

There's growing concern in the scientific community, meanwhile, that certain

drugs — or combinations of drugs — may harm humans over decades because water,

unlike most specific foods, is consumed in sizable amounts every day.

Our bodies may shrug off a relatively big one-time dose, yet suffer from a

smaller amount delivered continuously over a half century, perhaps subtly

stirring allergies or nerve damage. Pregnant women, the elderly and the very ill

might be more sensitive.

Many concerns about chronic low-level exposure focus on certain drug classes:

chemotherapy that can act as a powerful poison; hormones that can hamper

reproduction or development; medicines for depression and epilepsy that can

damage the brain or change behavior; antibiotics that can allow human germs to

mutate into more dangerous forms; pain relievers and blood-pressure diuretics.

For several decades, federal environmental officials and nonprofit watchdog

environmental groups have focused on regulated contaminants — pesticides, lead,

PCBs — which are present in higher concentrations and clearly pose a health

risk.

However, some experts say medications may pose a unique danger because, unlike

most pollutants, they were crafted to act on the human body.

" These are chemicals that are designed to have very specific effects at very

low concentrations. That's what pharmaceuticals do. So when they get out to the

environment, it should not be a shock to people that they have effects, " says

zoologist John Sumpter at Brunel University in London, who has studied trace

hormones, heart medicine and other drugs.

And while drugs are tested to be safe for humans, the timeframe is usually

over a matter of months, not a lifetime. Pharmaceuticals also can produce side

effects and interact with other drugs at normal medical doses. That's why —

aside from therapeutic doses of fluoride injected into potable water supplies —

pharmaceuticals are prescribed to people who need them, not delivered to

everyone in their drinking water.

" We know we are being exposed to other people's drugs through our drinking

water, and that can't be good, " says Dr. David Carpenter, who directs the

Institute for Health and the Environment of the State University of New York at

Albany.

The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate (at) ap.org

 

 

 

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