Traces of prescription drugs found in tap water

[Guest guest]

[Thanks for this one, Nora! By the way, most of our drinking water in

Ontario comes from the great lakes - which many Americans drink from too!

Incidentally I also know the person in the article quoted from the Sierra

Club.]

 

Traces of prescription drugs found in tap water

Updated Mon. Nov. 15 2004 9:14 AM ET

http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1100486012670_22?hu\

b=topstories

 

CTV.ca News Staff

 

Canadians' tap water may contain tiny traces of prescription drugs, a new

federal study has found.

 

A study of water samples taken from locations near 20 drinking water

treatment plants in southern Ontario found evidence of nine different

drugs. They ranged from the painkiller ibuprofen, cholesterol-lowering

drugs and antidepressants, such as Prozac.

 

The drugs are making it into the water supply because the human body

doesn't always absorb all the medication it ingests. Some is excreted as

solid waste, and the particles aren't removed in the treatment process.

 

" It's an element of modern life that tends to unnerve us, " said Duncan

Ellison of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association.

 

The study, conducted by researchers from the National Water Research

Institute for the federal government, has yet to be formally published.

But it has been submitted to a British journal entitled Water Research and

should be published in the new year.

 

The quantities of drugs involved would be equivalent to a single drop of

water in an entire swimming pool.

 

Those overseeing water quality say tap water is still safe.

 

Environmentalists counter by saying any quantity of prescription drugs in

water is unacceptable, even if the drugs themselves have already been

tested for safety.

 

" They certainly aren't tested in combination, " said Angela Rickman of the

Sierra Club. " So we're being exposed at any given time to three or four or

five or any number of pharmaceuticals and no one knows the effect of that

exposure. "

 

There are also questions of the impact on aquatic life, on fetuses and on

those who are ill or infirm.

 

As an example of what can happen, male smallmouth bass in a

nicotine-polluted section of the U.S.'s Potomac River have started

producing eggs.

 

Municipal governments, who bear operational responsibility for treating

drinking water, say they are working on what is a complicated problem.

 

" There are research activities going on now to determine what we can do

about it, " Ellison said.

 

Experts say another way to solve this problem is to design better drugs

that are fully metabolized by the body.

 

However, CTV's Paula Newton said designing such drugs is likely years

away, as are any studies to determine whether prescription drug traces in

treated drinking water are a health hazard.

 

With a report from CTV's Paula Newton

 

Nora Gottlieb said:

>

>

> For our Canadian friends...link about drugs in drinking water...n

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, thanks Nora. I live where the water is relatively pristine, AKA

" the sticks " . Ha Ha. ;*)

 

Also that " drop in a swimming pool of water " amount of medicine is not

likely a health hazard, yet... but certainly is a heads-up about a new

environmental problem to cope with. This set me to thinking about

whether traces of St John's Wort (herbal antidepressant / anti-anxiety

drug) would be found. Possibly the bacteria can break down the herbal

medicines?

 

Stela

, " David Elfstrom "

<listbox@e...> wrote:

>

> [Thanks for this one, Nora! By the way, most of our drinking water in

> Ontario comes from the great lakes - which many Americans drink from

too!

> Incidentally I also know the person in the article quoted from the

Sierra

> Club.]

>

> Traces of prescription drugs found in tap water

> Updated Mon. Nov. 15 2004 9:14 AM ET

>

http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1100486012670_22?hu\

b=topstories

>

> CTV.ca News Staff

>

> Canadians' tap water may contain tiny traces of prescription drugs,

a new

> federal study has found.

>

> A study of water samples taken from locations near 20 drinking water

> treatment plants in southern Ontario found evidence of nine different

> drugs. They ranged from the painkiller ibuprofen, cholesterol-lowering

> drugs and antidepressants, such as Prozac.

>

> The drugs are making it into the water supply because the human body

> doesn't always absorb all the medication it ingests. Some is excreted as

> solid waste, and the particles aren't removed in the treatment process.

>

> " It's an element of modern life that tends to unnerve us, " said Duncan

> Ellison of the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association.

>

> The study, conducted by researchers from the National Water Research

> Institute for the federal government, has yet to be formally published.

> But it has been submitted to a British journal entitled Water

Research and

> should be published in the new year.

>

> The quantities of drugs involved would be equivalent to a single drop of

> water in an entire swimming pool.

>

> Those overseeing water quality say tap water is still safe.

>

> Environmentalists counter by saying any quantity of prescription

drugs in

> water is unacceptable, even if the drugs themselves have already been

> tested for safety.

>

> " They certainly aren't tested in combination, " said Angela Rickman

of the

> Sierra Club. " So we're being exposed at any given time to three or

four or

> five or any number of pharmaceuticals and no one knows the effect of

that

> exposure. "

>

> There are also questions of the impact on aquatic life, on fetuses

and on

> those who are ill or infirm.

>

> As an example of what can happen, male smallmouth bass in a

> nicotine-polluted section of the U.S.'s Potomac River have started

> producing eggs.

>

> Municipal governments, who bear operational responsibility for treating

> drinking water, say they are working on what is a complicated problem.

>

> " There are research activities going on now to determine what we can do

> about it, " Ellison said.

>

> Experts say another way to solve this problem is to design better drugs

> that are fully metabolized by the body.

>

> However, CTV's Paula Newton said designing such drugs is likely years

> away, as are any studies to determine whether prescription drug

traces in

> treated drinking water are a health hazard.

>

> With a report from CTV's Paula Newton

>

> Nora Gottlieb said:

> >

> >

> > For our Canadian friends...link about drugs in drinking water...n

> >

> >