Guest guest Posted March 16, 2007 Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 This article was printed in our local newspaper. John Garber Drugs In Our Water? Pharmaceuticals showing up in wastewaters across the nation; state doesn't test for them By Matt Christensen Times News writer March 15, 2007 TWIN FALLS - If you take an antibiotic and use the bathroom, you may be contributing to a looming environmental crisis. Across the nation, antibiotics and pharmaceuticals are showing up in wastewater, and some scientists say that may be increasing the rate at which bacteria become resistant to antibiotic medicines that fight human diseases like staph infections. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria could lead to a devastating epidemic. Perhaps more alarming, federal, state and local governments are doing little testing for drugs in waterways.In Idaho, no agency examines water for antibiotics or pharmaceuticals. " No, we're not testing at this time, " said Richard Huddleston, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's wastewater manager. " Currently, there are no standards (for testing water for antibiotics). " Huddleston said he's not aware of any state that tests wastewater for medicines, but it's a hot topic now among scientists across the country. Surprisingly, it was a West Virginia high school student that pioneered the research. A teenager named Ashley Mulroy began testing water for antibiotics several years ago after she read a report about them showing up in European waters. For 10 weeks, she gathered samples from the Ohio River. Her results found penicillin, among other antibiotics, and she won a national award for her efforts. Since Mulroy found the drugs, several research projects have confirmed the presence of antibiotics and other drugs in the nation's waterways. Between January 2001 and June 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey found an alarming amount of drugs in water they linked to fish hatcheries, including one in Oregon. Like the Idaho DEQ, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has no standards for testing wastewater for antibiotics. However, its Web site warns that " they may pose risks if they enter the environment. " The Web site also cites several studies, including one published in 1993, that implicated estrogen hormones in the decrease of sperm counts among Western men and reproductive disorders in wildlife. Many suspect that much of the contamination stems from agriculture operations where animals are routinely given antibiotics and hormones to fight infections and increase production. Some experts estimate that as much as 40 percent of the nation's antibiotics are given to farm animals. However, the EPA says that little information is available that links antibiotic water contamination to the compounds in animal waste. Gene Taylor, an EPA drinking water expert, said, " It has not been a high-priority issue because it hasn't shown up yet in drinking water. But I say that with the caveat that it hasn't been widely' tested. " Taylor said someone would probably need to find antibiotics in Idaho drinking water for the drugs to make the list of EPA's testable compounds. Even then, he said the EPA would weigh possible health effects of antibiotics in drinking water and the effectiveness of procedures that could remove them before establishing a widespread testing or regulation program. Tlmes-News staff writer Matt Christensen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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