Drugs Pollute Drinking Water: Will Big Pharma be Held Accountable?

Communities all over America are taking another look at the rising tendency for pharmaceutical pollutants to be lingering in their public drinking water. Recent studies have sounded the alarm, and now new research is indicating the problem is worse than originally thought.

This issue raises several key questions. First, how will authorities deal with these toxins? The first line, which we are already hearing, is that levels of these drugs are too low to have any negative effects, which is simply denial of reality. There is not enough known at this point to dismiss the consequences of these drugs. Secondly, will this problem open the door for justifying more chemical additives in public drinking water to combat these toxins? What these additives would be, I have no idea. However, I never underestimate the industrial-chemical-governmental complex.

The big question here is this: If pharmaceutical companies manufacture and distribute these hazardous chemicals, should they not be responsible for cleaning them up? If an industrial chemical is found to have polluted a community, the company who makes it is liable for clean up. With the mass sales of drugs causing their products to show up in drinking water, I see no reason why pharmaceutical firms should not be held to the same standard. If such action will ever occur remains to be seen, but it seems to me that Big Pharma has a legal, moral, and ethical responsibility to be accountable for this issue.


AP Enterprise: Drugs affect more drinking water
By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer
Fri Sep 12, 4:26 AM ET

Testing prompted by an Associated Press story that revealed trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies has shown that more Americans are affected by the problem than previously thought -- at least 46 million.

That's up from 41 million people reported by the AP in March as part of an investigation into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the nation's waterways.

The AP stories prompted federal and local legislative hearings, brought about calls for mandatory testing and disclosure, and led officials in at least 27 additional metropolitan areas to analyze their drinking water. Positive tests were reported in 17 cases, including Reno, Nev., Savannah, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville, Ala. Results are pending in three others.

The test results, added to data from communities and water utilities that bowed to pressure to disclose earlier test results, produce the new total of Americans known to be exposed to drug-contaminated drinking water supplies.

The overwhelming majority of U.S. cities have not tested drinking water while eight cities -- including Boston, Phoenix and Seattle -- were relieved that tests showed no detections.

"We didn't think we'd find anything because our water comes from a pristine source, but after the AP stories we wanted to make sure and reassure our customers," said Andy Ryan, spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities.

The substances detected in the latest tests mirrored those cited in the earlier AP report.

Chicago, for example, found a cholesterol medication and a nicotine derivative. Many cities found the anti-convulsant carbamazepine. Officials in one of those communities, Colorado Springs, say they detected five pharmaceuticals in all, including a tranquilizer and a hormone.

"This is obviously an emerging issue and after the AP stories came out we felt it was the responsible thing for us to do, as a utility, to find out where we stand. We believe that at these levels, based on current science, that the water is completely safe for our customers," said Colorado Springs spokesman Steve Berry. "We don't want to create unnecessary alarm, but at the same time we have a responsibility as a municipal utility to communicate with our customers and let them know."

Fargo's water director, Bruce Grubb, said the concentrations of three drugs detected there were so incredibly minute -- parts per trillion -- that he sent them to the local health officer to figure out how to interpret the information for the community.

"We plan to put this into some kind of context other than just scientific nomenclature, so folks can get some level of understanding about what it means," said Grubb.

The drug residues detected in water supplies are generally flushed into sewers and waterways through human excretion. Many of the pharmaceuticals are known to slip through sewage and drinking water treatment plants.

While the comprehensive risks are still unclear, researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild and impair the workings of human cells in the laboratory.

And while the new survey expands the known extent of the problem, the overwhelming majority of U.S. communities have yet to test, including the single largest water provider in the country, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.

In April, New York City council members insisted during an emergency hearing that their drinking water be tested. But DEP officials subsequently declared that "the testing of finished tap water is not warranted at this time."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_testing_update&printer=1;_ylt=Al9J2z._PoC5PBaQW1mO05pH2ocA