Prescription Drugs In Drinking Water

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, Michigan, to Louisville, Kentucky.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1.ap/index.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88062858

I almost hesitate to have relayed this information. One more scare-story isn’t exactly what I’m into… but for some reason this story struck me as something that should be spread some… it seems like something people ought to have in the back of their head and if enough people asked about it, perhaps it wouldn’t get swept under the rug so easily. perhaps.

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