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. And Michael Moore says the heath care system in America is broken?The concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, exceptionally far below the levels of a medical dose. Utility companies insist their water is safe, but the presence of so many prescription drugs as well as 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.
Over a five month inquiry (likely underwritten by the bottled water companies), drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas nationwide. Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed. 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. Like they are now?
The biggest question is how the drugs get into the water. Well, it's simple. And disgusting. People take pills, and while their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. This wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes, but some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers - and most treatments do not remove all drug residue.
Again, your drug infused piss and shit goes through the waterworks for processing, and some of the water it marinaded gets redirected back at your faucet.
Here are some of the key test results:
- 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. (again, the City of Brotherly
- Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California. (anti-anxiety meds in So. Cal? Xanex was almost marketed as Californicalm)
- 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. (this was not their fault - clearly it's the New Yorkers dumping on Jersey, as usual)
- A sex hormone was detected in San Francisco's drinking water. (okay, this we knew)
- The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals. (truth serum was not one of them)
- Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, AZ. (yes, treatment for the thousands of UA and ASU students with venereal diseases from spring breaking at Lake Havisu).
And if you're wondering, 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. Also, some providers screen only for one or two pharmaceuticals, leaving open the possibility that others are present.
The 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, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28.
In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers said pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but 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. And I believe that indicates the recovery efforts are working there.
Oh, and users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Some bottlers simply repackage tap water, and do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals - and this comes directly from the industry's main trade group. And the same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.
Fortunately, 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, and studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the North Sea. But over the past five years, the number of U.S. prescriptions rose 12% to a record 3.7 billion, while nonprescription drug purchases held steady around 3.3 billion. Oh yeah, U.S.A. going for #1!
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. And now there's evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic.
We. Are. Fucked.
But hey, it's not all our fault! 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.
I guess we're going to have to drink more alcohol. And besides, Bud Light is almost water anyway.
Listen to Dave Matthews Band when he says "Don't Drink the Water".
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