Drugs in Drinking Water-How Much Is Safe?
Some scientist have a growing concern about the unintended consequences of medications / drugs being flushed into our water systems while other scientist believe these minute particles to have no consequence. While one may have a concern, only good science can provide good answers. Should the problem of drugs in our municipal waters be addressed regarding safety? What does our government have to say about how it is protecting us? What do they know that we don’t?
Water safety is defined and determined by federal, state, and local regulations. The main federal law that ensures the quality of Americans’ drinking water is the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Under SDWA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards for drinking water quality and oversees the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards.
CDC promotes effective public health practices, such as community water fluoridation. While it is not CDC’s responsibility to determine what levels of fluoride in water are safe, our understanding about the safety of fluoridation is guided by federal regulations, comprehensive reviews conducted by expert panels, and individual studies.” Source: CDC website
(Some citizens don’t believe it is a good public health practice to add fluoride to the community water. Once implemented, floridation isn’t easy to filter out and thee choice not to use it is removed.)
Pharmaceuticals have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, according to an Associated Press after an investigation of five months. The team visited treatment plants, interviewed over 200 scientist, officials and academics, reviewed federal databases and hundreds of scientific reports. The writers for the Associated Press Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza and Justin Pritchard named antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones of as present in measured quantities of parts per billion or trillion which is far below the levels of a medical dose.
The authors state these prescriptions and many over-the-counter medicines cause heightened worries among scientist regarding long term consequences to human health. Full review of the article shows that some scientists are not concerned, but nonetheless, endeavors will be taken to evaluate the concern.
The expected process of consumption and elimination to the eventual treated waste discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes is noted by the authors. Benjamin H. Grumbles from the US Environmental Protection Agency states they recognize the growing concern and are looking into it. The EPA, claims this article, says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.
Important to note, the federal government doesn’t require any testing and hasn’t set safety limits for drugs in water. The information collected by water providers regarding pharmaceutical screenings, when pressed, don’t know what the test results mean. Still, there is growing concern that most treatments do not remove all drug residue. Even rural areas that draw from their own wells may have issues.
“Based on what we now know, we would say we find there’s little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to human health,” said microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America.
Some scientist stress that research on the subject of drugs in our municipalities is extremely limited with too many unknowns. Many independent scientists are skeptical that trace concentrations will ultimately prove to be harmful to humans. Still, there are those concerned with the idea that a one time dose may be able to be shrugged off, but a continuous smaller amount delivered over half a century may stir up other consequences.
The ultimate question that needs to be answered is how much is too much? What is the half-life of these substances? Are they as dangerous as the pesticides that are polluting our rivers and lakes? While testing has been done for the safe and therapeutic levels of medications, why should a miniscule, almost essence in comparison amount be troublesome? Let’s hope this issue is addressed with good science rather than the hysteria.
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