AP is reporting that traces of pharmaceuticals are present in the water supplies of at least 24 large American cities. The drugs include antibiotics, anti-convulsants, anti-depressants, heart medicine, and more.The amounts are in the parts per billion, or even trillion, far below a medical dose. Nevertheless, it's somewhat unnerving to think that we're potentially filling our bodies with other folks' medicine when we have a drink of water.
How do the pharmaceuticals get there? When people take drugs, some of it is absorbed in the body, but a great deal is pissed out. The water treatment process doesn't remove them, so they pass into lakes, streams, etc. From there, it gets back into the water supply.
The government doesn't require testing for drugs in the water supply, and only 28 of the 62 largest water suppliers test for drugs voluntarily. But, of those 28, 24 tested positive for drugs. You do the math.
Philadelphia discovered 56 different pharmaceuticals in their water supply. The water supply for 18.5 million southern Californians was discovered to be tainted with anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medicines. In northern New Jersey, you'll be drinking angina medicine, along with a dose of the mood stabilizer carbamazepine. And, in San Francisco, you'll get a dose of sex hormones with your H2O. How appropriate. That explains a lot.
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