http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/...harmawater_i_8
Man!
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Why is this a shocking surprise? What do they think happens to old drugs?
I have three BIG bottles of neomycin I don't take anymore.
If I flush them, there you go!
This is measured in parts per billion so it's minute.
Zen, if I grow chest hair I know who to blame, lol. ;)
I never flush drugs down the toilet. I would never have thought of that. But even if you put them in the trash and eventually the landfill, wouldn't they leach into ground water at some point?
Karen
Aren't you supposed to bring them back to the pharmacy?
Then again what do they do?
Recommendation for disposal--
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/...07/022007.html
Efficacy and safety beyond the expiration date--
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460159
Its not just disposal of unused drugs. It also comes from the fact that we urinate out much of the drugs and metabolites of the drugs we takes as well, and that ends up contimainating the water supply. In fact I think this is the major source.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Triskeliongirl
And I find this of greater concern...hmmm, what's worse...I'm drinking trace amounts of prescription drugs or trace amounts of P!$$:eek:
According to the late Dale Lott, Professor Emeritus of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at the University of California, Davis, and the beloved neighbor of Bubba and SadieKate:
Bacterial digestion of plant materials is a common process with a common name -- fermentation. And although bacteria are simple as life forms go, their chemistry is complex, and fermentation produces a complex outcome. They not only change cellulose to usable carbohydrates but also produce volatile fatty acids. Both are concentrated energy in a form bison can use. They are gas from grass that makes the animal's heart beat and its feet move. Like all living things, these fermentation bacteria have waste products, which include alcohol. It's a sobering fact that 12 or 13 percent of a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne is bacteria pee.
Ah, I miss Dale.
Remember, biological wastes do go through sewage treatment plants before the water is returned to our water supplies (reservoirs, lakes, etc). However, it appears that while this removes all the gross stuff you associate with human waste, the drugs are very small molecules often not removed, or removed completely, by normal sewage treaments.
There are just some things that are not worth worrying about.
I work for the water company here in south central CT. This is what we were emailed yesterday in response to these findings:
• Discharges from waste water treatment plants into surface water sources in Connecticut used for public water supplies are prohibited.
• Our utility and other utilities in Connecticut rely upon this discharge prohibition in a multi-barrier approach of providing high quality water to our consumers. The discharge prohibition is part of one barrier that we refer to as source water protection.
• Our source water protection effort strives to keep our surface water and ground water sources as clean as possible by a variety of activities including open space land protection, watershed inspections, hazardous spill responses on the road, review of new developments, household hazardous waste collections, education, and support of regulations to keep public water supplies clean.
• RWA completes water testing mandated by the USEPA and CTDPH. Each year, we publish a water quality report that describes the quality of the water we provide to our district.
• We do not test water for compounds described in the American Water Works Association Research Foundation ( AWWARF) report which provided the background information for the series of articles written by the Associated Press. The public water supply utilities participating in the AWWARF report were selected to determine how their surface water sources might be affected by discharges from waste water treatment plants, which are typical sources of the compounds discussed in the report.
• The required list of compounds that we do test for is expanding over time as more information becomes available about the potential health effects of exposure to various compounds.
• Today's advanced technology has allowed scientists to detect more substances -- at lower levels -- than ever before. To date, however, research throughout the world has not demonstrated an impact on human health from pharmaceuticals in drinking water at the trace levels at which they have been found.
• We urge all water consumers to dispose of unused medicines properly. The medicines should not be flushed down the toilet or sink. Consumers should check with local health departments for information about the proper disposal of medications.