When I heard the news that there were trace amounts of prescription drugs in the drinking water, I was very alarmed. No sooner than I stop purchasing bottled water because it’s costly and has recently been under fire for its supposed negative environmental effects, than I find out that I’m being drugged though my water supply.
While it only took a little deeper reading to
realize that these drugs in the water supply are a result of people taking pills, part of which is absorbed into the system the rest is rejected as waist, this knowledge is little consolation.
The probe, conducted by the Associated Press found that the populations of two dozen US cities are ingesting “minute concentrations” of pharmaceuticals – antibiotics, mood stabilizers, sex hormones, anti-convulsants and more – through their drinking water. You can check out the water cycle as it relates to this issue here. Possibly most concerning of all is that the government does not regulate the presence of pharmaceuticals in municipal drinking water.
However before there is mass panic, there needs to be some effort on the part of the government and pharmaceutical companies, to inform the public regarding what the information means. How will these trace amounts of drugs affect our health over the long run? What will be done to reduce contamination? Why weren’t preventative measures taken to avoid such contamination before? How can consumers be sure that the water they drink is safe?
These are just some of the questions that consumers across the US will be wanting the answers to. My only concern is that these and other questions will be ignored ad the issue swept under the rug; forgotten in a smoke screen of pop-culture and entertainment news.
Photo: AP photo obtained from CNN
Posted by: Melonie (Workerette) | March 17, 2008 11:21 AM | Permalink to Comment