Drugs such as anti-depressants, painkillers, and sedatives cannot be fully filtered out of our water system, so as a result, many large cities have found that their drinking water contains trace amounts of these drugs.
Roughly 100 pharmaceuticals have now been identified in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters throughout Europe and the United States in concentrations of parts per billion to parts per trillion. The first major European studies on this topic–in journals such as volume 67, issue 1-4 (1997) of the International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry and the November 1998 issue of Water Research–examined German ground and surfaces waters, and found occurrences of drugs including cholesterol regulators, analgesics, and antiseizure medications. Since that time, numerous other studies have documented the presence of pharmaceuticals, including potential endocrine disruptors, in other locales as well.
Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation.
Also, pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females. Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the pyramid of life — such as earth worms in the wild and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.
And while drugs are tested to be safe for humans, the timeframe is usually over a matter of months, not a lifetime. Pharmaceuticals also can produce side effects and interact with other drugs at normal medical doses. That’s why — aside from therapeutic doses of fluoride injected into potable water supplies — pharmaceuticals are prescribed to people who need them, not delivered to everyone in their drinking water.
