Birth Control in the Water
March 22, 2008 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
I just read this crazy article on CNN.com about how all our medicines are in the public water supply. I guess we pee them out and then drink them again. Could this explain the increase in infertility and even precocious puberty? Inadvertant drinking of birth control and hormone treatments? And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife, states the article.The federal government doesn’t require any testing and hasn’t set safety limits for drugs in water.
Rural consumers who draw water from their own wells aren’t in the clear either, experts say.
Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don’t necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry’s main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.
Contamination is not confined to the United States. More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world. Studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the North Sea.One part of me says, How is this different than it’s always been? Where’s the news? What we put in our bodies comes out and gets recycled into the water. Natural.The article also answers this – we’re taking more meds and more meds are being invented. Side effects unknown. Over the past five years, the number of U.S. drug prescriptions rose 12 percent to a record 3.7 billion, the article explains. That can’t be good can it?Or maybe it’s just the creation of just another useless worry over which I have limited control. Looking for another neurosis anyone?
I saw this on GMA and was very disturbed!! They mentioned that male fish are growing female genitalia, so yes I think it’s affecting our girls.
I use a Brita filter, but they also said it’s inaffective for filtering out prescription drugs. You need a reverse osmosis device that costs several hundred dollars. Wonderful news.
I believe it. And, whats more important than having good, clean water? I guess we may have to resort to boiling our bottled water if this keeps up. And I even worry about filtering our bathtub water too. What if all that crap can just soak through our skins in the shower too?
I lived in Germany for a while when I was 18. It was really amazing how little Rx medicine they take over there, most people I came across use herbal remedies and vitamins for most colds and headaches and stuff – also interesting: they don’t seems to be as sickly, as overweight, or as ‘allergic’ as us…
The lengths our pharmaceutical companies are being allowed to go are sickening to me. I have to wonder why a prescription drug (you know, the ones that only a doctor can decide is right or wrong for us) is being marketed to the general public in suggestive tv ads.. Why is that? Isn’t that encouraging a reversal of the prescription process? Isn’t that exploiting, manipulating, and ultimately hurting us?.. And the medical profession? Shouldn’t prescription drugs only be marketed to actual medical professionals who have the authority and the knowledge to decide if the marketing campaign is actually telling the truth and if THIS drug is good for THIS person? I mean, it’s really sick to me and I strongly believe it’s making us sick literally..Every drug has a side effect, even drugs the general public considers ‘light’ or ‘low-dose’ or whatever.
Tracee – I can totally get behind your infertility/early puberty – drugs in the water theory. It makes sense.
Tarah I doubt boiling gets rid of pharmacueticals. Cities have water treatment plants and that’s not getting rid of them.
Boiling kills parasites and bacteria, I wonder if it has any effect on drugs. The article suggested the only solution is the reverse osmosis very expensive one.
I know I always try to use natural remedies whenever possible. I go a lot by Dr. Andrew Weil, the alternative medical guru as I call him. I know he suggests a distiller D-3 for water but that is about $2,000.00 dollars..yikes! BUT then again, clean water is well worth $2,000.00. Of course I don’t know if that woud get rid of all the pharmacueticals now. Doctors prescribe SO many and to only one person.
would..oops
With the black market boom of pain killers the current advice is to flush unused prescriptions..
I have a question though – why would well water or spring water be contaminated at the same level?
I don’t just believe this, I studied this in my master’s thesis. My supervisor at the time is one of the most famous for studying the levels of pharmaceuticals, including estrogenic compounds such as birth control, in surface and drinking waters. After finishing my work I have become convinced that large corporations are entirely aware of the impacts of the chemicals they have created, and all government officials know that the Great Lakes and other freshwater resources in Canada and the United States are sooo polluted that increased Cancer rates have been directly linked to the poor water quality and high level of contaminants, however they just don’t care. As usual, money is more important. LEts face it, however, if you lived in a town, city or state where more than half of the jobs were supplied by the pharmaceutical industry (like New Jersey, for instance) than wouldn’t you weigh the importance of supper on the table to the chance of getting breast cancer later in life? As an environmental molecular biologist and chemist I wish there was an easy solution to these problems, but as it usually goes, Industry has everyone by the short and curlies.
In response to Ashley’s comment, there are pharmaceuticals that we give to livestock – these animals often get sick living in small spaces and having been bread so often without any genetic variability they are weak and susceptible to disease. Then, when these animals poo onto the land, their feces contain undigested and partially metabolized pharmaceuticals which then runoff into streams or into groundwater reservoirs. Agriculture is the most common reason we find these drugs in spring and groundwater sources, but sometimes the routes can be more complex. This is another reason to insist upon Organic, free-range food.
The article says things labeled and marketed with “Organic” are watering with the same water supply as other products and that it’s not usually tested. Where would they get cleaner water? Unless they are performing reverse osmosis, which would be highly expensive?
Ashley the trace prescriptions have been found in the aquifers and underground sources like rural wells – I guess if you dump contaminated water on the ground it leaks down to the aquifers.
The article does point out – this could be no problem. Is it possible that we’re all just metabolizing these trace amounts and it’s having no negative effect?
I see..It’s just so alarming.
I watched a thing on pbs (I’m such a dork) Friday night about Phlalates (sp?) in our soft plastics – such as toys – for toddlers. Basically, there is a way to make safe plastics w/out phlalates, and it is mandated in Europe because they operate on a principle: if it might or probably will hurt us – outlaw it.. On the other hand, our lawmakers operate on the principle: wait until it has hurt a whole generation so that we might document the effects – then outlaw it..
Really scary stuff. I’m skeptical of the pharmeceutical industry and their connections with our lawmakers. I have to wonder why OUR lawmakers like to see bad things happen, then act rather than preventing these bad things in the first place.
Back to the water though – I know that in most scenarios nature can correct itself if we leave it alone..but how do we stop contaminating the water? What things need to happen?
Also, Denina, I just clicked on your name and can I just say WOW! You are really accomplished and I love to see women excel in science – that’s so awesome.
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I’m freaked out by the whole thing. It may not be enough, but I buy organic/hormone free food when I can. Only when we demand it and show we are willing to pay for it, will these products become standard.
I have hormonal imbalances, and after I heard the theory that phthalates might be part of the problem, I started replacing plastic in my home, mostly my kitchen. You know what? It’s everywhere. Household items, furniture, water bottles, utensils, non-stick pans.
Creepiest are teething rings and other toys children put in their mouths. Pthalates have been linked to small or malformed genitalia in boys. California just outlawed them in toys though, so I hope other states will follow suit soon.
I know it may not be about pharmacueticals, but this morning I read that southern Colorado is reporting salmonella in their tap water and so far over 200 cases have appeared and over 8,000 people can not drink their water till it’s clear. They are running chlorine through it or something to TRY and fix it…scary..
The funny thing about the phlalates thing is that they could easily require manufacturers to label their products “contains phlalates” or “phlalate free” just to get the ball rolling and let the customers decide – but besides California, it doesn’t even seem to be a blip on the public’s radar. I had never heard of it before..
I too think the way we’re doing it backwards.
Companies should have to prove something is safe before they are allowed to mass produce it.
It seems self-defeating to allow anything until you discover an entire generation of girls has matured too quickly or the fish you eat are growing two heads.
I’m sure it’s great for the companies’ bottom line. But, it’s short-sighted economics.
Still I can’t help but feel organic labels and hormone free labels are a marketing ploy. I could be wrong, but it hurts to shell out more money knowing they are largely unregulated.