Okay, folks, anyone who has been following this blog is familiar with my Health Alerts that warn the public about safety and health concerns that exist in our environment today. If you would like to check them out, just click on Health Alerts in our archive section. You will be amazed at the volume of warnings that exist today. This one pretty much takes the cake though. This time you have to worry about antidepressants, birth control pills, pain killers or just about any other drug that gets flushed down the toilet showing up in our drinking water. It seems that our water supply systems are not designed to filter out the myriad assortment of drugs that people mindlessly dispose of when they are out of date or don’t need anymore. I guess this could also include mind altering drugs for which illicit users are known to flush at the first sign of trouble. So, how is it that we are finding drugs in our water supply and what should you do about it?

From an article on alternet.org, the EPA is finding inter-sex fish in the Potomac River and frog mutations in Wisconsin. So, with these alarming new findings, they are beginning to suspect pharmaceutical contaminations in America’s water supply. Since the cumulative effect of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products in the water on humans isn’t known yet, the EPA is taking preventative measures anyway. One thing they do know though is that pharmaceuticals have already been linked to behavioral and sexual mutations in fish, amphibians and birds according to the EPA studies. In testing drinking water and in U.S. rivers, lakes and streams, their newer and better sensors have revealed trace amounts of drugs like narcotics, birth control, antidepressants and other controlled substances.

With Americans taking more drugs than ever, especially the aging baby boomers, it was found that in 80 percent of samples taken during a U.S. Geological Survey and EPA study of 139 streams in 30 states, pharmaceuticals were found. And, what is worse is that America’s wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove pharmaceuticals and persona care products from its water.

The biggest alarm about this situation is that a 1999 (EPA and German) study of pharmaceutical and other personal-care products concluded that

the “undetectable effects on aquatic organisms are particularly worrisome because effects could accumulate so slowly that major change goes undetected until the cumulative level of these effects finally cascades to irreversible change — change that would otherwise be attributed to natural adaptation or ecologic succession.”

And, here we go again…federal officials are concerned with the effects of pharmaceutical compounds found in water known as endocrine disruptors which include possible links to neurological problems in children (autism?) and increased incidence of some cancers. Concern was heightened when federal officials investigating a wide range of fish health found problems in Cheasapeake Bay and its watershed. Several of the studies of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers have revealed fish with a wide range of abnormalities in which both male and female sexual characteristics were present within the same fish.

According to a 2006 summary of these various studies and other studies, the abnormalities were suspected to be from “previously banned compounds, such as DDT and chlordane, natural and anthropogenic hormones, herbicides, fungicides, industrial compounds and an emerging group of compounds that may act as endocrine disruptors”.

Federal officials are also investigating whether there is a link between the increased cancer rates and river water and discharged water containing pharmaceuticals. This is a big concern for residents of metro Washington, D.C. because the Potomac River is the main source of drinking water for 3.6 million residents, including the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

What this means to the consumer is that we have to be more cautious about what we do with our outdated or unused drugs. If your community offers pharmaceutical waste programs, take part in it. Hospitals and clinics have followed very rigorous procedures in handling medical waste for years. Now is the time for all Americans to also fully understand that their mindless habits of flushing old drugs down the toilet has to stop. So, be aware and dispose of your unwanted pharmaceuticals in the proper way. Find out what is available in your community and do the right thing.

If you’re concerned about your drinking water, I recommend that you purchase purified drinking water. I buy reverse osmosis water at Whole Foods. This is the only way I can be assured that I am drinking water that is really 100% pure. It costs more but my peace of mind and health is certainly worth it.