I came across a disturbing article published on the AARP website that I believe everyone should take the time to read. It has to do with what is in our drinking water and the bottom line it this – It isn’t good.
A report in the AARP Bulletin explains that millions of Americans are drinking water, straight from their taps, that is laced with drugs, including antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, and hormones. These drugs are present in our water supply because of the way we dispose of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Ten years ago it was estimated that more than $1 billion worth of medicines were discarded. Today medication purchases have exploded by an astounding 72 percent! According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average American takes more than 12 different prescription medications each year.
“A March 2008 investigation by the Associated Press found trace amounts of drugs in the water supply of 24 major metropolitan areas, meaning at least 41 million Americans have tiny levels of drugs in their drinking water,” AARP reports. “The EPA has identified more than 100 individual pharmaceuticals and personal care products in drinking water.”
And why should we be surprised that our drinking water is infested with a variety of prescription and over-the-counter medications? For decades we have been told to flush unused prescription and expired over-the-counter medications down the drain. Now we are faced with the very real problem of contaminated drinking water.
Of course, big Pharma insists the drug levels in our drinking water is insignificant. Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America’s Alan Goldhammer dismisses it like this: “…one part per trillion is about one second in 32,000 years or one penny in $10 billion.”
But, scientists are already witnessing the effects of this contamination in fish from the Chesapeake Bay. Some of the fish examined from this body of water have abnormal male and female characteristics that scientists have linked to the active ingredient in birth control patches and injections.
Bottom line, if drug contamination is affecting fish then the water we draft from these bodies of water to use as drinking water, regardless of how it’s treated before we drink it, is suspect, to say the least!
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