AP: Drugs in your drinking water

We take it for granted, mostly, that the water that comes into our homes is safe to consume. Sure, we may run the tap for 30 seconds or so to clear out rusty sediment or traces of lead, and every once in a while there's an E. coli scare. Many of us, too, filter the water, either at the tap or in a container for the fridge.

But now there's something new to worry about. After an in-depth, five-month investigation, the Associated Press is reporting that the supply of drinking water in many U.S. metropolitan areas--accessible to at least 41 million Americans--might be a cocktail of pharmaceuticals. Trace elements of the drugs, to be sure, but scientists say that there may nonetheless be reason to worry about the long-term effect on individuals and whole communities. Depending on where the tests were done, the substances found in the drinking water included antianxiety medications, pain killers, antibiotics, and even a sex hormone.

Read more from the AP: "AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water"

[Leria]

Is anyone really surprised by this? A few years ago, they were stating that most residential water supplies tested positive for birth control medications.... I think that the problem is that the dosages of the drugs that we are giving people are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too high, and that their bodies are naturally excreting the stuff that they don't need.

[Andy kaufman]

Not surprised. The human body does not absorb all drugs and passes out some of the drugs through urine. That is why there are drug testing kits that test urine. What we need is a new infrastructure that can filter out drugs in recycled urine that gets turned into drinking water.<br /><br />Illicit drugs are in drinking water as well. Some people get high for free just by drinking public water.

[c|net Reader]

People expect to be able to control every little anomaly in their body today. Want sex but no kids? Birth control pills. Body falling apart due to age? Take a drug cocktail to stave off the grim reaper. Sniffles and a cough due to illness? Mask the symptoms and go to work anyway, never mind the effect on others. Body aches because you're not a kid anymore? Mask the pain with acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Have a viral infection? Demand antibiotics from your doctor despite their having no effect on the virus. Can't get it up? Take an ED pill. Is it any wonder the water supply is tainted?

[jjanaglypta]

Drugs are absorbed and most are changed in the liver to water soluble forms so that they can be excreted in the urine. Some drugs are excreted directly but all are first absorbed into the blood stream. That's where urine comes from, blood.<br /><br />Has anyone considered the huge amounts of radio isotopes used in cardiology and of course excreted? Other radioactive materials are used in scans of brains and bones and thyroid and more. Some of these are detected by airport security. Do you want to sit next to one of these patients?<br /><br />Nuclear medicine freaks will say that the half life is so short that there is no risk to the public. Is that so? Some of these materials have extremely long half lives.<br /><br />Half life is not the point. Do you not have a right not to be exposed to the consequences of someone else's decision, to accept radioactive medical tests?<br /><br />Do we not have the right not to drink this radioactive refuse?