Flush it one day, drink it the next?
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Lindsay Wertenberger
Flushing a few pills may be a convenient way to dispose of some extra prescription drugs, but those chemicals most likely end up right back in the bathroom sink. Now that the Associated Press report revealing pharmaceutical contamination in drinking water has been out for a number of weeks, communities are beginning to react to the notion that their drinking water may not be as pure as they once thought.
In early March, the Associated Press released a report detailing the results of a five-month-long investigation of drinking water in a number of American metropolitan areas. The report found trace amounts of prescription drugs in the drinking water of 24 cities, affecting over 41 million people. Among the drugs found were anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, sex hormones and antibiotics.
The U.S. government does not require that water be tested for any pharmaceuticals. However, these drugs easily make their way into the drinking water. To start, people often flush unused pills. Though this may prevent anyone else from taking them, the flushed water eventually ends up back in the water supply. Before raw sewage is discharged, it is typically filtered for certain contaminants. Water is usually purified again before it becomes drinking water, typically treated with chlorine to kill most germs and often fluoridated for dental health. These processes remove bacteria, fecal matter, certain chemicals and other contaminants. Though not perfect, treating water removes enough contaminants to keep them at low enough levels to not cause any problems. The AP reports that according to the EPA, no sewage treatment is designed specifically to remove pharmaceuticals.
Keeping people from flushing the pills to begin with is not easy, however. According to an article posted on environmental group Potomac Riverkeeper's site, prescription drug "take-back" programs are unfeasible because of federal laws regarding the transfer of prescriptions to parties other than the prescription-holder. People are encouraged to wrap up and throw away old pill bottles surrounded by a substance such as used cat litter that would discourage anyone from going through the garbage for them.
The pill problem is not likely to go away soon-the AP report states that U.S. prescriptions over the past five years have increased 12 percent to 3.7 billion prescriptions.
Animals are other potential sources of drugs-both the medicines given to pets and the hormones and antibiotics pumped into cattle at the feedlot.
Stopping consumers from flushing old pills can help reduce the amount of medication in the water supply, but some contributors cannot be prevented. For example, medications are not entirely absorbed by the body and certain amounts are excreted through urine and eventually flushed into the water supply. CNN has reported studies of a certain bacteria being used to break down estrogen in the water supply, but programs to use these bacteria are not in place and would not remove other drugs.
These trace amounts of medication might still have an impact on health. The AP report cites recent studies showing how even small amounts of medication affect human cells-affected embryonic kidney cells grew too slowly, breast cancer cells grew at a faster rate and blood cells appeared inflamed. These findings, however, are not unexpected in the face of past evidence. In the fall of 2006 the House Government Reform Committee cited the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failure to take action regarding the changes in smallmouth and largemouth bass. In 2003, "intersex" fish were found in the Potomac River Basin. These fish are so called because they bear some traits of the opposite sex; in this case the male bass fish were beginning to develop eggs. This discovery signaled a high presence of estrogen and other chemicals in the water, possibly from birth control pills or hormone replacement drugs.
Dr. George Corcoran, the president of the Society of Toxicology reported to the AP that with the greater publicity and urgency spurred by the AP's investigations, testing for these drugs becomes increasingly important.
"The AP [report] has really put the spotlight on it, and it is going to lead to a pickup in the pace," he said. "People are going to start putting money into studying this now, instead of a few years from now, and we'll get the answers sooner than we would have otherwise."
Wertenberger is a Government junior.