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Are There Prescription Drugs In Drinking Water In Philadelphia?
Andre Sylvester
Let me tell you a quick story about prescription drugs in drinking
water. This topic is a growing concern across the nation, and bears
careful consideration on everyone’s part.
In an investigative report by the AP, surveys and test data for water supplies in over 50 cities were reviewed.
In the city of Philadelphia, the report showed 56 different drugs were found. Among the major items found were the painkiller acetominophen, antibiotics amoxicillin, azithromycin and tetracycline, as well as carbamazepine, diclofenac, and prednisone.
For your information, the Philadelphia Water Department oversees water quality and supplies water to the city.
The watersheds that the city relies on are the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River. Philadelphia has a treatment plant on each river that disinfects and treats the incoming river water prior to distributing it to city neighborhoods.
Based on reaction to this report, the Philadelphia City Council asked for more information about why such a large number of prescription drugs in drinking water were found in the Philadelphia supplies.
The commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Deaprtment stated that more advanced techniques were used in sampling local water supplies, thus it was not surprising that more substances were able to be detected.
Even with this observation, there are other reasons to be concerned.
The Environmental Protection Agency currently does not have standards in place for restricting the number and amount of prescription drugs in drinking water. The EPA also does not know what the long term effects of even small concentrations of these medications in the water supply could have on consumers.
Additional information from Clean Water Action, a national environmental organization, points out that fish in the Allegheny River have been altered by exposure to hormones. This is another reason why government agencies should take the problem seriously.
It should also be noted that a major contributor to the increase in drugs in the drinking water is due to increased use of medications, combined with improper disposal of unused medications. The end result is the same: drugs enter the water supply after passing through wastewater treatment systems and back into lakes and rivers.
Do yourself a favor, and take action on this information. The best action you can take is to put in a drinking water filter system in your home. The best systems can filter out chemical contaminants, remove metals and organic chemicals, and remove unwanted medications. Do your research and find the system that works best for you!
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Andre J. Sylvester is dedicated to researching the best methods for water purification. Visit his site at http://www.best-safe-water-purifier.com/ to find out what products he recommends based on his research.
This news arrived on: 08/11/2008
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Posted Comments:
08-18-2008 08:39
one who cares wrote:
water supply
I'm sure glad that there is someone out there that can let us common folk, meaning doesn't know, due to the fact that government doesn't want us to know about things like this and gets really stirred up and tries to cover up and as long as there is only a minority that revels it to the public,then it doesn't carry any merit and gets pushed by the way side and hopes people will just blow it off and chalk it up to paranoia!!!! Thanks for the insight and I'll do my part and stop putting out dated medicine down the toilet.
08-17-2008 19:09
JMC wrote:
contaminaton from disposing unused meds inapropriately
We are a nation who has taken almost everything matter-of-factly; even the disposure of unsafe drugs. We have systematically destroyed our natural environments by disseminating chemical wastes, both in remote landfills and in our waterways. We have hormones in our food to satisfy a market that cannot wait till the cattle, sheep or chickens can get to the required size to make money. The thing I feared most was the contamination of our drinking water. Now that that has now been documented, what are the people in our government,whom we pay to protect us and the land we live in, going to do now?
To ME, who thinks this is a scare tactic to sell filters, "Wake up and smell the coffee! We have a factual and real problem with persons who do not give a D*&%#"about whether this planet dies, along with the people who live on it. This is selfish and inconsiderate of those of us who want to survive and an affront to our Maker Who has given us this great and wonderful planet to enjoy"
To ME, who thinks this is a scare tactic to sell filters, "Wake up and smell the coffee! We have a factual and real problem with persons who do not give a D*&%#"about whether this planet dies, along with the people who live on it. This is selfish and inconsiderate of those of us who want to survive and an affront to our Maker Who has given us this great and wonderful planet to enjoy"
08-17-2008 17:14
ME wrote:
I think this is just an ad for water purifiers
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