U.S. expands efforts to regulate meds in water

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health.

A burst of significant announcements in recent weeks reflects an expanded government effort to deal with pharmaceuticals as environmental pollutants:

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed some pharmaceuticals as candidates for regulation in drinking water. The agency also has launched a survey to check for scores of drugs at water treatment plants across the nation.

The Food and Drug Administration has updated its list of waste drugs that should be flushed down the toilet, but the agency has also declared a goal of working toward the return of all unused medicines.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34528649/ns/health-more_health_news/

[ck4829]

1. So... We block drugs coming from Canada, but we're having trouble regulating the drugs in our water?

Do I have that right?

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Of course the question I have is, how much is coming from people flushing meds....

....and how much of it is the result of medications that are excreted by actual use?

In short, is the problem really someone saying "Fuck it! I am going to flush this bottle of Prozac!" or is the problem that 10,000 people using the water supply are taking Prozac and having to piss on a regular basis?

[skoalyman]

3. both probably

:scared:

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Oh, I have no doubt my urine rivals CVS Pharmacy for drug content.

I contribute to the problem.

I wonder how they can fix the problem. There really isn't a good way to take medications orally, have enough bio-availability to be clinically successful, and not have a good part of it going down the toilet.

[Igel]

5. Fortunately, not this problem.

In this case they're not concerned with blaming the victim--in this case, the polluter. They're concerned with drinking water, which means municipal water systems.

Of course, the problems are related. No polluter, no problem. But whereas if the problem were high levels of benzene they'd go after the big polluter; if the problem was a lot of urea, they'd go after fertilizers; but since it's a lot of people and going after the drug companies just won't work (at some point even the EPA wonks would have to take into account the realities of pharmacokinetics) they'll go after municipal utilities.

That way we all pay for our health, even if the "E" in EPA is altered a bit.

Even if they weren't just concerned about drinking water, they'd go after sewage treatment plants. It's a bitch of a problem--so many drugs to go after with so many divergent properties. But focusing on drinking water purification is easier--much of the mass of drugs would be ignored, and you'd only have to go for really low levels for water that was used for drinking. Well, and flushing toilets and watering yards, but let's not be picky.

[Ghost Dog]

9. Nicely put. Re. "pharmacokinetics",

a part of this spectrum does also involve "consumers" or, in other words, citizens. Are Americans sure that such a high level of use of pharmaceutical products, especially psychoactive pharmaceutical products, is absolutely essential to a healthy way of life?

Perhaps citizens could rebel, and vote with their feet by ceasing to be consumers of these products.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

7. You could always go pee behind your garage...

... I did it as a little boy when I figured no one was looking, but the neighbor lady seen me once and told my mom. And dear old mom reminded me, "you can do that out on grandpa's farm, but they don't like that if you do it in town". :rofl:

[StarryNite]

6. I hope they don't dump

all the unwanted H1N1 vaccine into our drinking water.

[katkat]

8. who actually flushes unused meds down the toilet? n/t

[Odin2005]

10. Rebellious teens that don't want to take their Ritalin or Prozac?

[Hestia]

11. Quite a few medical clinics are given a list to flush down the toilet because they are "expired"

instead of destroying them through other methods. The practice was shown on one of the evening news segments a couple of years ago. Non-profits were begging for these drugs instead of them being flushed down a toilet.