It's unbelievable that scientists, biologists and doctors around the world are finding drugs in our drinking water. In just one example, an Australian poison expert setup an experiment exposing developing kidney cells to a mixture of 13 different drugs at levels similar to those found in Italian rivers. His experiment clearly showed that the medicinal mixture slowed cell growth by up to a third.
This study is just one small part of a body of recent scientific studies that indicate over time, humans could be harmed from drugs in drinking water. Although these findings are preliminary, they have also increased concern about the especially vulnerable groups, such as the very young, old, pregnant, or sick.
Other researchers around the world are finding results similar to those conducted in Australia. In Pennsylvania, human breast cancer cells grew twice as fast when exposed to estrogens taken from catfish caught near untreated sewage overflows. A doctor from the University of Pittsburgh's Cancer Institute commented that people consuming drugs in drinking water may be at a higher risk level than those that only occasionally eat such fish.
A biologist from New York's Ithaca College, stated that efforts to find out how drugs found in drinking water affect humans do not consider the wide range of pharmaceuticals in the environment and if someone has received exposure at more susceptible times, like childhood or old age. "The timing makes the poison as much as the dose, and the dose itself is not the dose from just any one thing...it's from this whole kaleidoscope of chemicals" - Sandra Stiengraber, Biologist, Ithaca College New York.
Antibiotics found in drinking water are a real concern since viruses can adept to resist them. The detection of antibiotics in drinking water is causing increased concern because the presence of these drugs in the environment could lead to the development of resistant bacterial strains, thereby reducing the healing properties of antibiotics.
The drug industry has started to back their own studies about drugs found in drinking water. However, their studies are worthless because they don't even use water samples analyzed for drugs. Instead they estimate danger based on how much a drug is sold and its toxic level to animals, combined with safety margins for unknowns like possible side effects of long term exposure. Their studies also ignore what could happen to people exposed to the complex combinations of drugs in drinking water.
There are also some very big overlooked issues like the byproducts of drugs. When medications get digested and processed by water treatment plants, they could take a new metabolic form. Let's face it; there is a ton of crap lurking in our drinking water today and it's now up to you to protect yourself from drugs found in drinking water. I've found that the best way to avoid those drugs was to install the best water filtration system I could find. Get more info at my site to see what I've uncovered about water filters and purifiers.
