(previous shenanigans aside for the moment)
A new but familiar-sounding assessment, this time by the EPA, of 50 wastewater treatment facilities has found a bit more drugs in the water than anyone previously measured.
More than half of the drugs they tested for were found still present in the wastewater even after processing.
And several of them are high enough in max concentration to be mandated for additional study.
It sounds something like the chicken and the egg; because unless the pharmaceutical company does its own wastewater treatment study, how would they know their new blood-pressure medication doesn’t get taken out in the filtration? -So how can they modify it in-time?
Another wrinkle is the fact that while the scientists maintain the risk of direct contact & consumption by average people is still low,
—the risk to the Ecosystems of Rivers, Streams, Lakes and Wetlands is quite possibly Not.
And although the EPA has issued their “You’re OK; -For Now.”-grade on us & the treatment plants, there is no telling how far the changes will ripple out from the bottom of the food-chain,
and into future supplies.
Still more complicated are the innovations needed to remove the drugs that stick around; -many of which can end-up making the chemicals more dangerous than they were before treatment.
9 of the drugs tested were several multiples higher than the EPA caution-threshold of 1 Part Per Billion.
-With the heart-medication Diovan the biggest offender at 5.3x the max concentration allowed.
(though in all fairness, that was probably just from the one plant downstream from the kielbasa cart at a Chicago Bears game)
Next after Diovan, among the meds that linger were other heart+blood-pressure meds along with a few anti-depressants.
(just wait till they re-test the plants in Washington and Colorado, those are going to be some Seriously happy fish; -with the Serious Munchies.)
Check out the links for further details. The full chart of meds is at the link to the Source Study.
Photo Credits:
“Fish Eagle 2”, by Sias van Schalkwyk, seepsteen.co.za
Links:
• Source: NewRepublic-Drugs In Water
• via: Mashable
• More Coverage: DailyMail | CDC-Pill Disposal | EPA-Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants
• Source Study: ScienceDirect-Concentrations of prioritized pharmaceuticals in effluents from 50 large wastewater treatment plants in the US and implications for risk estimation
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