New study finds Big Pharma gunk in our water supply

By now I'm sure you've heard the story that inundated the news over the last couple of weeks: an investigation conducted by the Associate Press revealed that an incredible variety of pharmaceuticals - including everything from antidepressants, sex hormones, anti-seizure medications, and ibuprofen - was found in the drinking supply of 41 million Americans. See? I told you not to drink the water. Consider this the nail in the tap water coffin.

How are these materials ending up in the water in the first place? Well, it's not because of illegal dumping by pharmaceutical companies - it's because we're an overmedicated society. The simple truth is that Americans take a lot of drugs. Not all of those drugs are absorbed into your body. Those that aren't absorbed are expelled through - and forgive me if you've just eaten - urine and feces. The fact is, water purification systems have no way of specifically screening out these elements from the water, so they remain a presence - a trace presence to be sure - but they're there.

I don't care that the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are so miniscule that they can be measured in parts per billion and even parts per trillion. The point is not that one gulp of this tainted brew will have a negative effect. The real issue is chronic, low-level exposure to these drugs.

Think about how often you consume water: as ice cubes, as an ingredient in cooking … you ingest more water than any other form of "food." And it's at that point - bit by bit, day by day, glass by glass - that those parts per billion and parts per trillion start to become a concern. Especially when it comes to certain classes of drugs.

Think about getting a low, consistent dose of a chemotherapy drug (which is incredibly toxic), or hormones, or psychotropic drugs for depression or epilepsy, or antibiotics … the list goes on. In fact, some experts believe these pharmaceuticals may pose even more of a threat than waterborne contaminates like pesticides, PCBs, and lead that environmental watchdog groups traditionally screen for.

Zoologist John Sumpter of Brunel University in London, who has studied trace hormones, heart medicine, and other drugs, said, "These are chemicals that are designed to have very specific effects at very low concentrations. That's what pharmaceuticals do. So when they get out into the environment, it should not be a shock to people that they have effects."

I agree with Dr. Sumpter. And I'm particularly concerned about the hormone levels above all. I've written before about the estrogen content of soy that has been linked to young girls beginning puberty at shockingly early ages and is resulting in hormonal imbalances that could be causing some boys to turn gay. Yes, you heard me right.

It doesn't stop there. What about the possible side effects inherent in the drugs? Or how these drugs interact with the drugs you may already be taking and that are in your system? The Age of Overmedication began about 20 years ago, so it's tough to say when or if the potential long-term effects will materialize. But you know good and well that when they do, no one will think to blame the water.

Leave it to the sensationalist media to sound the alarm - but the wrong alarm. I wish the call could go out to get scientists to work on a system that can screen these tiny contaminates out of our water supply. It would be money that's a lot better spent than on any nonsensical "greening" initiatives to battle global warming.