Found were medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression.Limited laboratory studies have shown that human cells failed to grow or took unusual shapes when exposed to combinations of some pharmaceuticals found in drinking water.
In an ongoing investigation, The Associated Press has reported trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals have been detected in drinking water provided to at least 46 million Americans.
Earlier research has confirmed that fish absorb medicines because the rivers they live in are contaminated with traces of drugs that are not removed in sewage treatment plants. Much of the contamination comes from the unmetabolized residues of pharmaceuticals that people have taken and excreted; unused medications dumped down the drain also contribute to the problem.
Trace concentrations of 7 drugs and 2 soap scent chemicals in fish at all 5 of the urban river sites. The amounts varied, but some of the fish had combinations of many of the compounds in their livers.
A person would have to eat hundreds of thousands of fish dinners to get even a single therapeutic dose, but even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues can harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species because of their constant exposure to contaminated water.
Findings from this first nationwide study of human drugs in fish tissue have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to significantly expand similar ongoing research to more than 150 different locations.
The EPA has called for additional studies about the impact on humans of long-term consumption of minute amounts of medicines in their drinking water, especially in unknown combinations.
Very good new president Obama has restarted programs to research pollution.
link at www.kl.am/fish
