Garrett looks to mitigate potential risks of pharmaceuticals in the water supply

Do pharmaceuticals in the drinking water pose a public health risk, and what steps can be taken to reduce the likelihood of pharmaceuticals getting into the water supply?

Those were some of the questions asked during a water summit held Monday at the Lake Forest Health and Fitness Center

State Sen. Susan Garrett, D-29th, of Lake Forest, invited representatives from the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Office of the Governor, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and other experts to talk about the issue of pharmaceuticals in drinking water.

Garrett said recent studies have found trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in public water supplies, including anti-seizure medication, anti-depressants, cholesterol medication and blood pressure medication.

"We're focusing on the issue of pharmaceuticals in the water to determine if there is in fact any danger, and at what level that danger exists," she said.

Representatives from the IEPA said present levels of pharmaceuticals in the water supply are very low and do not pose a health risk, but recommended further study of the issue.

"We think at this point in time, all the water supplies are very safe in terms of pharmaceuticals," said Tom Hornshaw, chief toxicologist for the Illinois EPA.

Hornshaw said tests done of selected water supplies in the Chicago area found last year found extremely low levels of pharmaceuticals in water, but he said more samples would be taken at different locations this year.

Down the drain

Pharmaceuticals can get into the water supply in several ways, including residents flushing unused drugs down the drain or toilet. Pharmaceuticals can also be excreted from the body through urine.

William Cooper, professor and director of the Urban Water Research Center at the University of California at Irvine, discussed the use of advanced oxidation techniques that can be used to remove pharmaceutical contaminants found in wastewater and reduce the chances of those contaminants getting into drinking water.

Cooper said there is currently is not enough research on whether pharmaceuticals in the drinking water pose a risk to public health.

"The jury is still out on whether low concentrations are a problem or not," he said. "Pharmaceuticals are developed for specific populations. It's possible that non-targeted populations may be exposed."

Cooper said as the U.S. population continues to grow, and the population grows older, the amount of pharmaceuticals in the water supply could begin a bigger issue.

"As the population ages, we're going to be using more pharmaceuticals, not less," he said.

Properly disposing of pharmaceuticals can be a challenge. Throwing away pharmaceutical drugs in the trash can also pose a problem because drug dealers have been known to scavenge through garbage looking for prescription narcotics, which they then use to make meth or other illegal drugs.

The IEPA has had a pilot program for drop-off sites to properly dispose unused prescription drugs and Garrett wants to expands that program.

Garrett said she has sponsored "Do Not Flush" legislation, which would prevent hospitals and health care providers from improperly flushing or disposing of pharmaceuticals.

Senate panel considers study of drugs in water

A proposal in the U.S. Senate would require a government study of pharmaceuticals and personal care products released by factories and other sources into waterways that often supply drinking water.

"As a mom and a lawmaker, I assume our drinking water is clean and safe and free of these kind of pharmaceuticals," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat who announced the proposal Tuesday in Washington.

Her measure would require a two-year study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify the pharmaceuticals and personal care product in waterways, their sources, and methods of controlling them. It would call for the EPA to consider pharmaceuticals that enter the water stream from human excretion, manufacturing and other sources. The pharmaceutical industry would be consulted.

The House has already passed similar legislation.

The proposals were spurred by an Associated Press investigation reporting trace pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies of at least 51 million Americans. In an ongoing series of articles that began last year, the AP has reported that many pharmaceuticals — from antibiotics to psychiatric drugs to sex hormones — have been found in waterways and drinking water supplies. While many locales took action following the stories, most cities and water providers still don't test for pharmaceutical contaminants.

The biggest source is considered to be human excretion. However, manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways over the past 20 years, according to an AP analysis of federal data. An estimated 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging are thrown away each year by hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Most water treatment facilities do not remove all drug contamination.

Drugmakers say they don't significantly contribute to the problem. Utilities say the water is safe. And scientists and the EPA say there are no confirmed human risks from consuming these minute concentrations of drugs.

However, research shows that the pharmaceuticals, especially when mixed together, sometimes harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species. Also, researchers report that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs. Some scientists are concerned that the consumption of trace drugs, often in combination, could harm humans over decades.

The news coverage has spurred hearings, testing and legislation across the country. Gillibrand plans to put her proposal before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday as an amendment to the Water Pollution Control and Safe Drinking Water acts.

Drug-Makers Leaking Pharmaceuticals Into Water Supply

Government scientists say that they have detected significantly elevated levels of pharmaceutical residues in the water downstream from treatment facilities in charge of disposing waste from drug manufacturers.

Preliminary results from two important federal studies compared the wastewater flowing from sewage plants that handle waste from drug companies and compared them with others that do not.  The studies examined only a handful of the 1,886 U.S. drug manufacturing plants recorded by the 2006 Census report.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s report, some of the samples contained a range of pharmaceuticals, from over-the-counter medications to opiates, barbiturates and tranquilizers; some of them at significantly higher concentrations than what were found at other plants.

At one location, the muscle relaxer metaxalone was found in treated waste-water at a concentration several hundred times higher than the concentration used by drug regulators to examine a drug’s impact on the environment.

Because of privacy agreements, the specific treatment facilities were not listed by name.

Herb Buxton, a researcher with the USGS and co-chair of the federal task force on pharmaceuticals and the environment, spoke of the significance of double-checking the environmental safety claims of drug companies.

“It’s critical that those types of assumptions are confirmed through real testing,” said Buxton.

In a study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a municipal wastewater treatment facility in Kalamazoo, Mich., the city’s public service director provided evidence that showed elevated levels of the antibiotic lincomycin entering the plant.  The facility services a large production factory for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., which was producing the antibiotic around the time of the tests.

“There’s some product going down the drain,” explained Merchant plainly.

While the vast majority of the lincomycin was properly removed from the water during treatment, traces of it did remain.  A separate 2008 study showed that the antibiotic can combine with small concentrations of other drugs to stimulate the production of cancer cells in both humans and fish.

Other experiments have showed that lincomycin can cause genetic mutations in fish, bacteria, algae and other aquatic microbes common to streams and rivers.

Francesco Pomati, a biologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, has expressed extreme concern about the levels of these drugs found in drinking water.  He and his colleagues at the university have cautioned that repeated exposure to this cocktail of drugs – even in minute quantities – could be “a potential hazard for particular human conditions, such as pregnancy or infancy.”

Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers has assured that “compliance with all environmental, health and safety laws is imperative to our business operations worldwide.”

The two U.S. studies added to a slew of similar research projects carried out in Asia and Europe recently that have connected pharmaceutical production facilities to dangerous levels of drugs in water supplies.  Other drugs detected include the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, the pain reliever diclofenac, the anticonvulsant carbamazepine, as well as a range of milder medications like aspirin, antihistamines and female sex hormones.

Recent studies in India have shown that a waste water plant that services dozens of multinational drug companies had been releasing as much as 100 pounds of the antibiotic ciproflacin a day into local rivers through supposedly treated water.

A Swiss study paid for by the pharmaceutical giant Roche found that some 0.2 percent of its active ingredients managed to escape during the production process.  Such a small number may not sound like much until it is multiplied by the thousands of drug production plants around the world, many of which likely have a much higher loss rate than that reported by Roche.

This has many experts in the U.S. questioning their own production standards.

“Is it as bad in the U.S. as it is in India?  Probably not.  But it does make me think we should test,” says former EPA enforcement officer Kyla Bennett, who is now pursuing a career as an ecologist and environmental attorney.

PUR Water Filtration Systems Can Reduce Trace Levels of Pharmaceuticals Found in Some U.S. Tap Water

CINCINNATI, - The Associated Press issued a new report on April 20, 2009 regarding pharmaceutical compounds found in drinking water. Pharmaceuticals have now been detected in the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans. To date, scientists have found no evidence of adverse health effects by consumers exposed to trace levels of pharmaceuticals in the water supply. For those consumers who are still concerned, PUR Water Filtration Systems (PUR) offer a solution.

PUR is the first and only leading filter brand to claim reduction of trace levels of pharmaceuticals from tap water. PUR filtration systems remove over 99 percent of trace levels of pharmaceutical compounds from America's tap water using the PUR faucet fount system and over 96 percent with PUR pitchers(1). PUR refrigerator filtration systems remove over 97 percent of trace levels of pharmaceuticals from tap water(1). PUR filtration systems have been tested to reduce various kinds of drugs from tap water, including:

Hormones

Antibiotics

Antidepressants

Anti-Anxiety Medication

Painkillers

Steroids

In addition, PUR is the only leading pitcher that is certified to remove 99.9% of microbial cysts. Using a PUR faucet filtration system can also save up to $600 a year per household on the cost of bottled water(2).

Other Facts

In 2008, the AP reported that trace levels of pharmaceuticals were found in the drinking water supplies of more than 46 million Americans. This new report from the AP increases this number to 51 million American households.

In March 2009 researchers from Baylor University and the EPA found trace levels of pharmaceuticals in fish caught downstream from wastewater treatment plants in Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, suburban Philadelphia and Phoenix.

PUR faucet filtration systems have a suggested retail price of approximately $30, while PUR pitcher systems start around $15. PUR systems can be purchased at major retail stores including Wal-Mart or Target.

Drinking Water Riddled With Pharmaceuticals: Probe

An Associated Press investigation says that 271 million pounds in pharmaceutical matter have been legally released by major drugmakers, as well as other U.S. manufacturers, into water supplies from which drinking water originates.

Since no one tracks the releases, it is likely the amount is highly under-counted; it is difficult for federal and industry officials to say which company is responsible for what, but unintentional government records does offer some insight.

A "don't ask, don't tell" policy has emerged, says some researchers. Kyla Bennett, former EPA enforcement officer: "It doesn't pass the straight-face test to say pharmaceutical manufacturers are not emitting any of the compounds they're creating."