AP probe finds drugs in drinking water

Another public safety hazard from the fat.

We already know that the fat increase the hazards of driving and flying.

Now they are overrepresented in polluting our water.

"A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows...

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky."

Recall that fat folk take pills for all sorts of self-inflicted illnesses - e.g., hypertension, stroke, heart disease, depression, being overfat, high cholesterol, cancers, reproductive problems, bone problems. There are more.

"How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes."

Apparently there are some things fat people ingest that they do not absorb completely.

What does this do?

"And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife."

Which actually dovetails nicely into why there are no "healthy" foods. It is too complicated for us to figure out how foods in literally infinite combinations affect us.

Let alone adding in environmental factors.

That is why eating healthily is the best strategy to adopt for the here and now.

And the bottled water scammers are involved, too:

"Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems."

The problem hits just about everywhere:

"In the United States, the problem isn't confined to surface waters. Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40 percent of the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.

Perhaps it's because Americans have been taking drugs — and flushing them unmetabolized or unused — in growing amounts. Over the past five years, the number of U.S. prescriptions rose 12 percent to a record 3.7 billion, while nonprescription drug purchases held steady around 3.3 billion, according to IMS Health and The Nielsen Co.

'People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that's not the case,' said EPA scientist Christian Daughton, one of the first to draw attention to the issue of pharmaceuticals in water in the United States.

Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals...

Also, pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females. Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the pyramid of life — such as earth worms in the wild and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.

Some scientists stress that the research is extremely limited, and there are too many unknowns. They say, though, that the documented health problems in wildlife are disconcerting."

Clearly this is not solely the result of fat people and their self-induced sicknesses.

It is however, compounded by the more drugs they are likely to take for longer periods of time than fit people.

Get fit and give up as much of this stuff as you can.

BTW, stop whining for drugs if you are just going to piss them or toss them out.