271M Lbs Of Pharmaceuticals In Our Water
Today CBSNews.com posted an article by the Associated Press called 271M Lbs Of Pharmaceuticals In Our Water. Here’s a quick excerpt:
U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water – contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.
Federal and industry officials say they don’t know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them – as drugs. But a close analysis of 20 years of federal records found that, in fact, the government unintentionally keeps data on a few, allowing a glimpse of the pharmaceuticals coming from factories.
Depending on where you live you could have to deal with this and other pollutants from other sources. For information on how to determine how safe your tap water is, visit our Is Your Tap Water Safe To Drink? page. If you’re concerned about water quality it’s an easy problem to rectify. Visit our Water Purifiers page for more information on a host of purifiers.
