Safe, clean drinking water is crucial to our quality of life and overall health. I have collected a quick synopsis of information from The Environmental Protection Agency (contained further down in the entry) to begin thinking and dialogue about the topic.
The Bottom Line is this: Public education and ACTION are essential to push policy makers to represent the needs and desires of the general populace. More MUST be done. Do you have ideas regarding action or information that might be of interest to readers of this blog? If so, email Amy@ContinuumNetwork.com and your note will be reviewed and considered.
What can you do?
Be conscious of EVERYTHING you put down the drain!
You & your descendants will be drinking it later; it will be watering your food supply and entering your food systemically through soil!
Do not flush drugs of any kind down the drain: prescription, non-prescription or illegal.
Use environmentally friendly, non toxic, natural household cleaners, personal care and beauty products.
Buy organic produce, food and beauty/ personal care products. Not only are they produced with less environmental impact also, in the case of produce, you are washing and rinsing down the sink any pesticide residue. And after consumption any pesticides that you consumed go down the drain via elimination.
Remember: whatever we put down the drain will be consumed by us all again and again!
Lots more info pertaining to how you can help here:
http://waterconsciousness.com/resources/
Some Facts From:
www.epa.gov/ppcp/faq.html
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants (PPCPs) refers, in general, to any product used by individuals for personal health or cosmetic reasons or used by agribusiness to enhance growth or health of livestock. PPCPs comprise a diverse collection of thousands of chemical substances, including prescription and over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, veterinary drugs, fragrances, lotions, and cosmetics.
People contribute PPCPs to the environment when:
medication residues pass out of the body and into sewer lines,
externally-applied drugs and personal care products they use wash down the shower drain, and
unused or expired medications are placed in the trash.
Personal use and manufacturing of illicit drugs are a less visible source of PPCPs entering the environment.
Many of the issues pertaining to the introduction of drugs to the environment from human usage also pertain to veterinary use, especially for antibiotics and steroids.
The number of PPCPs are growing. In addition to antibiotics and steroids, over 100 individual PPCPs have been identified (as of 2007) in environmental samples and drinking water.
PPCPs are found where people or animals are treated with drugs and people use personal care products. PPCPs are found in any water body influenced by raw or treated sewage, including rivers, streams, ground water, coastal marine environments, and many drinking water sources. PPCPs have been identified in most places sampled.
What are some major issues with respect to effects?
The effects of PPCPs are different from conventional pollutants. Drugs are purposefully designed to interact with cellular receptors at low concentrations and to elicit specific biological effects. Unintended adverse effects can also occur from interaction with non-target receptors.
Effects on aquatic life are a major concern. Exposure risks for aquatic organisms are much larger than those for humans. Aquatic organisms have:
continual exposures
multi-generational exposures
exposure to higher concentrations of PPCPs in untreated water
possible low dose effects
There are little aquatic/terrestrial toxicology data for PPCPs. There is substantially more data available for pesticides. For example, brief exposure of salmon to 1 ppb of the insecticide diazinon is known to affect signaling pathways (via olfactory disruption), leading to alteration in homing behavior (with obvious implications for predation, feeding, and mating). There's concern that low doses of PPCPs may also have effects.
There are many drug classes of concern:
antibiotics which are actively being researched
antimicrobials
estrogenic steroids
antidepressants. Profound effects on spawning and other behaviors in shellfish can occur with antidepressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
calcium-channel blockers. Dramatic inhibition of sperm activity in certain aquatic organisms can be effected by calcium-channel blockers.
antiepileptic drugs (e.g., phenytoin, valproate, carbamazepine) have potential as human neuroteratogens, triggering extensive apoptosis in the developing brain, leading to neurodegeneration.
multi-drug transporters (efflux pumps). Possible significance of efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) in compromising aquatic health.
musk fragrances are bioaccumulative and persistent
genotoxic drugs (primarily used at hospitals)
