Comments on: 271M Lbs Of Pharmaceuticals In Our Water

AP Investigation: Drugmakers, Other Manufacturers Legally Releasing Chemicals Into Waterways

[skyk-2009]

This is the one of the most unscientifically written articles. The article mentions the weight of the drugs, however no mentioning of the weight of the water in the US. Unless such information is available, how is someone able to calculate the ppm (parts per million) of drugs in the water to make an intelligent guess. If the concentration of drugs is less than .5 ppm, it poses no hazard.
Posted by jwesel1 at 7:02 AM : Apr 20, 2009

271 MILLION pounds of Drugs were released into waterways used for drinking water and you want to split hairs? No thanks!

[rf35]

To save some people time, the answer is NO, I do not work for a pharmaceutical company. That said, I had a few thoughts after reading this. First, this dumping is not new...it's been going on for decades. Newer drugs may be added, some older ones stopped, but drugs of some sort have been getting into the water supply since pharmaceutical manufacturing began. The only thing new is the tests that are sensitive enough to detect the miniscule amounts being found. I'm sure that in high enough concentrations these drug combinations would be deadly, but we're not talking about high concentrations; we're talking about trace amounts so small that they couldn't be detected at all until recently. For perspective, in the last available study I could find, Americans withdrew 341 billion gallons of water per day from fresh water supplies. To put it another way, over 2.8 trillion pounds of water. Each day. Figure out the total fresh water yourself, as I'm tired of counting zeros.
Second, so what if there are drugs in the water. It saves money on prescriptions and that'll REALLY torque off the pharmaceutical companies!! The main reason Europeans are generally healthier than Americans must be because they're pharmaceutical waste is more concentrated in their drinking water supplies.

[jonesjep]

This same report was done from a scientific perspective. Not the blatant anti-pharmaceutical, CBS perspective. PEOPLE are the ones dumping the drugs into the system. People who purchase the drugs flush them down the toilet when they no longer need them or they expire. Pharmaceutical companies do not dump drugs. That is a idiotic conclusion. That would be like dumping gold down the toilet.

[sly_64]

One of the biggest misconceptions about drug warnings: "Avoid driving until you know how this medication will affect you." Hello, if the drug will make you feel weird, chances are you can get a DUI on it regardless if you're used to it's effect on you.

[presjfk]

" the fact that this happens is one of the most insane news items i've ever read. how is ANY releasing of industrial compounds into rivers, lakes and ocean legal?
Posted by SugarMtn "

Stop applying common sense and it becomes clear. The companies that are releasing these chemicals own the government. They make the rules because they have the money. That is all there is to it. Notice how companies have not been held to account for their pollution from the beginnings of our industrial revolution.

[SugarMtn]

the fact that this happens is one of the most insane news items i've ever read. how is ANY releasing of industrial compounds into rivers, lakes and ocean legal?

[jwesel1]

This is the one of the most unscientifically written articles. The article mentions the weight of the drugs, however no mentioning of the weight of the water in the US. Unless such information is available, how is someone able to calculate the ppm (parts per million) of drugs in the water to make an intelligent guess. If the concentration of drugs is less than .5 ppm, it poses no hazard.

[afmcalax]

Another great example of how American style capitalism hurts Americans. With the huge profits the pharmaceutical companies pull down you would think they would be good corporate citizens and not pollute America's waterways with their medicines. But that would decrease their bonuses. That they are making society sicker and causing untold harm to the people that drink this contaminated water does not concern them. What are these medicines in the water doing to our health?

Who wants to bet that the clean-up for this will once again become the burden of the American tax payer? That is why our economic model is losing favor throughout the world ... there seems to do so little good it does for society; while reaping unearning wealth for so few.

[J_G_H]

It is cheaper to solve pollution problems at the source, where they are concentrated. Corporations plead high costs, but by releasing their toxins into the environment, they become nearly impossible to deal with, and pass the costs to the general population in illnes and genetic damage. There is no excuse for this and ther is certainly no excse for politicians who are dumb enough to buy the corporate arguments. Sometimes, as with lithium, there might even be money in recycling the materials. Besides psychiatric medicine, lithium is used in the batteries we hope will powere electric and hybrid cars.

[swin5]

When a people mindlessly use their rivers for their sewers, what do you expect?