Is Big Pharma Drugging Our Water?

This past week, the Associated Press released a startling study concerning our drinking water. Apparently, at least 271 million pounds of 22 pharmaceutical compounds was found in the tested water. The compounds come from two governmental lists: the EPA monitors them as industrial chemicals that are released into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water under federal pollution laws, while the Food and Drug Administration classifies them as active pharmaceutical ingredients.

For a long time, Injuryboard members have been identifying the issues out there with pharmaceutical companies:

• Buying doctors loyalties.
• Questionable drug testing and marketing.
• Involvement in faking tests.
• Attacking of Doctors who questioned their products.
• Benefiting from the Bush years.

Some of the information is quite troubling, but adding the dumping into our water should create nightmares. Think about being drugged and not even knowing it. Emerging research also has shown that human cells fail to grow normally in the laboratory when exposed to trace concentrations of certain drugs. This has caused some scientists to believe that even exposure to small amounts of the drugs, over decades, could cause harm to humans.

The investigation will hopefully continue as to the source of all of this drugging. There are indications that some of it comes from consumers disposing of their drugs. 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging are thrown away each year by hospitals and long-term care facilities. But, "It doesn’t pass the straight-face test to say pharmaceutical manufacturers are not emitting any of the compounds they’re creating," said Kyla Bennett, a former 10-year EPA enforcement officer and current ecologist and environmental attorney.