Drugs In The Water
I was sitting down to relax a bit after work, aimlessly surfing the news stories on the web when I ran across this disturbing little piece in Wired about trace quantities of pharmaceuticals in the groundwater nationwide.
Of course New Orleans turns up about a third of the way in when they begin talking about faulty testing data:
In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers told the AP that pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but the AP obtained the results of tests conducted by independent researchers that showed otherwise. For example, water department officials in New Orleans said their water had not been tested for pharmaceuticals, but a Tulane University researcher and his students have published a study that found the pain reliever naproxen, the sex hormone estrone and the anti-cholesterol drug byproduct clofibric acid in treated drinking water.
Read the whole piece, it will give you a few chills. In the meantime I would love to talk to anyone who has any knowledge of this, if you do please leave a comment or drop us an email.
Loki, Founder HumidCity
March 11th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Saw this last night on WWL. I’m waiting for all you guys to grow man-titties and develop strange cravings for chocolate and shoes.
Seriously, beyond my (sexist) joking, that really disturbed the hell out of me. I realize it’s trace amounts, but I’d be interested to find out whether concentrations can build either over time or through the food chain as happens with many toxins.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
It seems form the article I referenced that the contamination is low level but global, affecting the deep aquifers and the water table as well. Long term ramifications are a constant refrain in the AP piece.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:13 am
It beats having to buy them on the street, stupid me I have been drinking bottled water all this time.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:06 am
need to add….. more prozac to water, cos it’s not working….
April 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
The news on that day gave me goose bumps too. This is what I read: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_8519245
I don’t think they listed New Orleans in particular, but believe this kind of contaminant is pretty common everywhere.