----- forwarded message ----- Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 14:36:34 -0700 From: radtimes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Survey finds prescription drugs contaminating lakes, rivers
Survey finds prescription drugs contaminating lakes, rivers http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/04/11/drugs_envt020411 Thu, 11 Apr 2002 TORONTO - A wide variety of prescription drugs are turning up in lakes and rivers and could be posing an environmental hazard, scientists say. Prescription drugs could be affecting rainbow trout Researchers have found the drugs don't disappear harmlessly in our digestives systems. The drugs are excreted but sewage treatment plants aren't designed to deal with the chemicals. Some scientists think the pharmacological soup could be causing distubing changes to aquatic life. In some cases, male rainbow trout are starting to become more female. The male fish are producing a protein that is the first step in eventually making eggs, said scientist Mark Servos of Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute in Burlington, Ont. Servos thinks the change is caused by a chemical in birth control pills that is ending up the environment. Using highly sensitive equipment, scientists have found ibuprofin and other anti-inflammatory drugs, pain killers and cholesterol-lowering drugs in Hamilton Harbour. Chemicals from excreted drugs end up back in lakes and rivers Servos said scientists don't know if the drugs could also end up in drinking water. In a related study, a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore concluded antidepressants, anticonvulsants, anticancer drugs and antimicrobials are the pharmaceuticals that are most likely to be found at toxic levels in the environment. "We certainly don't have any evidence that most pharmaceuticals pose a human health risk, although the presence of carcinogens or teratogens (agents causing birth defects) even at low concentrations is of potential human health concern," said Padma Venkatraman, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins. Their conclusions were based on a survey of the 200 most sold and prescribed drugs in the United States. The results were presented Wednesday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Health Canada is also working on a series of studies, and its drug approval process now includes an environmental assessment. "There isn't any indication that this is a problem but that we are looking into it to make sure that this doesn't become a problem in the future," said Karen Proud, a manager of environmental assessment regulations for the department.
