[getsmart-l] Hofmann said the drugs enter the water supply when people pass trace amounts of unmetabolized medications through their urine,

[John O'Gorman]

"the concentrations are so small compared to what you would take for medicinal purposes." Yes, the concentrations may be small but the amount required to damage aquatic life and human and animal foetuses is miniscule. The paper seems to be trying to "re-assure" us - not inform!! I do not feel re-assured. More like "conned"!!??

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Experts unfazed by drugs in water 
http://www.thestar.com/article/350403 
Traces of medication flushed down toilets wind up in tap water
Joseph Hall Health Reporter Mar 25, 2008 04:30 AM 

Painkillers and other drugs that are flushed down toilets will inevitably pour out of household taps in trace amounts around the world, a University of Toronto expert says.

Civil engineer Ron Hofmann, who specializes in drinking-water toxins, says a recent report finding painkillers, antibiotics and cholesterol-lowering drugs in the water coming from 15 southern Ontario treatment plants was "not surprising at all" to people in the field.

"There's a raft of studies that show these (drugs) are coming through the waste water treatment plants." he said.

Hofmann said the drugs enter the water supply when people pass trace amounts of unmetabolized medications through their urine, or throw unused pills down the sink or toilet. 

"They make their way through to the waste water treatment plants and out into the environment. And once they're there, they eventually will make it into the tap water."

The Ontario study was conducted out of Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute in Burlington.

The study, which appeared in the Water Quality Research Journal of Canada, says the drugs were detected in extremely low concentrations, a finding Hofmann also said would be expected. "The concentrations that are there are so, so low that they're not near the top of the list (of contaminant) priorities."

U of T civil engineering professor Robert Andrews said there is some debate about the potential health effects of the tap water drugs.

"Right now there is nothing that's really indicting (any danger) because the concentrations are so small compared to what you would take for medicinal purposes."

For example, Andrews said, it's been suggested that the amount of acetaminophen a person would take in through a lifetime of tap water drinking would not equal that contained in one tablet.

http://www.thestar.com/article/350146

Drugs found in Ontario water: Study
Mar 24, 2008 09:30 AM  THE CANADIAN PRESS

HAMILTON – A new study reports finding traces of painkillers and other drugs in drinking water from 15 southern Ontario cities.

The places are not identified but all are said to be within easy reach of Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute in Burlington.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20080325/2c553694/attachment.htm