(NADD)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/11/pharma.waterfish.ap/index.html
The Brickstone project will place far more PPCPs into the drinking water of the homes surrounding the project than is found in houses on municipal water. This is due to the density of the project, the amount of pharmaceuticals consumed by the elderly residents, the nature of the terrain (a granite hill with shallow topsoil), and the proximity of private drinking water wells. However serious PPCP contamination may be in public drinking water supplies, it is far more serious for those on private drinking water wells living near the Brickstone project. It is becoming more and more apparent that Sharon has voted to contaminate the drinking water supplies of hundreds of people.
The following are excerpts from the Associated Press articles:
“…the presence of so many prescription drugs -- and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen -- in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.”
“And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies -- which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public -- have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.”
“Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.”
“Ask the pharmaceutical industry whether the contamination of water supplies is a problem, and officials will tell you no. But at a conference last summer, Mary Buzby -- director of environmental technology for drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. -- said: "There's no doubt about it, pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they're at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms."
“Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation.”
“So much is unknown. Many independent scientists are skeptical that trace concentrations will ultimately prove to be harmful to humans. There's growing concern in the scientific community, though, that certain drugs -- or combinations of drugs -- may harm humans over decades because water, unlike most specific foods, is consumed in sizable amounts every day.”