LIME: Troubled Waters
by Lime Planet, New York, New York on 03.21.06
Byproducts of two antibiotics and a substance used in medical imaging have turned up in wastewater treatement plants in Buffalo, heightening concern over how the products we use and consume are affecting the health and safety of our watersheds. The presence of antibiotics in the water system could impact antibiotic resistance.
Many pharmaceuticals have been found in creeks and other water supplies around the country over the last decade or so, including endocrine-disrupting hormones that can affect the body's functioning. The researchers from the University of Buffalo found remnant chemicals of two commonly prescribed antibiotics, a substance that people ingest before getting an MRI, and a synthetic form of estrogen found in hormone replacements and birth control pills.
Standard disinfection techniques such as chlorination do not appear to remove the substances from the water, but the researchers hope their findings will help develop both ways to test for the chemicals and methods of removing them.
[via ScienceDaily ]
[by Hillary Rosner , Syndicated from the Planet section of LIME ]
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Humans are in freefall at the moment. One of these days well see the unbelievable level of apathy and personal greed but not before were just about to go splat. humans have fallen out of line and there is no going back. Makes me wish there was a form of god to teach us a lesson
As your post states, this isn't a new issue. The USGS studied this back in 2000. They found the most concentrated substance group was steroids. The biggest source of many of the antibiotics and hormones in wastewater is people themselves. A study I remember reading way back in grad school showed that the most powerful endocrine-disrupting hormones in the environment are not synthetic, they are hormones from people themselves.
It is good that the analysis techniques are gettting good enough to detect these chemicals in very small quantities, the next very important step is to tie these levels to actual statistically significant and verified effects in the environment, and perhaps to avoid the kind of hysteria that Sheela seems to be espousing.
we are thankful to find your interesting point . however
the developed countries,on one hand, they build growth plans ,on the other hand submit them selves, to non cooperation, this is universally true in all spheres, .what we require is a cooperative planning, by exploring what could happen on holistic attitude.None bothers about who drinks what, the very approach to industrialization demands its technologies,to build on cooperative outlook of planning the key parameters of environment, water ,air, in its natural forms, by changing them in their very business corporate planning, and support & develop such technologies, that keeps the safe parameters of the air, water,earth, environment intact.
vijayaillu is building such developemnt vision in India.