Drugs in Drinking Water

Drugs in Drinking Water: There is an unhealthy cocktail of drugs in
your drinking water. With each sip, you self-medicate with anti-anxiety
and even psychotropic drugs.




Without
knowing it, you are being medicated. Maybe even now you have a cup of
coffee or tea in hand, filled with water compliments of your local
municipal system. Think those sodas and energy drinks are any better?
Think again. Unless the water is specifically filtered for
pharmaceuticals, you’re still getting dosed.

There is an unhealthy cocktail of drugs in your drinking water.

Did you know with each sip, you self-medicate with anti-anxiety and
even psychotropic drugs? That’s right, according to a report released
this past week in Science, environmental pollution by pharmaceutical companies are a major threat to our world’s water supplies.

According to the study’s abstract;

“Here we show that a benzodiazepine anxiolytic drug (oxazepam) alters behavior and feeding rate of wild European perch (Perca fluviatilis)
at concentrations encountered in effluent-influenced surface waters.
Individuals exposed to water with dilute drug concentrations (1.8
micrograms liter^–1) exhibited increased activity, reduced sociality, and higher feeding rate. As such, our
results show that anxiolytic drugs in surface waters alter animal
behaviors that are known to have ecological and evolutionary
consequences.”

According to Wiki, oxazepam is a benzodiazepine used extensively
since the 1960s for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia and in the
control of symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.

Upon further research, the side effects of oxazepam may include dizziness, drowsiness, headache, memory impairment,
paradoxical excitement, retrograde amnesia, but does not affect
transient global amnesia. Side effects due to rapid decrease in dose or
abrupt withdrawal from oxazepam may include abdominal and muscle
cramps, convulsions, depression, inability to fall asleep or stay
asleep, sweating, tremors, or vomiting.

Other reports, such as one by Michael Thomas of Idaho State University in Pocatello, and published in the scientific journal, PLoS ONE,
states that low levels of antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs
in water supplies can trigger the expression of genes associated with
autism.

According to Thomas, this raises the possibility that pregnant women
who drink water containing trace concentrations of these drugs will pass
them along to the fetus. The fetus has a leaky blood-brain-barrier,
which allows drugs to pass directly into the developing brain.


“The drugs affect activity of serotonin and other neurotransmitters,
which are important in the development of neurological networks and,
basically, affect how the brain is wired,” Thomas said.

In the newest research, fathead minnows were allowed to swim in a
low-level cocktail of anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine and two
selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, fluoxetine
and venlafaxine. The minnows were exposed to the drugs for 18 days. It
was found that the genes associated with autism in humans appeared to
be significantly altered. Most of the genes involved are significant in
early brain development and wiring.

So how do the drugs enter our bodies? Basically, the same way they
exit. The cocktail of drugs enter our water system through those taking
the drugs. And in the past 25 years, psychotropic drug use has
increased dramatically. Around 80 per cent of each drug passes straight
through the human body without being broken down. That waste water
gets cycled through the municipal treatment plant then passes right back
into the environment. In nearly all communities, water purification
systems cannot filter out these pharmaceuticals. “They just fly right
through,” says Thomas, which means they ultimately end up back in your
tap water.

Here’s the definition of a psychotropic drug, again, thanks to Wiki; A psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior.

Think about that folks. Your behavior is being affected by drugs in the water supply. Think fluoride
is bad? Now add psychotropic on top of it and you have a potentially
lethal – slow acting – but still lethal, cocktail of drugs entering your
body every day.

The anecdotal evidence seems to hint at a link to the rise of
Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related illnesses, autism and the
pervasiveness of certain types of cancer. Shouldn’t that be enough to
mandate further filtering requirements? And not simply the dismissal
out of hand of results published in independent studies? Are
profits truly more important that human health? As it appears now, at
this moment in our history, that answer appears to be a resounding yes.

Independent studies are the key. One Yale medical professor
states there is analysis that industry-sponsored studies are 3.6 times
more likely to lead to a drug’s approval. The drug approval process is
important to understand. From drug approval to drugged tap water
regulation, the process is a lifecycle connected by a lot of money.
Follow it.

There are many new studies detailing how Big Pharma pushes physicians
to over-prescribe drugs. Here’s one. A Senate investigation into
GlaxoSmithKline uncovered evidence that the company influenced studies
of its diabetes drug, Avandia, to disguise potential heart dangers.
Want to understand drug legislation better? It’s simple. Follow the
money.

How’s this. Over a year-long period ending in August, the New
England Journal of Medicine published 73 articles on original studies of
new drugs, encompassing drugs approved by the FDA since 2000 and
experimental drugs, according to a review by The Washington Post.

Of those articles, here’s how they breakdown regarding Big Pharma influence:

• 60 were funded by a pharmaceutical company
  
• 50 were co-written by drug company employees
  
• 37 had a lead author, typically an academic, who had previously
  accepted outside compensation from the sponsoring drug company in the
  form of consultant pay, grants or speaker fees
  

The New England Journal of Medicine is not alone in featuring
research sponsored in large part by drug companies — it has become a
common practice – even for municipalities. Last year Big Pharma spent
about $39 billion dollars on studies. That’s more than the National
Institute of Health (NIH) spent. NIH spent about $31 billion.

See the problem(s)?

In 2008, an AP investigation
showed a long list of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics,
anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — mixing in the
drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. Once the
report was published, followed by quick bang-bang reporting by on-air
personalities, the issue simply disappeared. Coincidence? Think Big
Pharma wasn’t behind some of that disappearing act? Try watching cable
news, or nightly news on any of the alphabet networks. Notice how many
of the commercials are about drugs. Surprised? You shouldn’t be.

Follow the money.

There is growing consensus in the scientific world that drugs in the
water supply will ultimately harm humans over long periods of time. How
much time? Nobody knows. There are few studies being conducted. Even
the EPA is silent on the subject – except for nitroglycerin. Nitro,
used in heart medication, is only being studied because of its use in
explosives. Safety of the homeland, after all, is paramount.

I have submitted a request for all studies concerning pharmacological
pollutants and filtration to a large metropolitan water company via a
Freedom of Information Act request. Once I have received the
information I will include those results in future articles concerning
water safety.

For now, I’ll continue to follow the money. And report back to you
what I stumble onto. I would also recommend each of you take time to
write your representative and start new initiatives in your area. If
your representative doesn’t respnd. Go public. Tell the public in a
clear, loud voice; “I called my rep, and he (or she) didn’t respond to
my concerns.” Start your own investigations. Push your own
initiatives. And remember… follow the money.


Source:-
http://theallegiant.com/drugs-in-drinking-water/