WASHINGTON, DC, August 6, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to conduct a detailed study of the disposal methods used by hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and veterinary hospitals that wish to discard unused pharmaceuticals.

The EPA is seeking more information on the practices of the health care industry to inform future potential regulatory actions, and identify best management and proper disposal practices.

EPA has assumed that one facility in seven, approximately 3,500 facilities, would be selected to receive the detailed questionnaire.

To gather this information, the agency has drafted an Information Collection Request and is now seeking public input on the request form. Public comments on the Health Care Industry ICR will be taken for 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register, which should occur shortly.

Unwanted pharmaceuticals can contaminate rivers,
streams and lakes when they are
flushed or washed down the drain.
(Photo by Carlos Lowry)

Drugs taken for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems contaminate U.S. waterways, according to a March 2008 report by the Associated Press National Investigation Team. The findings confirm a 2002 report by the U.S. Geological Survey that was the first nationwide study of pharmaceutical pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams.

The questionnaire is one of several actions the agency is taking to strengthen its understanding of disposal practices and potential risks from pharmaceuticals in water.

The agency also is commissioning the National Academy of Sciences to provide scientific advice on the potential risk to human health from low levels of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water.

The Academy will convene a workshop of scientific experts December 11-12, to advise the agency on methods for screening and prioritizing pharmaceuticals to determine potential risk.

“The agency’s work to increase industry stewardship and scientific understanding of pharmaceuticals in water continues,” said Benjamin Grumbles, EPA’s assistant administrator for water.

“By reaching out to the National Academy of Sciences and requesting information from the health care industry, EPA is taking important steps to enhance its efforts,” he said.

The EPA is also expanding a recent fish tissue pilot study to include samples from across the country to determine whether residues from pharmaceuticals and personal care products may be present in waterways and the fish that inhabit them.

Grumbles says the agency is developing a methodology to establish water quality criteria to protect aquatic life and is conducting studies to examine the potential occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in sewage sludge and wastewater.

The agency has developed analytical methods capable of detecting pharmaceuticals, steroids and hormones at very low levels, he says.

The EPA also is participating in an international effort with the World Health Organization to study appropriate risk assessment methods for pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants.

All these actions reflect advice the agency sought and received from a broad range of stakeholders including environmental and public health groups, drinking water and wastewater utilities, state water and public health agencies, and the agricultural community.

Grumbles says that the EPA’s approach to learning about pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water is aimed at strengthening scientific knowledge, improving public understanding, building partnerships for stewardship, and taking regulatory action when appropriate.

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MILFORD, Massachusetts, March 31, 2008 (ENS) – The Waters Corporation, a publicly traded company, is offering complimentary tests for common over-the-counter and anti-depressant pharmaceuticals to any U.S. water authority that serves more than 100,000 customers. The company said this move is in response to recent reports of trace levels of drugs found in U.S. drinking water supplies.

Water authorities can apply for the free testing until April 19. “Requests will only be honored from authorized water officials and the results will be held in strict confidence,” the company said in a statement. No third party requests will be accepted.

“As a provider of analytical technologies capable of detecting trace levels of contaminants in water, food and the environment, Waters® is keenly aware of the broad impact that contaminants can have on our natural resources,” said Rohit Khanna, vice president of worldwide marketing for the Waters Division of the Waters Corp., a publicly traded company.

“As scientists, we at Waters believe in the need – and have the solutions – to assess baseline data to measure contamination levels, if any,” said Khanna.

Earlier this month, pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones were found in an Associated Press investigation to be in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans across the country.

Federal regulations do not specify permitted levels of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in drinking waters – they remain unregulated.

Khanna said Waters’ free water test offer is intended as a gesture of cooperation that he hopes will ensure residue-free drinking water supplies, and the first step is to know exactly what is in the water..

“Through this program we hope to work in cooperation with U.S. water authorities to better assess the public’s exposure to pharmaceutical residues and assist them with potential action plans,” said Khanna.

Waters will test submitted samples using the fast throughput AquaAnalysis System. In 30 minutes the system detects a range of contaminants in drinking water at or below 10 parts-per-trillion, meeting or exceeding regulatory standards worldwide.

These complimentary tests will not be validated or certified, and are only intended as an initial screen for the detection of pharmaceutical residues, said the company, which adds that the data will provide a baseline understanding of exposure to facilitate long-term solutions.

The company says Waters chemistry products currently are used by the U.S. EPA to identifies pharmaceuticals and personal care products in environmental samples.

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WASHINGTON, DC, March 10, 2008 (ENS) – Drugs taken for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems contaminate drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, according to a report by the Associated Press National Investigation Team released today. These findings confirm a 2002 report by the U.S. Geological Survey that was the first nationwide study of pharmaceutical pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams.

Drug residues contaminate drinking water supplies when people take pills. While their bodies absorb some of the medication, the rest is flushed down the toilet.

Drinking water treatment plants are not designed to remove these pharmaceutical residues, and the AP team uncovered data showing these same chemicals in treated tap water and water supplies in 24 major metropolitan areas.

All of the pharmaceuticals reported in drinking water supplies are unregulated in treated tap water. Although the concentrations of drugs found by the AP research were miniscule, measured in parts per billion, any level is legal and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, does not require water utilities to test for these substances.

Tap water can contain drugs and other
contaminants. (Photo by Greg Riegler)

Previous research has shown that exposure to levels even lower than reported in this survey can cause harm to aquatic species. Effects on humans, if any, have not been determined.

The USGS survey revealed a list of compounds including the painkillers acetaminophen and ibuprofen, prescription medicines for cardiac disorders and hypertension, and female sex hormones used in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy.

The AP study surfaced as a campaign to get consumers to use tap water instead of bottled water is being waged across the country by the nonprofit group Food & Water Watch.

“All our water sources – rivers and reservoirs, springs and aquifers – may contain drugs flushed down our toilets and off factory farms somewhere up stream,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenona Hauter. “But scaring people away from their taps into the bottled water isle at the grocery store will cost them thousands of dollars a year without making them any safer.”

“Nearly 40 percent of bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. What’s more, there’s no government agency testing bottled water contamination from known hazards such as bacteria, synthetic contaminants, or heavy metals,” Hauter said.

“While the Associated Press did not test bottled water, earlier testers have found dangerous substances such as arsenic and bromate, both known carcinogens. And bottled water comes with its own list of unknown hazards from chemicals leached into the water from the plastic bottles. Hauter maintains, “Tap water is still the best choice for most Americans.”

The AP research extends knowledge detailed in a survey of contaminants in tap water conducted by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group published in December 2005.

Tap water in 42 states is contaminated with more than 140 unregulated chemicals that lack safety standards, the Environmental Working Group found during a 30 month investigation of water suppliers’ tests of the treated tap water.

“Environmental Working Group’s studies show that tap water across the U.S. is contaminated and now we know that millions of Americans are also drinking low level mixtures of pharmaceuticals with every glass of water,” said Jane Houlihan, Environmental Working Group vice president for research.

“The health effect of this cocktail of chemicals and drugs hasn’t been studied but we are concerned about the effects on infants and others who are vulnerable, Houlihan said.

Environmental Working Group analysis shows that of the top 200 drugs in the United States, 13 percent list serious side effects at levels less than 100 parts per billion, ppb, in human blood, with some causing potential health risks in the parts-per-trillion range.

A national tap water atlas published online by the Environmental Working Group shows tap water testing results from 40,000 communities around the country. View the atlas at: http://www.ewg.org/sites/tapwater/

The drug residues in tap water join hundreds of other synthetic chemicals Americans are exposed to daily, as contaminants in food, water, and air, or in common consumer products.

The environmental groups are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take swift action to set standards for pollutants in tap water that will protect the health of Americans nationwide, including children and others most vulnerable to health risks from these exposures.

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