Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water?
Recent testing of Lake Michigan water has found pharmaceutical byproducts in the water, raising concerns about the potential health threats to people and wildlife for anyone getting drinking water from the Great Lakes. Though many experts say the levels are too low to show immediate effects on human health, scientists acknowledge they know little about the long-term effects of these drugs on people and how they might degrade or interact with other chemicals in the water.
Viewer Tip: You can help protect drinking water quality – don’t flush flush prescription drugs down the toilet or put them down the sink. Check with your state’s environmental protection department to find out if they are sponsoring unwanted medicine recycling or household hazardous waste collection days.
Safely dispose of unwanted prescription drugs by following tips found here: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/prescrip_disposal.pdf
This information is provided by the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Learn more at www.greatlakes.org.
(Sources: Report, “Protecting the Great Lakes from Pharmaceutical Pollution,” 2010, Alliance for the Great Lakes, http://www.greatlakes.org/Document.Doc?id=810; White House Office of National Drug Control Policy)
