Human drugs in water making nature sick?
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a three-part series that's a result of an Associated Press investigation.
LAKE MEAD, Nev. — On this brisk, glittering morning, a flat-bottomed boat glides across the massive reservoir that provides Las Vegas its drinking water. An ominous rumble growls beneath the craft as its two long, electrified claws extend into the depths.
Moments later, dozens of stunned fish float to the surface.
Federal scientists scoop them up and transfer them into 50-quart Coleman ice chests for transport to a makeshift lab on the dusty lake shore. Within the hour, the researchers will club the seven-pound common carp to death, draw their blood, snip out their gonads and pack them in aluminum foil and dry ice.
Drugs in the water
Interactive AP graphic on drugs in the water.
The specimens will be flown to laboratories where aquatic toxicologists are studying what happens to fish that live in water contaminated with at least 13 different medications — from over-the-counter painkillers to prescription antibiotics and mood stabilizers. More often than not these days, the laboratory tests bring unwelcome results.
A five-month Associated Press investigation has determined that trace amounts of many of the pharmaceuticals we take to stay healthy are seeping into drinking water supplies, and a growing body of research indicates that this could harm humans.
But people aren't the only ones who consume the water. There is increasing evidence some animals that live in or drink from streams and lakes are seriously affected.
Pharmaceuticals in the water are being blamed for severe reproductive problems in many types of fish: The endangered razorback sucker and male fathead minnow have been found with lower sperm counts and damaged sperm; some walleyes and male carp have become what are called feminized fish, producing egg yolk proteins typically made only by females.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Biologist John Umek (right) hands electrically stunned fish to Danelle Wiersma, hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, on Nevada's Lake Mead last year while studying effects pharmaceuticals in water have on fish.
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Meanwhile, female fish have developed male genital organs. Also, there are skewed sex ratios in some aquatic populations, and sexually abnormal bass that produce cells for both sperm and eggs. There are problems with other wildlife as well: kidney failure in vultures, impaired reproduction in mussels, inhibited growth in algae.
"We have no reason to think that this is a unique situation," says Erik Orsak, an environmental contaminants specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pulling off rubber gloves splattered with fish blood at Lake Mead. "We find pretty much anywhere we look, these compounds are ubiquitous."
For example:
-- In a continuing study, fish collected in waterways near or in Chicago; West Chester, Pa.; Orlando; Dallas; and Phoenix have tested positive for an array of pharmaceuticals — analgesics, antibiotics, antidepressants, antihistamines, anti-hypertension drugs and anti-seizure medications.
-- A 2003 study in northern Texas showed every bluegill, black crappie and channel catfish researchers caught living downstream of a wastewater treatment plant tested positive for the active ingredients in two widely used antidepressants.
-- In several recent studies of soil fertilized with livestock manure or with the sludge product from wastewater treatment plants, American scientists found earthworms had accumulated those same compounds, while vegetables — including corn, lettuce and potatoes — had absorbed antibiotics.
Elsewhere, snails, fish, even antelope, are showing signs of possible pharmaceutical contamination. For example, fish and prawns in China exposed to treated wastewater had shortened life spans, Pacific oysters off the coast of Singapore had inhibited growth, and in Norway, Atlantic salmon exposed to levels of estrogen similar to those found in the North Sea had severe reproductive problems.
More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in surface waters throughout the world. "It's inescapable," said Sudeep Chandra, an assistant professor at University of Nevada, Reno who studies inland waters and aquatic life. "There's enough global information now to confirm these contaminants are affecting organisms and wildlife."
While some researchers have captured wildlife and tested it for pharmaceuticals, many more have brought wildlife into their laboratories and exposed them to traces of human pharmaceuticals at levels similar to those found in water, aquatic plants and animals. The results have been troubling.
In a landmark, seven-year study published last year, researchers turned an entire pristine Canadian lake into their laboratory, deliberately dripping the active ingredient in birth control pills into the water in amounts similar to those found to have contaminated aquatic life, plants and water in nature.
After just seven weeks, male fathead minnows began producing yolk proteins, their gonads shrank, and their behavior was feminized — they fought less, floating passively. They also stopped reproducing, resulting in "ultimately, a near extinction of this species from the lake," said the scientists.
While the Canadian study was prompted by human intervention, similar die-offs have occurred in the wild.
In Pakistan, the entire population of a common vulture virtually disappeared after the birds began eating carcasses of cows that had been treated with an anti-inflammatory drug.
In November, 30 new studies were presented at the annual Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry meeting in Milwaukee, ranging from hormones found in the Chicago River; to abnormalities in Japanese zebra fish; to ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, triclosan and naproxen in the lower Great Lakes.
Many of those studies refer to the research at Lake Mead. There, on a recent morning, Steven Goodbred struggled to hold a large wriggling carp that looked fine on the outside, but the U.S. Geological Survey scientist assumed the worst.
"Typically we see low levels of sex steroids, limited testicular function, low sperm count, that kind of thing," he said slipping the fish into a holding tank and closing the lid. "We'll have to wait and see about this fellow."
These carp live, eat, reproduce and die at the mouth of what amounts to a 30-mile-long drainage system that starts within the toilets and sinks of the casinos, hotels and homes of Sin City.
Some 180 million gallons of effluent are discharged into the channel each day from three wastewater treatment plants. The daily sewage discharge is expected to increase to 400 million gallons a day by 2050.
The USGS and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service tracked the channel from its origins, before the inflow from the sewage plants, to where it empties into Las Vegas Bay in the lake. Their findings: The amount of endocrine-disrupting compounds (including hormone treatments and other chemicals affecting reproduction) increased more than 646 times.
Not far from the mouth of the drainage channel — amid the fishing boats and sightseeing tours — water is sucked into a long pipe, destined for a drinking water treatment plant, then Las Vegas — thus beginning the cycle all over again.
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Comments
crankyyankee (anonymous) says...
What I gather from this series of articles is that we are drinking each others waste. Beautiful!
March 11, 2008 at 8:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
I did not hear much fear yesterday about this, but I can see that this will not go away. It won't be long, and we will live in fear of this along with a host of other common, ordinary things. Life is a risk, and something will kill you. Gee.
March 11, 2008 at 8:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
FindingMyself (anonymous) says...
I personally don't think that it's so much about fear-mongering as it is bringing awareness to how much we are damaging the environment around us, and seeking ways to remedy that. Sometimes, unfortunately, it takes a little fear before people will do something about a problem.
March 11, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
crankyyankee (anonymous) says...
Want to help have another another kid!
March 11, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ImplantedYankee (anonymous) says...
There are federal standards that outline the safe levels of "contaminants" in the water. If levels ever even remotely approach these thresholds, THEN we should be concerned. These levels are only detectable with the very most sophisticated equipment. I'm going to get another glass of water right now. Water is a solvent. It's always going to have things in it. Moreover, the water on this planet cycles naturally. What you drink today may have been dinosaur urine (or likely more recently). The water drank by astronauts in space is recycled waste. It goes in, it goes out, and back in again - so ad infinitum. That's just a microcosm of how all water works.
On a less serious note: Where is PETA on this? I'm surprised they aren't protesting this abuse of the poor defenseless fish, considering that they have called my dad and I both murderers:
http://www.fishinghurts.com/pdfs/Dadd...
March 11, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ImplantedYankee (anonymous) says...
TP -- it does sound like you wasted your money on that degree. Every second-grader knows how the water cycle works (except, perhaps, the ones in SC public schools), and I bet most fifth-graders can tell you about how astronauts drink their own waste. I don't dispute that the EPA is a bloated waste of space, but it does have established standards (as well as state standards) which are tested annually by our water providers. That doesn't come from wikipedia, it comes from the test results that are published and mailed out to every customer every year. I understand that they don't emphasize reading in this state, but go ahead and take a look anyway. You call it flip-floping -- I call it being an informed citizen.
March 11, 2008 at 10:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ImplantedYankee (anonymous) says...
Now you're going to tell me that we're drinking acid rain, DDT, and mercury? Funny -- I don't see you or I dead yet. It must be because any trace elements are in too small a quantity to matter. I suppose you also know that rain naturally IS acidic. Some human processes do lower the pH of rain, but so do many natural ones also. With just a little care (and a lot less fear mongering) it's possible to limit the effects of such activity to make them a non issue (until the next volcanic eruption or other natural event -- then all our efforts come to nothing).
Case in point -- since you mentioned it: DDT. DDT was vilified as being responsible for the near extinction of the bald eagle. Headlines screamed that the use of this chemical was destroying our national and natural heritage. Oddly, however, when studies proved that, in order for DDT to have any effect on shell thickness, it had to be administered in such quantities that it actually killed the bird before it had a chance to lay any eggs, I don't remember seeing it on the front page. Now, when fear mongering has succeeded in eliminating the use of this chemical, scores are dying of malaria in Africa that could benefit from its use.
March 11, 2008 at 10:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zmysticman (anonymous) says...
Not to long ago 15 or 20 years ago I remember reading the paper and it saying frogs and small animals are starting to go EXTINCT all around the world from pollution, and everyone said cant do much about it, its just a frog, pollution is everywhere and we cant stop progress. Now every day hundreds of animals are going EXTINCT on this earth do to pollution. And we the polluters sill say its just fear being spoken by environmentalist, or it every where what can be done. Well now its not just the animals that are getting ready to go EXTINCT its the humans, and all the humans could say is its happening everywhere, and what could we do, the government says its safe, they are just trying to scare us, those fear mongering environmentalist. WAKE UP HUMANS!!!
March 11, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
crankyyankee (anonymous) says...
Since I'm a bit older than most on this site I'll fill you in on a little secret and I want TP to pay close attention. In the 1940's the media said we were all doomed from the proliferation of nuclear capabilities. Rachael Carson won a Nobel Prize for her book "Eternal Spring" that documented the total destruction of the earth by Nuclear Winter. According to her theory the bombs were going to cause massive clouds to form which were going to cool the earth and eradicate most life. The scientists swooned, the media hailed Rachael as the Al Gore of her day. About 1950 polio was an epidemic and the entire population of the world was teetering in the balance as the doctors worked feverishly to find a cure and the media printed big headlines every day about the future of mankind. Along came 1955 and the Russians were eating children and nuclear winter became a real possibility. We school kids huddled in bomb shelters hoping the next provocation would not be the end of the world.
The 1960's it was the depletion of the ozone layer that grabbed the media headlines and spurred politicians to pass massive legislation that not only restored the ozone but produced a glut of it that brought it's own problems. In the 1970's it was the SAR's virus that threatened mankind with total extinction. The 1980's it was Avian Flu and other flesh eating microbes that brought us to the brink as the media so aptly reported. The 1990,s finished with a flourish as Y2K loomed on the horizon. The media and our leaders made plans for our inevitable doom. Now it's global warming that the media has targeted as our undoing with Al Gore and a long list of scientists and media whores as the cheerleaders. With all do respect for the scientific community and the media I think I'll sit this one out!
March 11, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
Cranky... you sound like my uncle Jim...
R. Carlson's book drew attention to the use of DDT, and the possibility of nuclear winter... Preventing one maybe? And helping to stop the use of DDT... What's wrong with that?
March 11, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
Cranky... you sound like my uncle Jim...
R. Carlson's book drew attention to the use of DDT, and the possibility of nuclear winter... Preventing one maybe? And helping to stop the use of DDT... What's wrong with that?
and her book is still scary, because, if you haven't noticed, we are having sick bees dying off everywhere... And her book says, in the season before the silent season, the bees die off... Then the chain reactions ensue... So!
March 11, 2008 at 2:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
The devil is in the details. Generally speaking, the media has reported one thing or another that is going to kill us since the mid 50's (as far as I can remember). I thought my dad who was in the army before 1941 and spent his 19th birthday on Guadalcanal was a dummy for not being worried about all the stuff in the news. The earth has been here awhile before we got here and will be fine when we are gone. The earth has survived a lot worse things than people. Considering that the fires that move the plates of the earth have not blown up the earth, does anyone really believe that a few ten thousands of a-bombs will blow up the earth. Now for myself and based on my religeous beliefs, I do not think that this earth is going to last anyway. As our culture declares on one hand that we can do such things as destroying the earth, it also declares that we can stop global warming...or cooling. Bull. Fear loves company.
March 11, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
saltlyck (anonymous) says...
It only makes you wonder. Did the dinosaurs ignore all their warnings? Or did their extinction just happen by chance. Any way you look at it they were probably a lot less stressed about it.
March 11, 2008 at 4:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
I can tell you what was wrong with banning DDT. It was very effective in mosquito eradication. At the time it was banned the use of DDT had almost stopped malaria totally. Since it was banned millions of people, mostly children, have died as malaria became an epidemic disease again. Once the evidence was actually in it was determined that DDT is not harmful to humans at all. It was a mass hoax that resulted in the deaths of millions of children, and the hoax was so ingrained that it still persists to this day.
Here's another scientific hoax for you. Plastic bags kill millions of birds and fish. That plastic bags thing came about from a study on nets, not plastic bags, but got hooked around so that now there is are cities banning plastic bags. While I'm no plastic bag fan or opponent this entire thing is based on what the DDT ban was based on, bad misinterpreted politically used misinformation. It's resulting in factories (those are the places where people earn a living) shutting down.
How about the lead hoax we just went through? Paint with high concentrations of lead in paint being eaten by children? Yeah, that's a problem. A Barbie doll with lead in the paint that her eyes are painted with? Not really a problem unless your kid is eating pretty massive numbers of Barbie eyes, and then the indigestible plastic would kill the kid long before the lead affected their system. That one sucked massive dollars out of industry (those are the folks that pay workers salaries you know), panicked large numbers of parents and created a huge waste disposal addition.
Polar bears dying and becoming extinct? Polar bear numbers are the highest they have ever been and increasing. People want to put them on the endangered list for some reason, but lets ask the Inuits how they feel about that...polar bear is a large portion of their diet. You can't eat endangered species now can you. Lets starve some Inuits to save an increasing species that is not endangered just to prop up the old global warming hoax, which has been changed to the global climate change hoax as the warming trend is going into a cooling trend.
If you really want to be afraid, check out dihydrogen monoxide. That stuff is responsible for more deaths than guns!
March 11, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cinnabar (anonymous) says...
Since getting involved in work involving analysis of water and air contaminants 30 years ago, my observation is that benchtop analyzers have lowered detection by a factor of 10 to 100 every 5-7 years. This means if you have the right instrument, you can take a dixie cup of water and determine contaminants in some cases to the PPB or PPT levels with benchtop equipment. Low detection limits have played into the hands of the alarmists. PPB is 'parts per billion' and is a very minute quantity. This is important because...the same water you have been drinking for years now has contaminants that are detectable. 20 years ago you didn't know what levels you consumed.
Botulism toxin will kill you but you can also use it to chemically alter your face. Many of the people who shun modern medicine for natural herbs get Botox injections. However, if you consume this naturally occuring substance from a can of spoiled mushrooms, you will stop breathing immediately and permantly. Bottom line, concentration level is a key factor.
Now that you know that your water is contaminated with trace levels, you can spend your life in fear of something that will not harm you if you so wish. Or you can marvel at modern science and live your life knowing average life expectancy increases every year.
March 11, 2008 at 10:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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