PILLS PILLS PILLS
America is swimming in pills — literally — and drinking them too.
THE FACTS -The average number of retail prescriptions per capita in the US is 12.6 per year. One study over 13 months disposed of 225 lbs of active prescriptions and estimated that orphaned medications from deceased population at 19.7 tons.One drug return program collected 2000 pounds of unwanted pharmaceuticals - over 101,359 pills.
CHEMICAL DISCOVERIES
2002 - USGS documents that pharmaceuticals were found in 80% of US streams sampled.
2004 - A West Virginia Study by USGS: "Antibiotics were detected in municipal wastewater, aquaculture — with greatest concentration in municipal effluent."
2008 - Associated Press (AP) found a vast array of pharmaceuticals "in drinking water supplies of 41 million." Antibiotics, anticonvulsants, and sex hormones.
2009 - NEW USGS Study: Exposure to estrogen reduces production of immune-related proteins in fish. This suggest that endocrine disruptors, may make fish more susceptible to disease providing new clues about intersex fish. |
