Wastewater treatment may be creating new antibiotics. It's not good news

[Panich52]

Wastewater treatment may be creating new antibiotics

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/5DraCp76agA/150528123858.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

For years, scientists have been aware of the potential problems of antibiotics being present in wastewater, and new research is showing that treatments to clean wastewater may actually be creating new antibiotics and further contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in the environment.

[daleanime]

1. Scary thought....

[Faux pas]

2. We are FUBARing

everything we touch. We be screwn, fer sure.

[mopinko]

3. do.not.flush.drugs.

i dont get why people even do that.
i also do not get why pharmacies charge people to take back unused meds. that should be a free service. it certainly would behoove wastewater agencies to just cut them off at the pass.
but at least if you throw them in the trash they are sequestered in landfills.

[BrotherIvan]

4. All excellent points

This should be a public education program. And you are absolutely right that there should be legislation that drug companies who rake in profits by the billions should be forced to take back and properly dispose of unused medication. This is a very serious looming crisis.

[freshwest]

6. Here, it's free, you just drop then off at a designated pharmacy.

They recycle the container and send the drugs somewhere. This is a program set up by the state. That requires tax money and an educated public.

Some areas have a problem with landfills since they can easily create ground water contamination. Same policy with batteriesm, flourescent bulbs, chemicals and electronics applies. So we have places like the library that take these in also the state contracts with some businesses to take in the electronics. There are heavy metals in those that should not go to landfills because that too can get into the ground water supply. These are all free in practice, and a requires taxes.

We are told to never flush drugs down the toilet, so we take them to the pharmacy to be disposed of free and this is promoted along with the other programs I listed above.

There is an additional problem for marine life with drugs. Since drugs are cycled through the body and come out in urine and are still active when they reach the waste water treatment plan.

They have been detected in fish and other marine life, affecting their health.

It is good to reduce taking drugs if possible, as they will find their way into the ecosystem. But another advantage would be more composting of waste to reduce the overburdened waste management problem.

[mopinko]

7. last i saw here

except for designated drop off days you have to buy a prepaid envelope to return to manufacturer. could have changed since then.
but at least a landfill is a maybe whereas flushing is a definite yes.

it is my understanding that only excess doses of drugs are excreted. not that it isnt a problem, just that it is not 1-1.

[freshwest]

8. The problem with the drugs excreted is not per person. It's thousands and millions adds up:

Scientists have found medicines in surface, ground and marine waters as well as soils and sediments in the Pacific Northwest.

1 Medicines have also been found in over 100 streams sampled across the country.

2 Even at very low levels, medicines in the environment hurt aquatic life.

More at:

http://www.takebackyourmeds.org/why/medicines-in-the-environment

Some conservative and rural areas aren't doing it; I live in an urban area that does.

It sounds like the privateers have taken over in your state. We still resist them all we can, but it's a never ending struggle. Just brainwash the voters and they can steal the whole state. We're not that much different; we're only marginally purple here, no matter what the reputation.

A loss for our party converts to a bagger win. They seem to think pollution is guaranteed by the Constitution or something. Good luch with the waste there.

[jakeXT]

5. You can still dump it on your local field

Biosolids program could be a sick practice



..

This involves, in the case of Sydney Water, 180,000 tonnes a year of partially treated human sewerage waste being packaged up as fertiliser and spread on farmlands and sporting fields.

One view is that it is a rational form of recycling.

The problem is that the program has never been independently reviewed for its potential public health implications.

This issue came to my attention late last year when I noticed a large number of patients who were complaining of a variety of symptoms including fatigue, erratic bowel function, nausea and bloating.

Some just felt off colour and went on a search for a second opinion to find out what was wrong with them. Many had been previously diagnosed with “irritable bowel syndrome”, that too-hard-basket of undiagnosed guts.  Of course their bowels were irritable, many of them, we discovered, were infected with one or several parasites.

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/human-poo-on-our-farms-is-a-sick-practice/story-e6frezz0-1226051694709

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110508/Parasites-in-human-waste-fertilizers-alarm-health-experts.aspx