Are Humans Drugging Wildlife?

It's bad enough that our generation of the species looks first to a pill for solutions to almost all physical, mental and emotional problems. Even a fairly large segment of what is considered "alternative" or "holistic" medicine pushes pills in the form of vitamin and mineral supplements. Ironically, a holistic doctor -- an actual M.D. -- was the one who first told me that, despite the fact that the label of my primary daily supplement recommended 9 tablets per day, one was quite sufficient; the rest was contributing to the phenomenon that "Americans have the most expensive urine in the world." And often, along with the unmetabolized drugs that go into the sewer system, drugs that are not even consumed by humans get flushed down the toilet in their original form.

Now comes word that our craving for pills, and particularly prescription drugs, is creating a "trickle-down" effect on the environment. It has now contaminated the water supply. An Associated Press investigation has revealed that "A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans."  Of course. And while the amounts are miniscule -- far below prescribed therapeutic dosages for humans, the persistent effects over decades of consuming these drugs in our daily water intake are unknown. However, researchers have found alarming effects on wildlife from pharmaceutical contamination:

[P]harmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females. Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the pyramid of life -- such as earthworms in the wild and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.

The failure seems to be the lack of adequate regulation of pharmaceutical levels in water in terms of mandatory standardized testing, monitoring, reporting and remediation. The federal government has not required testing, nor established any safety limits for levels of pharmaceuticals in water. Up to 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts have been found in Philadelphia's treated drinking water; and 63 were identified in the city's watershed. Drugs also permeate deep underground aquifers. Well water in rural areas and bottled water, much of which comes from municipal tap water sources, are not pharmaceutical free, either.

And it isn't just a U.S. problem, according to the AP report. The waters of Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe show pharmaceutical contamination:

[F]rom the icy streams of England to the wild game reserves of South Africa -- snails, fish, even antelope, are showing signs of possible pharmaceutical contamination. For example, fish and prawn 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.

The entire population of a common vulture in Pakistan almost disappeared because the birds were eating carcasses of cows that had been treated with an anti-inflammatory drug. The drug was shutting down their kidneys.

Mainstream media reports of this latest human behavioral impact on the environment are just now starting to connect all of the dots here. Water sustains all life forms. And the natural order of the food chain requires that some life forms continually consume other life forms -- fruits, vegetables and meat for humans, alone -- all needing and metabolizing water that very likely is pharmaceutically-contaminated.  Meanwhile, pharmaceuticals are not the sole water-soluble contaminant that we now know poses a threat to the world's plants and animals (humans included). So, the problem of pharmaceuticals in the water supply is additive, creating a compounding effect with the pesticides, oil spills, airborne contaminants that precipitate out, etc. -- impacting all life. The clear implication is that government regulators cannot purport to protect public health and welfare by establishing standards for pharmaceutical levels in water that ignore the existence of other water contaminants.

At this point, the term "organic" as applied to any part of the food chain should be viewed as a very relative, if not relatively meaningless, term.