Natalie: What would you think if I told you your water supply was contaminated? Well, I have a study from the US geological survey in 2002 which states that 80% of the water found in streams, rivers and lakes were contaminated with prescription drugs, antidepressants, hormones, hair care products, body care products, just all kind of chemical contaminants. So you're probably thinking, well, how does it happen? Well, someone takes a prescription medication or they use a hair care product and then they take a shower or go to the rest room and that water is send to a wastewater treatment facility. The wastewater treatment facilities are not equipped to handle or to filtrate out these types of chemicals. According to this, it actually says that sewage treatment plants are not equipped to filter out any of the hundreds of different prescription drugs that are present in wastewater and it's not clear just how they would approach the cost technology of such a challenge.
Now to give you an idea of how a type of drug can make its way into our water supply, in 2001, 61 million prescriptions of antidepressants were issued by medical doctors according to the CDC. Now antidepressants are not a cure, they cover up symptoms, so people who are taking antidepressants end up taking them for extended periods of time. Then what happens, the person takes antidepressant, they use the rest room because it passes through their system and then it sent to the wastewater treatment facility. The waste water treatment facility is not able to filter out that substance out of the water, so it just builds up in the environment.
Now another example would be the millions of women who are taking birth control pills which contain estrogen. So a women take the birth control pills, the estrogen is processed through their body. Then it's eliminated into the water. The water is send to the wastewater treatment facility. Then because they can't filter it, it's send back out into the environment. So we have a ton of different types of pharmaceuticals that just build up and build up and build up in our lakes and streams. So these drugs are making their way into our lakes and streams. Actually a toxicologist from Baylor University got some Bluegill fish near Dallas and tested them and found Prozac in the brain, liver and muscle. Now, the muscle is what you eat, so if you are fishing for fish in streams and lakes, then you are eating these fish, you actually could be eating more than you are expecting.
So what effect this really have on our wild life? Well, researchers in Colorado have found that male fish are now beginning to develop female sexual organs and scientists believe that it's a direct result from estrogen and their water supply. Another example is a toxicologist that found low levels of antidepressants Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil, and Celexa in fish and determined that there were developmental delays in the fish and metamorphoses delays in the frogs as a direct- from these antidepressants in their water supply. Another example is on mosquito fish, they exhibit developmental delays, specifically their sexual maturity delays in both the males and females.
Now you probably heard that antidepressants can cause sexual dysfunction in humans. Well, apparently it causes the same thing in fish. Now you see what these drugs are doing to the wild life and this wild life isn't taking the doses of the prescription drugs, they are just getting the affects in their water supply. So what's happening to all of us who are taking prescription drugs in more, you know, taking them everyday or for have as long that we're prescribed the drug, if it's causing those changes in wild life, what is it doing to us?
Another example is that researchers are now finding evidence of prescription drugs in the blood of blue sharks. It actually lists the most common drugs found, it says, antidepressants such Prozac and Zoloft, claustro-reducing drug Cyclopter and synthetic estrogen are there importantly the most commonly found drugs in blue sharks in the Florida's rivers.
Okay and also scientists are worried that this is actually going to impact the blue sharks' ability to reproduce. Now that's not bad enough. I have report from the BBC news with the big head line of Prozac found in drinking water, so an environmental agency in Great Britain has actually determined that because so many people are taking certain types of pharmaceutical drugs, it's building up in the water supply. Actually the gentlemen that is speaking in this article is says, it is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and another pharmacy residues in our drinking water.
Now you've probably heard if you are going to Mexico, don't drink the water. Well apparently If you are going to London and can't drink the water their either. So I have report from the BBC news that is entitled, Prozac found in drinking water. So they've actually tested and studied tap water and found traces of Prozac and other pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking water. Actually the environmental spokesperson and the reports states that, the Prozac in the water table could be potentially toxic and said the drug was a potential concern. Now personally I found this to be kind of scary stuff. We are consuming so many pharmaceutical drugs that we are actually contaminating and polluting our own environment.
If you are interested to find out more about this subject, just Google the words Prozac in fish and it will pull up all the articles and the articles that we talked about today. So I am curios to know you think, leave your comments and post your video responses and I'll see you next time, bye.
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