Slashdot Mirror
Prescription Meds Get Trapped In Disturbing Pee-To-Food-To-Pee Loop (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A study published Tuesday in Environmental Science and Technology is the first to validate the long-held suspicion that pharmaceuticals may get trapped in infinite pee-to-food-to-pee loops, exposing consumers to drug doses with unknown health effects. In a randomized, single-blind pilot study, researchers found that anti-convulsive epilepsy drug carbamazepine, which is released in urine, can accumulate in crops irrigated with recycled water -- treated sewage -- and end up in the urine of produce-eaters not on the drugs. While the amounts of the drug in produce-eater's pee were four orders of magnitude lower than what is seen in the pee of patients purposefully taking the drugs, researchers speculate that the trace amounts could still have health effects in some people, such as those with a genetic sensitivity to the drugs, pregnant women, children, and those who eat a lot of produce, such as vegetarians. And with the growing practice of reclaiming wastewater for crop irrigation -- particularly in places that face water shortages such as California, Israel, and Spain --- the produce contamination could become more common and more potent, the authors argue.
I swear officer Oby, your piss test is flawed. I don't do drugs.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Drugs everywhere but in my stash box *sigh*
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I'm surprised the concentrations are high enough to only be 4 orders of magnitude off from a person actively taking the medication. I would have expected it to dilute a lot more than that over the course of irrigating a field of crops, picked, processed, cooked, and finally ingested.
I read the internet for the articles.
Do home water filters like Brita help with this kind of problem?
ambisexual fishies, not all that uncommon, even before the drugs.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
No they don't get trapped in a loop.
If I eat one of these prescription-laced carrots or whatever, I've got 1/10,000 (4 order of magnitude) less than the person who made that pee carrot. I will then contribute 1/10,000 of that, and someone will eat my pee and contribute 1/10,000 of THAT. By the third person, there is 1/1,000,000,000,000 and we're talking about homeopathic levels.
That's hardly 'trapped in a loop.'
Bleh. Wish the original paper wasn't paywalled, this vegetarian business doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you take that produce and feed it to animals, and then eat the animals, you should have at least as much exposure as from eating the produce straight. If the drug in question is one which bioaccumulates, then your exposure should be higher than it would be from eating the produce straight. It would be nice to see what the paper said specifically, rather than getting it second hand.
Sure why not, most of the areas that are short on water have a lot of solar thermal energy available to drive such a distillation system and as a side effect you get to generate lots of kinetic energy in steam turbines, to drive electricity generators.
It's probably better to use some kind of decreased-pressure multi-stage system. i suspect the volumes and energies involved don't work well for some kind of open-loop thermal plant like what you suggest. Not to mention the fact that you don't need high-grade heat for this.
Ezekiel 23:20
If the drug in question is one which bioaccumulates...
And that's the big question, isn't it? I hope somebody's looking into it, because without knowing how much it accumulates in the animal's bodies we can't judge how much of a concern it is. And, even if it isn't, the animal's waste products are probably being used as fertilizer, sending it right back into whatever crops it's used on. I'm not an alarmist, but we clearly need to know more about this.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Can someone tell me which veggies will contain the most oxycontin? Asking for a friend.
Please God, don't let it be brussels sprouts. They give me wicked gas.
You are welcome on my lawn.
But if you want a perfect example of something that doesn't break down but has a serious effect: lead. Your body doesn't convert lead to anything but lead. Wouldn't it be great if our bodies had nuclear reactors that could split lead into something else?
But anyway, what's the problem with this carb-whatever? Isn't it good that everyone will be less likely to have seizures?
After passing through so many kidneys it must be pure.
If the drug in question is one which bioaccumulates
Then the original patient wouldn't be whizzing so much of it out.
Have gnu, will travel.
and discharges into water
Which is a strong indication it does not bioaccumulate in humans. Another is that they use this chemical as a drug. A drug which bioaccumulates would quickly become a poison (eg, using mercury to treat syphilis) and would for one shot attempts at fixing illnesses not a long term medication for treating epileptic conditions.
Now the human body is relatively good at dealing with toxins, so it may be that cows and whatnot might bioaccumulate this while humans do not. But I doubt that's happening.
Just think about all of the ass gas you inhale every day.
I know it is Slashdot, and RTFA is too much to ask - but how about the summary? This is not about drinking water.
But even if it were, the distribution system would need to be completely changed to separate drinking water from other uses. It'd probably be more practical to filter it at the home than to run a second set of pipes everywhere and update all household and commercial plumbing.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
No, you wouldn't. The thing you are overlooking is that these drugs get into the water supply because humans pee them out. With vanishingly rare exceptions, chemicals which are in human urine do not bio-accumulate. The simple explanation of this is that chemicals which bio-accumulate do not cross the membrane filters used by the kidneys to filter blood and thus stay in the blood.
So, since these drugs do NOT build up in the human body to any significant extent, they will, also, not build up in the bodies of animals.Basically, plants will likely contain ALL of the drugs which they took up from the water for their entire life cycle (from germination to harvest) while animals will only have the drugs which were contained in their last meal or three.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
You absorb lead through your skin, so touching it is pretty bad as well. Can't imagine eating it.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
Abstract
A 45-y-o male with a history of schizophrenia was admitted to a local VA psychiatric unit. Five days later, endoscopy due to abdominal pain, gastrointestinal bleeding and blood hemoglobin of 5.6 g/dL revealed bullets in the stomach. On subsequent radiograph, > 50 bullets were visualized in the stomach and intestines. Poison Center recommendations included whole bowel irrigation and a blood lead level. After poor results with gastrointestinal decontamination and a repeat radiograph showing > 100 cartridges, surgical intervention was considered but not performed due to perceived risk of bullet detonation from electrocautery. The blood lead was reported as 391 mcg/dL. Calcium EDTA therapy was initiated, followed by aggressive gastrointestinal decontamination. Four days of whole bowel irrigation facilitated passage of 206 cartridges over the next 10 days. The patient was discharged on a 14-day course of 600 mg Succimer tid to treat the bone lead deposits and blood lead level of 49 mcg/dl. An outpatient visit 6 w later showed the blood lead level had dropped to 24 mcg/dl. Aggressive gastrointestinal decontamination and calcium EDTA and Succimer administration successfully treated an ingestion lead bullets and the resulting lead poisoning.
or this one... sad...
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.co...
I thought nuking them for orbit was the only way to be sure.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
I thought P2P meant something else.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.