Recently the N.Y. Times published an article on an Associated Press investigative report with startling results.
The report showed that pharmaceutical medications like ibuprofen, anti-epileptic drugs, sex hormones, and many other drugs were found in water supplies across the country, not only in the water that comes from your tap, but also in bottled water. For those of us trying to live healthy lives, this unknown threat is alarming and anxiety-provoking.
For years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was kept busy monitoring and studying the harmful levels of PCBs, dioxins, and other pollutants in our water supply.
However, this new finding is catching the EPA off guard, because there are currently no safe levels established for pharmaceutical drugs like the levels that have been recognized for environmental pollutants.
How do drugs get into the water supply in the first place?
Portions of pharmaceutical drugs that are taken by people are regularly excreted out of their bodies and into the sewage system. Sewage treatment plants remove the usual kinds of pollutants but do not remove drug chemicals from waster water, which is usually cleaned up and returned to the environment — with some ending up back in the drinking water supply. Nice thought, isn't it!
What's more, human waste isn't the only source of contamination. Cattle, for example, are given trenbolone, an anabolic steroid used by some bodybuilders, which bulks cattle up.
A German study showed 10 percent of the steroid passed right through the animals, contaminating the watershed and ground water. Up to 40 percent of antibiotics and other growth hormones that are produced in this country for animal consumption eventually end up in the environment.
Does low-level exposure to these drugs have any long-term effects?
Your guess is as good as mine — no studies have yet been undertaken addressing this question. But what we do know for sure is that drugs for depression and epilepsy can damage the brain or change behavior.
We also know that antibiotics can cause bacteria to mutate into more dangerous forms that are unresponsive to treatment. And we know that hormones can disrupt the endocrine system, affecting reproduction or development.
So what to do about water?
As I have written in my books and past blog postings, it's important to safeguard your water quality by using a water filtration system that uses carbon-based filters.
Activated carbon is recognized by the U.S. EPA as the best available technology for filtering out volatile organic compound (VOCs) like formaldehyde and other harmful chemicals. A number of companies sell under-counter or countertop water filters.
I also suggest using a filter for your showerheads to filter out toxic chlorine gases produced when chlorine in the water is heated. Multi-media carbon block filters utilize the benefits of activated carbon - with many additional advantages.
A blended media with a sub-micron pore structure can filter out sediment and microorganisms like cryptosporidium and giardia. Avoid water softeners, which remove essential minerals, and also, do not store water in plastic containers, as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) leach into the water. For more information on a water filtration system that I recommend, click here.
Protect yourself and your loved ones.
Our bodies can withstand a lot of assaults from the environment and medications, but even a small amount of drug chemicals and pollutants delivered continuously over a long period of time can trigger genetic changes, cause allergies, or worse — lead to cancer.
Children, pregnant women, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the exposure. While our government is still in the midst of figuring out what is a safe exposure level, you are better off protecting yourself and your loved ones from unnecessary exposure to things that shouldn't be in your water supply in the first place.
I hope you find the ways to drink safe water! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.
May you live long, live strong, and live happy!
-Dr. Mao
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To learn more about Dr. Mao and other natural health tips, go to askdrmao.com.
To purchase Dr. Mao's book, "Secrets of Self Healing," click here.