Jane,

Thanks.  Peter Weyer, associate director of the University of Iowa's Center
for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, was here in Fairfield
last month as the Leopold Group's featured speaker at a water quality
presentation.  He gave us the water quality story here in Iowa and mentioned
the great concern that he has for pharmaceuticals, horomones, etc. showing
up in our surface, ground and drinking water along with all the ag
chemicals.

One of Peter's visuals was of a guy watering his lawn and saying to a
neighbor, "Hey, this is great!  With all the agricultural chemicals and
fertilizers in our water nowadays, I don't need to use fertilizer OR weed
killer on my lawn anymore!"

The next cartoon should be a guy holding up a glass of tap water and saying
to a bystander, "Hey, this is great!  With all the pharmaceuticals and
hormones in our water nowadays, my wife and I don't need to take any of our
prescription medications anymore--they're already all in here!"

Patrick Bosold


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jane Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 3:29 PM
Subject: USGS Releases First Nationwide Look At Pharmaceuticals


> Here are some news stories pertaining to the study...
>
> **Study Shows Nation's Streams Medicine Cabinet Of Chemicals - The Press
of
> Atlantic City - 3/13/2002
> http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=7491
>
> You don't need to go to the drugstore to get a dose of birth-control
pills,
> caffeine or cold medicine. Just drink from a stream. Streams in New Jersey
> and across the country are awash in a veritable soup of pharmaceuticals,
> hormones and other organic products that don't break down in our bodies or
> during wastewater treatment, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study
> published today.
>
> **Stream Tests Show Traces Of Array Of Contaminants - New York Times -
> 3/13/2002
> http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=7435
>
> Water downstream from many sewage treatment plants and livestock herds
> contains traces of dozens of drugs, disinfectants, hormones, chemicals
> excreted by smokers and other contaminants, according to the first
> nationwide survey for such compounds by government scientists.
>
> **A Hidden Polluter: Our Shelves - Philadelphia Inquirer - 3/13/2002
> http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/2849065.htm
>
> A government analysis shows the nation's waterways are awash in traces of
> chemicals used in beauty aids, medications, cleaners and foods. Among the
> substances: caffeine, contraceptives, painkillers, insect repellent,
> perfumes and nicotine. Scientists say these substances largely escape
> regulation and defy municipal wastewater treatment. The long-term effects
of
> exposure are unclear, they say.
>
> **Drug Wastes Pollute Waterways - Washington Post - 3/13/2002
> http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=7468
>
> The first nationwide study of pharmaceutical pollution of rivers and
streams
> offers an unsettling picture of waterways contaminated with antibiotics,
> steroids, synthetic hormones and other commonly used drugs.
>
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