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CNN Live Today
Study: Dangerous Chemicals, Drugs in Water
Aired March 13, 2002 - 12:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a rather surprising and startling study today on the contamination of U.S. waterways. That study finds now a wide variety of dangerous chemicals and drugs perhaps are polluting our water system. How intense, how much?
Our environment correspondent Natalie Pawelski now joins us with the findings here.
NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENTAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.
HEMMER: I'm a bit afraid to ask you.
PAWELSKI: It is scary sounding stuff, but maybe not at the concentrations we are seeing in the latest study.
A new government U.S. study of 139 streams in 30 states turned up some strange stuff, a host of manmade chemicals, including antibiotics and other prescription drugs. Other items on the list: steroids, insect repellent, caffeine, disinfectant, fire retardant, and detergent.
The U.S. Geological Survey, which conducted the study, stresses the chemical concentrations in these samples were very, very low. Here is one example. One sample found acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and other pain relievers, but at concentrations so low you would have to drink 300,000 gallons of the water in question to get the same dose you would normally get in a single tablet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY MACIOROWSKI, USEPA: With human health perspective, I don't mean to make light of it, but I think the concentrations there are going to be lower than we would normally use these materials for. There is somewhat of a larger concern on the ecological side, because there are fish and other aquatic life living in the streams that can potentially be affected at very, very low levels.
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PAWELSKI: As far as those fish and other wildlife are concerned, so far nobody has proven the low levels of chemicals found in that new study have any immediate effect. But there are worries that over time these chemicals could build up, Bill, and cause some problems. HEMMER: I was afraid of the question before. Now I'm afraid of the answer. Do they know to trace them, how possibly they end up in the water in the first place?
PAWELSKI: Yes, the answer's kind of icky.
(CROSSTALK)
PAWELSKI: It's a two-part answer, really. Part of it is simple runoff. Things are, you know, coffee is dumped down the drain, flushed down the toilet, whatever. But part of it is when you ingest a medication -- a birth control bill, an antibiotic -- it doesn't all stay in you: Up to 90 percent goes through you, comes out the other end, and wastewater treatment plants are not designed to screen for this stuff. It takes care of bacteria; it doesn't take care of your Tylenol.
HEMMER: Effects -- environmentalists, are they concerned about anything in terms of long-term effects?
PAWELSKI: The biggest concern that I've seen is what are called endocrine disrupters, things like hormones found in birth control. There have been a couple studies -- one in Nevada, one in Britain -- that have show that chemicals in birth control can get into the water and actually cause hermaphroditic fish, if you can believe it, and other changes that raised a little bit of a concern over the long haul.
HEMMER: I have to drink 300,000 gallons of water before I'm susceptible -- is that right?
PAWELSKI: Let's hope so.
HEMMER: OK, got it.
Natalie, thank you. Interesting findings there.
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