So, to be safe, you flushed the old bottle of rat poison, all your “out-of-date” estrogen pills down the toilet along with a half dozen or so hydrocodone pills that Uncle Joe left in the guest bathroom.
Good for you, all the dangerous chemicals and pills are out of the kids’ reach.
And you just helped poison the communities water supply, a trout stream a few blocks away, and eventually a saltmarsh miles away.
A Study Reports That Household Chemicals and Prescription Drugs Were Found in Many U.S. Streams
By Robert Preidt / April 12, 2017 / Health Day News
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he mixture of pollutants in many U.S. streams are more complicated and potentially more dangerous than previously thought, a new study suggests.
There does not seem to be an end to our infatuation with putting chemicals in our bodies, water supply, and fisheries. Daily Mail image (UK).
Researchers checked for 719 organic chemicals in water samples from 38 streams across the United States and found more than half of those chemicals in the different samples.
Every stream, even those in wild and uninhabited areas, had at least one of the chemicals and some had as many as 162, the study found. It was led by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The detected chemicals included: insecticides and herbicides, along with byproducts from their degradation; antibacterials such as triclosan; and medications such as antihistamines and the diabetes drug metformin.
The family probably will not want this drug-addicted “frankentrout” for dinner. Image courtesy of sexyloops (uk).
Some of the chemicals were often detected together in streams. Further research is needed to determine the potential for complex interactions between these chemicals, to assess if they pose a threat to aquatic life, the food chain, and human health, the researchers said.
SOURCE: The study was published April 12 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
