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March 10, 2008
Feeling Chill? Your Tap Water is Drugged
After a 5-month investigation, the Associated Press found that Los Angeles drinking water has traces of Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications. "To be sure," the AP noted "the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose."
Across the nation, the report found tainted water supplies in 24 major metropolitan areas, five of those in California:
- Los Angeles: 2 (meprobamate and phenytoin)
- Long Beach: 2 (meprobamate and phenytoin)
- Riverside County: 2 (meprobamate and phenytoin)
- San Francisco: 1 (estradiol)
- San Diego: 3 (ibuprofen, meprobamate and phenytoin)
- Concord: 2 (meprobamate and sulfamethoxazole)
Estradiol, found in San Francisco's water supply is a sex hormone and sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic, was found in Concord. Southern California and Las Vegas were the only areas that meprobamate, an anti-anxiety medication, was detected. Can a regional culture be read into this?
Nonetheless, at least Los Angeles still holds the title of best drinking water. Cheers to that!
Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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God, I hope they don't have to take the sedatives out of the water. It will be total anarchy!
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"It will be total anarchy!"
Road rage incidents during gridlock hour would certainly go up.
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So that's where my lifetime supply of Vicodin went!
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LA water is the best municipal water in the World.
How do they test it first?
But probably if it is tested by US Citizens they might find it really nice water.
I am very curious to know how these chemicals made it to the drinking water.... soon they will have chemicals like Gaba or others ones to chill people more, and also weight lost program in this water!
San Diego looks funny, they are trying to get the inflamation down, arent they?
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"I am very curious to know how these chemicals made it to the drinking water...."
Kokrra, a news report I saw on the same subject suggested that it's from people flushing their unused prescription meds down the toilet as most doctors suggest. I wonder how pharma companies dispose of their waste, spoilage, ect.?
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having lived in both la and san francisco, i'm actually completely surprised that la has better drinking water than sf
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but...i guess it makes sense that there would be a sex hormone in san francisco's water
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well, it is also from people themselves. Knowing that they distill the water.
So the easy path will be:
People in California are hooked up a lot on medication!
Let see how this thing will go in a matter of 4-5 years, b/c if there's one thing for sure that will destroy the health of American people, those are the medications they take.
As per the taste of the water, I don't like it in Los Angeles, but probably because it comes as a package with sedatives, that's why is the best in the world.
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Too bad you can't specify which drugs you want in your water ... I only want sedatives in mine, no speedy drugs, please!
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"Knowing that they distill the water."
Kokrra, Huell Howser has a good series on California's water making the rounds on PBS stations. Worth a watch if you get the chance. They go through a lot of steps to purify the water we drink. I don't recall seeing any facility that uses distillation, but the processes used do vary from place to place so I guess it's possible.
You're right though that waste water goes though entirely too much treatment to let flushed drugs get by.
I suspect it might be dumping by Pharma companies creeping into the ground water.
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HEy JRB, actually i didn't mean "distill" but as English is not my first language it is difficult to express myself sometimes.
Thank God they don't have any loperamide in the water!