I remember reading this article today and thinking "Damn I got to get some bottled water!"

Seriously though, this is a real issue. 41 million Americans have been affected by this. 41 million! That's over 1/3 of the American population. Not to say that this is a huge blow to the pharmasuitical industry. I bet this is what gave all these kids autism, not all the vaccinations.

Anyone else care to contribute?

Not in America, but similar. Due to the position of waste treatment plants and the diversion of UK rivers, the average glass of water in London has been filtered through six sets of kidneys previously.

Haha sounds nice...

I really don't know about here, it's supposed to be of good quality, but I don't know.

I'd imagine it's a similar sort of situation. The problem with such a water supply isn't that it's dirty - it's not, it just has a tendency to have increased hormone levels - especially oestrogen, which in turn would have an effect on the fish of the river, and the people drinking the water.

Have any links, or speculation beyond the obvious? This thread isn't much more than "holy shit things are gonna get fucked up!".

Despite having the largest amount of freshwater Canada is far from safe from water pollution. In my area of the St. Lawrence river the water is rather polluted from several chemical plants on both the Canadian and American side's. In fact it was to a point that on five separate occasions I suffered from an ear infection within 2 days of swimming in the river. These were the only ear infections I've ever had in my entire life. It's sad to think that we have degraded one of our most precious resources in the name of industry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_ ... rmawater_i

This?

Its so small trace amount that its not even news worthy. I spoke with a head of our local water treatment plant today(I work with him), he says its been going on for years.

Nice sentiment, but this thread isn't about water pollution, or at least not the industry pollution you're thinking of.

The doses in which those chemicals are present in the water are too low to be significant (yet). But that doesn't stop a media circus, so... hormones in our water? EVERYBODY PANIC!

Well, considering that there are places where the hormones are abundant enough to make frogs and fish to have a sex change, boobies and all, I'd say it's a good idea to study it and maybe even do something.

We only feed organic meat to our kids if possible, because that way we can avoid extra hormones, residues of antibiotics etc. The fractions of those things in tap water are perhaps minimal, but so are the natural amounts, and they play such critical roles that I'm not willing to risk anything that can be avoided.

AThis pharma waste is not only coming from humans, but animals as well. About 40 percent of U.S. produced antibiotics are fed to livestock as growth enhancers, which can leech into the groundwater. Back to the humans - sun screen agents have been detected in the fish we eat. So simply drinking bottled H2O is not going to eliminate the dangers.

Apparently the US has its collective head up its ass (shocking, I know) since Europe has been reporting on pharma in the water supply for 10 years.

41 million is not 1/3 of America, it's 1/10. But it is scary.

Shit, how come none of us before you noticed such a glaring error?

Haha, yes I know it's about the damaging effects of hormones and other pharmaceuticals in our water supplies I just figured it fit within the general scope. It is good that the presence has been detected at this point in time. At least then some preventative or neutralizing actions can be taken before the situation degrades too far. How thorough an action is taken is to be seen of course.

I did right away, but alas I was too late.

Where do you live Reaper43? I've had bad experiences with the St. Lawrence aswell, not quite as bad though.

Brockville Area if you know it, an hour from Kingston.

I think that it would be something to really worry about if they found substantial levels of male growth hormones in the water...

Are you serious?? Mexican water is of good quality?

What could be even worse than the pharmaceutical waste is the fact that some people are pushing for legislation that would require all U.S. public water supplies have fluoride added to them. This, despite the fact that fluoridation of public water has long been rejected or banned in many other parts of the world (incl. most of western Europe), and has been repeatedly rejected in the past by most individual U.S. communities when given the chance to vote on it.

Even if you are of the thinking that fluoride is a good thing to put into your body, since when is the public water system fair game to use as a delivery system for something that is considered a medication or health supplement? And if you do think it is a benign and beneficial substance, please check further into it, and you might change your minds.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm

It is absurd to think that chemicals unrelated to sanitizing/purifying the water should be added and everyone forced to ingest it.

The type of fluoride used is actually an industrial waste product/pollutant.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm

If underprivileged, inner-city youth need more fluoride (this seems to be a big part of the dental association's reasoning behind it), how about just targeting that group with free tablets or toothpaste instead of forcing every single person in the country to consume it.

Even the loudest proponents of fluoridation have to admit that in too high a dose it is harmful, and given the fact that it may be coming into your body from a variety of sources from toothpaste, mouthwash, or food, as well as the water, the dosage is difficult, if not impossible to monitor. Not to mention everyone has individual health needs and concerns. Someone with a kidney disorder cannot tolerate the same substances and/or dosages of a completely healthy person, for example.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/

When you think about it, that's probably the kvltest water you could ever drink.

Disturbing if nothing else. Stuff like that is happening where I live. We've really got to start taking extreme steps in protecting the environment.

Even i know the population of the united states...

Urban decay at it's finest

In the future, everyone will have cleft lip and massive, water filled craniums if we continue down this path