Water Reportedly TaintedBy Huge Quantity of Flushed Drugs

U.S. hospitals and nursing homes are pouring an estimated 250 million pounds of drugs down drains and toilets every year, contaminants that enter drinking water supplies and could pose a health risk, according to an investigative report by the Associated Press. Many of the nation’s 5,700 hospitals and 45,000 long-term health care facilities legally dump unused, expired, or spoiled medications into the sewage system. That wastewater, after being treated, is then used as drinking water for people in downstream communities. The problem is a global one, and researchers in the U.S. and Europe have done studies showing that even in extremely diluted concentrations, pharmaceuticals can foster the growth of virulent antibiotic-resistant germs and bring about about genetic mutations that may cause cancer.