The Enterprise, March 1, 2010
by Elise R. Hugus
Excerpt: Every time you drink a cup of coffee, pop an aspirin, or shampoo your hair, some of the chemicals in those products could end up in your drinking water.
One would have to drink an Olympic-sized pool of that water in order to get a “therapeutic” dose, said experts from the Silent Spring Institute, speaking to an audience of 70 people at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in East Falmouth Wednesday night. As techniques for measuring these trace compounds improve, so does understanding of their effects on human health and the environment.
“These are not really emerging chemicals. They’ve been around for years,” said Nicholas Anastas, an environmental toxicologist and a self-described “green chemist.” “But they’re an emerging concern because now we can identify them.”
A groundbreaking study by the US Geological Survey in 2002, and another published by the Associated Press in 2008, found significant concentrations of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in drinking water across the country. Other compounds topping the list were DEET, the main ingredient in bug spray; caffeine; flame retardant; and an active ingredient found in soaps, fertilizers, and detergents.