Nexus - 0601 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS POLLUTE OUR WATER new class of water pollutant has been discovered during the past six years. Aitisenscett drugs (including antibiotics, hormones, strong painkillers, tran- quillisers, and cancer chemotherapy chemicals) given to people and to domestic animals, are being measured in surface water, in groundwater and in drinking water at the tap. Large quantities of drugs are excreted by humans and domestic animals, and are distributed into the environment by flushing toilets and by spreading manure and sewage sludge onto and into soil. German scientists report that anywhere from 30 to 60 drugs can be measured in a typi- cal water sample—if anyone takes the time to do the proper analyses (Science News 153[12]:187-189, 21 Mar. 1998). The concentrations of some drugs in water are compa- rable to the low parts-per-billion (ppb) levels at which pesticides are typically found. Some people find this reassuring, but others are asking: "What is the long-term effect of drinking, day after day, a dilute cocktail of pesticides, antibiotics, painkillers, tranquillis- ers and chemotherapy agents?" Of course, no one knows the answer to such a question. It is simply beyond the capabilities of science to sort out the many chemical interactions that could occur in such a complex chemical soup. The first study that detected drugs in sewage took place at the Big Blue River sewage treatment plant in Kansas City, USA, in 1976. The problem was duly recorded in scien- tific literature (Life Sciences 20[2]:337-341, 15 Jan. 1997) and then ignored for 15 years. In 1992, researchers in Germany were looking for herbicides in water when they kept noticing a chemical they couldn't identify. It turned out to be clofibric acid (CA), a drug used by many people in large quantities to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood. Clofibric acid is a close chemical cousin of the popular weed-killer, 2,4-D. Since 1992, researchers in Germany, Denmark and Sweden have been measuring levels of CA and other drugs in rivers, lakes and the North Sea. To everyone's surprise, it turns out that the entire North Sea contains measurable quantities of clofibric acid. Based on the volume of the sea, which is 12.7 quadrillion gallons, and the average concentration of CA, which is 1 to 2 parts per trillion (ppt), researchers estimate that the North Sea con- tains 48 to 96 tons of clofibric acid (Environmental Science and Technology 32[1]:188- 192, 1998). The Danube River in Germany and the Po River in Italy also contain measurable quan- tities of clofibric acid. Of more immediate concern to humans is the finding that tap water in all parts of the city of Berlin contains clofibric acid at concentrations between 10 and 165 ppt. The water supplies of other major cities remain to be tested. Drugs are designed to have particular characteristics. For example, 30 per cent of the drugs manufactured between 1992 and 1995 were lipophilic (Chemosphere 36[2]:357- 393, 1998). This means that the drugs tend to dissolve in fat but not in water, and this gives them the ability to pass through cell membranes and act inside cells. Unfortunately it also means that, once they are excreted into the environment, they enter food chains and concentrate as they move upward into larger predators. Many drugs are also designed to be persistent so that they can retain their chemical structure long enough to do their therapeutic work. Unfortunately, after they are excreted, such drugs also tend to persist in the environment. A landfill used by the Jackson Naval Air Station in Florida contaminated groundwater with a plume of chemicals that has been moving slowly underground for more than 20 years. The drugs pentobarbital (a barbiturate), meproba- mate (a tranquilliser sold as Equanil and Miltown) and phensuximide (an anticonvulsant) are still measurable in that groundwater plume (Chemosphere, ibid.) When a human or an animal is given a drug, anywhere from 50 to 90 per cent of it is excreted unchanged. The remainder is excreted in the form of metabolites—chemicals produced as by-products of the body's interaction with the drug. Researchers report that some of the metabolites are more lipophilic and more persistent than the original drugs from which they were derived (Chemosphere, ibid.). Another problem resulting from drugs in the environment is bacteria developing resis- tance to antibiotics. The general problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been recog- nised for more than a decade. Antibiotics are only useful to humans so long as bacteria do not become resistant to their effects. Bacteria exposed to antibiotics in sewage sludge or water have an opportunity to develop resistance. (Source: by Peter Montague, Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, no. 614, 3 September 1998; PO Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403, USA; tel (410) 263 1584; fax (410) 263 8944; e-mail, erf@rachel.org; for transcript, see www.monitor.net/rachel/) History is full of examples. The first chief of MI6, Sir Mansfield Cumming, wore a gold-rimmed monocle, wrote only in green ink and trundled around his office on a child's scooter. Kim Philby, the most suc- cessful double agent of the post-war era, was described by a colleague as "a schizo- phrenic with a supreme talent for decep- tion". The defector George Blake, impris- oned in 1961 for spying on behalf of the Soviets, admitted he often looked in the mirror and wondered who he was. The problems are even worse in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) if Jeanine Brookner, its first woman station chief, is to be believed. In court four years ago, she claimed that CIA officers "would either be busy sleeping with each other's wives, drunk, taking drugs, fiddling their expenses, seeing the agency psychiatrist or perhaps doing them all at once". (Source: by David Connett and Jonathan Calvert, The Observer, London, 26 October 1998) FROM A FIELD NEAR YOU... ESCAPE OF THE TRANSGENES! Heerenns environmentalists' fears about the dangers of genetic engineer- ing, a weed altered by scientists to resist a herbicide has also developed a far greater ability to pollinate other plants and pass on its traits. Joy Bergelson, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, said the findings show that genetic engi- neering can substantially increase the chances of ‘transgene escape'—the spread of certain traits from one plant to another. Her co-authored study has been published in the journal Nature (vol. 395, 3 Sept 1998). Charles Margulis of Greenpeace said the results confirm fears that genetically engi- neering cotton and soybeans to survive spraying with herbicides to make weed- control easier, will force farmers to spray heavier doses of herbicides or use types that are less environmentally safe. "It's just another chink in the armour of the industry, which keeps saying environ- mentalists' claims of health concerns just aren't justified," Margulis said. Scientists have already recognised that when a genetically engineered crop grows near a weed relative, the gene-engineered trait will eventually transfer to the weed. (Source: by Jeff Barnard, Associated Press, 2 September 1998) NEXUS <9 DECEMBER 1998 - JANUARY 1999