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About the Author Sherrill Sellman, ND, author of the best-selling books Hormone Heresy: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones (GetWell International, 1996, 2001 4th ed.) and MOTHERS: Prevent Your Daughters From Getting Breast Cancer (GetWell International, 2003), is an international lecturer and psychothera- pist. She has contributed numerous articles to NEXUS, most recently "The Problem of Precocious Puberty" in 11/03. Sherrill can be contacted by phone on +1 (877) 215 1721 or by email at golight@earthlink.net. Her free monthly Hormone Wise e-Digest is available at http:/Avww.ssellman.com. solution is quite complex since there is neither a cohesive set of regu- About the Author lations nor guidance for unused drugs. Sherrill Sellman, ND, author of the best-selling books Hormone The addition of even more pharmaceutical drugs is looming inthe | Heresy: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones near future. Presently, drug companies target about 500 known bio- (GetWell International, 1996, 2001 4th ed.) and MOTHERS: chemical receptors in the human body. That number is soon expected Prevent Your Daughters From Getting Breast Cancer (GetWell to jump as much as 20-fold—to 10,000 targets. Dr Daughton raises a__International, 2003), is an international lecturer and psychothera- disturbing thought. "The enormous array of pharmaceuticals will con- _Pist. She has contributed numerous articles to NEXUS, most tinue to diversify and grow as the human genome is mapped. This recently "The Problem of Precocious Puberty" in 11/03. Sherrill can adding exponentially to the already large array of chemical classes, be contacted by phone on +1 (877) 215 1721 or by email at each with distinct modes of biochemical action, many of which are golignt@eartink net Fer fee monthly Hormone Wise e-Digest is poorly understood." aval ie al [p:/www.sseliman.com. What about water sewage plants? According to Bill Turner, New Mexico's natural resources trustee: "It is a well-established fact that 1. Welshons, W.V. etal, "Large Effects from Small Exposures. I. Mechanisms conventional sewage treatment technologies do not completely for Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals with Estrogenic Activity", Environmental remove drug and chemical residues. Other methods, such as activated Health Perspectives, vol. 111, no. 8, June 2003, http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/mem- carbon filtration or treatment with ultraviolet light, likely would bers/2003/5494/5494.html. remove the drugs but could be costly."” 2. Deneen, Sally, "What Are Genetically Engineered Drugs Doing to Our Water Supply?", http://www.waterindustry.org/Water- Facts/genetic-water.htm. the large-molecule PPCPs, but it is expen- Presently, drug companies 3. Stiles, Nikki, Small Flows Quarterly, Winter sive for municipal treatment facilities. 2004; 5(1):14-17. However, there is still a waste disposal target about 500 known 4, Pearce, Fred, "Something in the water", New issue: the used membranes themselves Scientist, 6 March 1999, pp. 18-19. and a leftover stream of dirty water. Other biochemical receptors in 5. ibid., p. 18. Endnotes Reverse osmosis also removes many of : we 6. Pitzer, Gary, "Pharmaceuticals &Personal Care options might include UV or ozone treat- the human body. Products: An Rx for Water Quality Problems?’ ment, both of which are less costly than That number is soon Western Water Magazine, July/August 2004, at reverse osmosis. However, both UV and http://www. water-ed.org/julyaug04.asp. ozone treatments tend to create numerous expected to jump as much as 7. Kidd, Karen, "Effects of a Synthetic Estrogen on Aquatic Populations: A Whole Ecosystem oxidation products, thereby increasing the : : . ms _— Study", Health Canada, Toxic Substance Research number of chemicals present. 20 fold to 1 0,000 targets. Initiative, http://www.he-sc.ge.ca/hecs- So, if we can't rely on the municipal sesc/tsri/research/tsri_94.htm. water treatment systems, it's really up to 8. Soto, A.M., et al., "Androgenic and Estrogenic each person to find solutions. It's obvious that homes, restaurants, Activity in Water Bodies Receiving Cattle Feedlot Effluent in Eastern Nebraska, hospitals, schools and businesses must realise the importance of pro- USA", Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 112, no. 3, March 2004, ospita’s, s a ey Pp P http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/6590/6590.html. viding water that's not only free of pesticides and heavy metals but 9. Knopper, Melissa, "Drugging Our Water", E/The Environmental Magazine, also PPCPs. January 1, 2003, posted at It has been shown that the most effective water purification system http://www keepmedia.com/ShowltemDetails.do?item_id=169029&extID=10026. for removing all these contaminants, including PPCPs, is an activated 10. Lean, Geoffrey andSadler, Richard, "British Men Are Less Fertile Than ; carbon filtration system. Units are available which can filter your tap Hamsters’, The Independent (UK), March 17, 2002, posted at http://iwww.scifo- . rrr rn an rums.com/archive/index.php/t-6743—8. water, but it would be far wiser to install a whole home unit. Since the 11. Carlsen, Elizabeth et al., "Evidence for decreasing quality of semen during the skin absorbs chemicals 600 times more effectively than through inges- _past 50 years", British Medical Journal 1992; 305:609-613. tion, all bathing water as well as drinking water should be adequately ‘12. Uehling, Mark D., "Free drugs from your faucet", Pure Water Gazette, filtered. October 25, 2001, at http://www.purewatergazette.net/freedrugs.htm. Ln e ot . ali senniati 13. US Food & Drug Administration, http://www.fda.gov/cvm/index/narms/bar- Make sure that, in the USA, the Water Quality Association (WQA) lam/barlam_text.htm; Union of Concemed Scientists, "Hogging It: Estimates of has accredited the system you select. To help people choose quality Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock", Executive Summary from UCS Report, water treatment products, the WQA developed its Gold Seal January 2001, http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_ Certification Program. The Gold Seal mark is internationally recog- cayonmenvantibiotic ‘ance/page.cim?pageID=264. ised as as F auality and i: i . Uehling, op. cit. nised as a symbol ° f quality and integrity. ; _ cing an anti 15. "Toxic: Anti-Bacterial Additive Widespread In US Waterways", Water and Investing in a high-quality whole-house water system using an acti- Wastewater Newsletter, vol. 7, Jan 2005 vated carbon filtration method which purifies all the water used in 16. "Anti-bacterial ingredient can become toxic: study", CBCNews Online, April your home, i.e., drinking, bathing and washing, would be your best 16, 2003, at http://www.cbe.ca/stories/2003/04/16/Consumers/antibacteri- line of defence. At the very least, use an activated carbon filtered al_030416. 7 system for all your drinking water. 17. Larson, E. and Weber, J. T., Annals of Internal Medicine, March 2, 2004. : . : 18. Totheroh, Gailon, "Five Years Gone: Anti-Depressants May Hold Key to The day may come when pharmaceutical and chemical companies ——_Cojyumbine", ‘April 20, 2004, CBN News, will take responsibility for the life cycle of their products, when the http://www. geocities.com/StNektarios/COLUMBINE.html. government will enact protective regulations for PPCPs, and when 19, "Prozac ‘found in drinking water", BBCNews, August 8, 2004, new sewage treatment technologies will be developed and installed. _http://news.bbe.co.uk/2/hi/health/3545684.stm. , But for right now, it seems that we're on our own. 20. "Frogs, fish and pharmaceuticals: a troubling brew", . : a . ttp://www.baylor.edu/pr/index.php?id=13663. In a world of connectedness, we are again painfully reminded that 21. Holmes, Cat, "Antidepressants delay fish, frog development", University of nothing we do exists in isolation. Our most ordinary choices, in this Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, October 29, 2003, case the drugs we ingest and the personal care products we use, may http://georgiafaces.caes.uga.edu/storypage.cm?storyid=2023. have lifelong consequences not just for us but also for all the unsus- 22. "Drugs detected in water samples from San Juan, Rio Grande", US Water pecting people and wildlife living downstream. Remember, everyone News Online, October 2000, at . ~ ° . , http://www.uswaternews.con/archives/arcquality/tdrudet10.html. lives downstream from someone. oo Presently, drug companies target about 500 known biochemical receptors in the human body. een een ean | 38 * NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2005 That number is soon www.nexusmagazine.com