[Pharmwaste] Senators rip EPA over lack of knowledge on drugs in water

[Tenace, Laurie]

Thanks to Deb Debiasi for sending links to the senate hearing - here's an AP
article about the hearing.

http://ktar.com/?nid=36&sid=808176


Senators rip EPA over lack of knowledge on drugs in water 
April 15th, 2008 @ 4:24pm
By MARTHA MENDOZA 
AP National Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency was lambasted during a
Senate hearing Tuesday for allowing the American public to learn that traces
of pharmaceuticals are in much of the nation's drinking water from an
Associated Press investigative series, not the federal government.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works, angrily chided Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA assistant
administrator for water, for the agency's failure to require testing for
drugs and for public disclosure of test results.

"When a story like this breaks, why is it necessary for Sen. (Frank)
Lautenberg to call a hearing on this? Why aren't you working on this night
and day?" Boxer asked. "The Associated Press did your work _ and they're
telling us what's in the water."

Boxer set the critical tone in her opening remarks, when she praised the AP
and the U.S. Geological Survey, which has conducted extensive testing, for
informing the nation that "our water supplies can contain a mixture of
pharmaceuticals. Notice I didn't thank the EPA."

Responding to the aggressive questioning in a packed hearing room, Grumbles
insisted the agency is not downplaying the issue.

"We're very concerned. It does send a big red flag. We're taking this very
seriously," Grumbles testified. He said the EPA was "drastically expanding
the scope" of its monitoring of testing of drinking water across the nation.

"Your concern is not comforting. I can tell you that," said Lautenberg,
D-N.J., who chairs the Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure
Security and Water Quality. "Action is what we are trying to get."

The subcommittee convened the hearing in response to a series last month by
the AP National Investigative Team that detailed test results showing the
presence of minute concentrations of drugs in drinking water in 24 major
metropolitan areas that serve 41 million Americans.

The AP's five-month inquiry found that while water is screened for drugs by
some suppliers, they usually don't tell customers they have found medication
in it, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex
hormones. The stories also detailed the growing concerns among scientists
that this pollution is already adversely affecting wildlife, and may threaten
human health.

Some of the witnesses cautioned against sinking a lot of money and resources
into regulating pharmaceuticals in drinking water before the health risks are
better understood. In addition, they pointed out there may be more pressing
concerns about other contaminants.

After Grumbles maintained that federal scientists were studying the issue of
drugs in water long before the AP series, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked
him why most people hadn't heard about the contamination.

"You've been doing all of this, but it really surprised a lot of us. It
really shouldn't take a newspaper article to get the story out," she said.
"My concern here is you talk a lot about potential (inclusion of drugs on
regulated contaminant lists) and things we can do. I'm concerned there hasn't
been enough action."

Grumbles was grilled on why water providers are not required to test for
pharmaceuticals, on why the EPA's budget for testing of endocrine disruptors
in waterways has been slashed 35 percent and why the agency has not disclosed
all of its test results. Repeatedly, senators said they were not satisfied
with his responses.

In a letter to the subcommittee earlier this month, Grumbles said it would be
unreasonable and expensive to require such testing, given the uncertain risk
to humans.

In remarks prepared for his testimony, he seemed somewhat less reluctant.

"Some have argued that it does not make sense to monitor for pharmaceuticals
in water if there is limited information about the health effects at the
concentrations that could be detected," his prepared remarks read. "We
disagree. Information about occurrence and health effects is complementary
and should be developed in tandem."

However, in his actual testimony, Grumbles declined to commit to such testing
by water providers. "I think that they should disclose information that is
useful to the public." Wondering if that meant raw data, he said, "I don't
know."

Boxer answered back, "I'm talking about test results."

Outside the hearing room, Grumbles said utilities should test their waters
for pharmaceuticals if they have the financial and technical resources.

Boxer also called on Grumbles to immediately release records sought this year
by the AP in a Freedom of Information Act request from a White House task
force that is supposed to be devising a federal plan to research
pharmaceuticals in the environment.

Earlier this week, the AP reported that the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy group has missed its December deadline to produce a
national research strategy. In releasing about 70 pages of documents, a White
House lawyer told the AP another "10 inches worth" were being withheld.

"The White House is keeping its task force secret," said Boxer, who urged the
Bush administration to "immediately release all of the records."

She pressed Grumbles to produce the material within 10 days. He made no such
commitment.

After the hearing, Lautenberg said the EPA response was inadequate. "To me,
it represents a sleight of hand that we are familiar with here."

In other testimony, the senators were joined in their call for more research
by Robert M. Hirsch, the USGS's associate director for water.

"Whether or not there are adverse human health effects from cumulative
lifetime exposures to the low concentrations of complex mixtures of
pharmaceuticals found in the environment remains a research priority,
particularly the effects on sensitive subpopulations such as children, women
of child-bearing years, the elderly and people with suppressed immune
systems," Hirsch said.

In statements prepared for the hearing, drug industry representatives and
environmentalists disagreed on whether enough is known to assure the public
that water contaminated with minute concentrations of pharmaceuticals is safe
to drink.

Alan Goldhammer, a deputy vice president for regulatory affairs at
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said his organization
has researched the issue for years and found no problems. "In summary, there
appears to be no demonstrable risk to human health from detected
concentrations of pharmaceuticals in surface waters," he said.

But Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense
Council, disagreed.

"Although the human health impacts of these exposures to pharmaceuticals and
personal care products are poorly understood, what we do know is troubling.
For example, we know that widespread exposure to antibiotics is contributing
to the growth of bacterial resistance, and this problem is of grave concern,"
she said.

Shane Snyder, research and development project manager at the Southern Nevada
Water Authority in Las Vegas, suggested the focus of research needs to shift
from the known to the unknown.

"The critical question we must address is not 'Do they exist?' but rather,
'At what concentration are these compounds harmful to human health?' Only
then can we make intelligent, rational decisions that protect the health of
this country's municipal water customers," Snyder said in his remarks.

Laurie J. Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
PH: (850) 245-8759
FAX: (850) 245-8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us 

Mercury web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm

Unwanted Medications web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm




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