[Pharmwaste] UK - Cancer drugs found in tap water

[BROMLY Melissa]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/13/eachem
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Cancer drugs found in tap water 


By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 13/01/2008


 

Britain's tap water should be monitored for powerful medicines after
traces of cancer and psychiatric drugs were detected in samples, a
report has warned.

The 100-page statement, commissioned by the drinking water watchdog, the
Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), reveals that pharmaceuticals are
finding their way into the water supply despite extensive purification
treatments used by water companies.

Trace levels of bleomycin, a cancer chemotherapy drug, and diazepam, a
sedative, have been found during tests on drinking water, the report
reveals.

While the levels are considered too low to pose a direct risk to health,
doctors have expressed concern about exposing pregnant women to drugs
that could harm an unborn child.

The report, compiled for the DWI by the consultants Watts and Crane
Associates, recommends that drinking water should be monitored for
hazardous drugs.

The report states: "The observed concentrations of pharmaceuticals in
raw waste water indicate that the major source of pharmaceuticals to the
environment is via sewage treatment works effluent.

"Drinking water treatment works use a wider and technically more
advanced range of processes, but again these are not specifically
designed to remove pharmaceuticals and several compounds have been
reported in drinking water."

But it adds: "Even in the worst-case situation, there is no significant
risk to health from the intake of pharmaceuticals via drinking water."

Sue Pennison, from the DWI, said: "The recommendations are now being
considered and this may include conducting testing on drinking water."

The report comes as a separate study by environmental scientists has
warned that toxic chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer patients are
being washed into Britain's rivers. They, too, have called for testing
of tap water to ensure there is no risk to people.

The study, carried out at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in
Wallingford, Oxfordshire, examined the risks posed by chemotherapy drugs
that escape into the environment through sewage.

The researchers estimated that an adult drinking more than three pints
of water a day would receive a weekly dose of between 300 and 30,000
times lower than recommended safety levels.

They warn that a developing foetus would also be exposed to the drugs in
the womb.

Andrew Johnson, the scientist who led the Wallingford study, said: "In
the foetus, which is rapidly growing and comparatively tiny, the dose
would be relatively higher and any damage to its cells could be far more
serious.

"There is not evidence to show that drinking water treatment removes all
these drugs, so while we are not wanting to alarm people, it would be
foolish to assume there is no risk."

 

 

 

 
Melissa Bromly | Water Resource Use | Department of Water
PO Box K822 Perth WA 6842 | Ph: 6364 6882 | F: 6364 6526 |
melissa.bromly at water.wa.gov.au <mailto:melissa.bromly at water.wa.gov.au> 
 
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