[Pharmwaste] Medicines, Cosmetics In Water Worry Scientists (MI)

[Tenace, Laurie]

http://www.monroenews.com/news/2014/jun/24/medicines-cosmetics-water-worry-scientists/
Medicines, Cosmetics In Water Worry Scientists

When people take medicine or apply beauty products, they may think they're the only ones affected, but as they flush them out of their system or down the drain, wildlife will be getting a dose as well.

Traces of cosmetics and common pharmaceuticals have been detected in the River Raisin spawning from wastewater treatment plant effluents, and while the amounts are not harmful to humans, scientists are concerned about the negative impacts they can have on fish and birds.

"This could affect reproduction and survival," said Sheridan Haack, research hydrologist for the U. S. Geological Survey office in Lansing. " The concern is we don't know what compounds do to wildlife once they get in the water at these concentrations."

A 2010 study by Ms. Haack revealed that the amount of chemicals doubled downstream from the wastewater treatment plant in Adrian compared to a sample upstream.

Among the higher concentrations were sterols, which are common materials in fecal waste, and industrial chemicals while cotinine, musk fragrances, carbamazepine and pesticides were newly detected, according to the study.

Cotinine is a nicotine metabolite the body processes after smoking and carbamazepine is a drug used to treat epilepsy. Musk fragrances are beauty products such as lotion and perfume.

While the first two were detected at low levels, musk fragrances were measured at 200 to 500 nanograms a liter, five to 12 times more than carbamazepine, according to the study.

This study is being updated and scientists are measuring the total load of chemicals coming from the River Raisin and other rivers as they discharge into the Great Lakes, Ms. Haack said. The new testing site is in Monroe.

The USGS is not alone in its studies as other organizations are testing the effects emerging chemicals of concern have on wildlife.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be releasing a study later this summer as well, which analyzes fish and bird eggs along the Detroit River to see if contaminants were present, said Lisa Williams, toxicologist for the service in Lansing.

Research is being done in other parts of the country as well to see how certain chemicals are affecting fish populations, Ms. Williams said.

For instance, in the Potomac River, scientists discovered chemicals in the water were causing some male fish to produce the hormone that female fish have to create eggs, she said.

Estrogen from birth control also has been found in some water sources and can feminize male fish, shrinking their gonads and lowering sperm count. Pharmaceuticals like birth control can get into the water from human urine that gets processed in treatment plants.

There are no standards to regulate these chemicals and government agencies won't be pursuing the possibility in the near future.

"There's not enough convincing data to show these quantities pose a threat to aquatic life," said Amy Babcock, toxicologist for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the regulating agency for the state.

Wastewater treatment plants are required to keep certain chemicals at low levels like mercury and PCBs because they have been known to cause harm to both humans and fish, Ms. Babcock said.

However, if eventually regulated to control pharmaceuticals, Ms. Haack isn't sure plants could treat everything.

"It's an expensive process," she said. "One treatment process may treat some chemicals but not others."

Though most of these chemicals are present in wastewater effluent, Ms. Haack said the treatment plants are not to blame.

"It's not their fault; it's the fault of the consumers," she said, adding that people can limit usage to lessen their impact.

Ways to do this, Ms. Haack said, is to turn in unused medication instead of flushing it and use fewer personal care products.

While people excrete 80 percent of medications naturally, they can use some unnecessary ones less, she said.

"If we don't want these things in the water, we have to remove them at the source, which is us," Ms. Haack said.


Laurie Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Waste Reduction Section
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400
850.245.8759
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us

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