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href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/13/eachems113.xml"><FONT
face=Arial>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/13/eachems113.xml</FONT></A></DIV>
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<H1><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=4>Cancer drugs found in tap water</FONT>
</FONT></H1><BR><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=storyby>By Richard Gray, Science
Correspondent</SPAN><BR></FONT>
<DIV style="FLOAT: left"><SPAN class=filed><FONT face=Arial>Last Updated: <SPAN
style="COLOR: #000">12:01am GMT</SPAN> 13/01/2008</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>Trace levels of bleomycin, a cancer
chemotherapy drug, and diazepam, a sedative, have been found during tests
on drinking water, the report reveals.</FONT></P>
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<DIV class=adtxt><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>The report, compiled for the DWI by the
consultants Watts and Crane Associates, recommends that drinking water
should be monitored for hazardous drugs.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>"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."</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>But it adds: "Even in the worst-case
situation, there is no significant risk to health from the intake of
pharmaceuticals via drinking water."</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>Sue Pennison, from the DWI, said: "The
recommendations are now being considered and this may include conducting
testing on drinking water."</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>They warn that a developing foetus would
also be exposed to the drugs in the womb.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>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.</FONT></P>
<P class=story2><FONT face=Arial>"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."</FONT></P>
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<DIV align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"><FONT
color=#000080>Melissa Bromly | Water Resource Use | <STRONG>Department of
Water</STRONG></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size=2>PO Box K822 Perth WA 6842
| Ph: 6364 6882 | F: 6364 6526 | </FONT><A
href="mailto:melissa.bromly@water.wa.gov.au"><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"
size=2>melissa.bromly@water.wa.gov.au</FONT></A></DIV>
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