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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.monroenews.com/news/2014/jun/24/medicines-cosmetics-water-worry-scientists/">http://www.monroenews.com/news/2014/jun/24/medicines-cosmetics-water-worry-scientists/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:16.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Medicines, Cosmetics In Water Worry Scientists<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p2"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p3"><span lang="EN">“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p4"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p5"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p6"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p7"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p8"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p9"><span lang="EN">The USGS is not alone in its studies as other organizations are testing the effects emerging chemicals of concern have on wildlife.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p10"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p11"><span lang="EN">Research is being done in other parts of the country as well to see how certain chem­icals are affecting fish populations, Ms. Wil­liams said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p12"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p14"><span lang="EN">There are no standards to regulate these chemicals and government agencies won’t be pursuing the possibility in the near fu­ture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p15"><span lang="EN">“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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p16"><span lang="EN">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p17"><span lang="EN">However, if eventually regulated to control pharmaceuticals, Ms. Haack isn’t sure plants could treat everything.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p18"><span lang="EN">“It’s an expensive process,” she said. “One treatment process may treat some chemicals but not others.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p19"><span lang="EN">Though most of these chemicals are pres­ent in wastewater effluent, Ms. Haack said the treatment plants are not to blame.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p20"><span lang="EN">“It’s not their fault; it’s the fault of the con­sumers,” she said, adding that people can limit usage to lessen their impact.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p21"><span lang="EN">Ways to do this, Ms. Haack said, is to turn in unused medication instead of flushing it and use fewer personal care products.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p22"><span lang="EN">While people excrete 80 percent of medi­cations naturally, they can use some unnec­essary ones less, she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="permalinkable" id="h69732-p23"><span lang="EN">“If we don’t want these things in the wa­ter, we have to remove them at the source, which is us,” Ms. Haack said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laurie Tenace<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Environmental Specialist<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Waste Reduction Section<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Florida Department of Environmental Protection<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">850.245.8759<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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