Senate asks if drinking water's safe
A Senate hearing today follows reports that prescription drugs, such as heart medications and antidepressants, were found in the drinking water of two dozen cities. Is there a health risk? Sam Eaton reports.
Prescription drugs at a pharmacy. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Renita Jablonski: Forget Vitamin Water. An ordinary glass of municipal tap can contain a long list of prescription medications. Today, Congress splashes in the safety question. From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Sam Eaton reports.
Sam Eaton: Today's Senate hearing was prompted by recent Associated Press reports that found traces of drugs like antibiotics, anti-depressants and heart medications in the drinking water of two dozen major cities. The culprit is human waste that makes its way back into the water supply, drugs intact. Pharmaceutical companies say there's no proven risk to human health. But Natural Resources Defense Council scientist Jennifer Sass says those findings are based on individual drug exposures, not the cocktail found in municipal water supplies.
Jennifer Sass: These chemicals are active in our bodies even at those low levels. And, in addition we're getting a lot of them, not just one or two and not just by prescription.
Sass says the problem shows just how pervasive prescription drug use has become in America. Meanwhile, a White House task force assigned to the issue has failed to meet its deadline for devising a national research strategy.
I'm Sam Eaton for Marketplace.
