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Drugs in Our Drinking Water: You Heard It Here First

by Ian Wilker  |  March 10, 2008  |  More By Ian Wilker

Tags

drinking water | Elizabeth Royte | environmental health | environmental toxins | pharmaceuticals | water pollution

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that more than 41 million Americans are drinking water that contains prescription drugs -- everything from mood stabilizers to sex hormones to antibiotics. The story is on the front pages of the Washington Post and New York Times, and atop user-edited news sites like Digg, Newsvine, and Slashdot. Good post at Daily Kos on the subject, and treehugger warns that bottled-water marketers will likely use this to promote their product.

But as regular readers of OnEarth know, science writer Elizabeth Royte broke this story with her article "Drugging Our Waters," published in this magazine's Fall 2006 issue. It's a clear-eyed read by a wonderful writer. (Two of Royte's books -- The Tapir's Morning Bath and Garbage Land -- are personal favorites of mine.) I highly recommend it as background for the AP study, and suggest a listen to this podcast as well.

For more on the AP study, AP reporter Haven Daley did a good video summary of the study and the issues it raises.

Tags

drinking water | Elizabeth Royte | environmental health | environmental toxins | pharmaceuticals | water pollution

Comments

  • iwilker wrote on March 13, 2008, 10:15AM :

    Elizabeth -- Can't wait to read your next. And congratulations on what I know to be a shrewdly chosen subject for a book. The (de)merits of bottled water have been much discussed in the media over the last six months especially, but I've got specialized insight into the public's interest in this topic: during my six years as managing editor of NRDC's website, a simple page on bottled water was a year-in-year-out staple on our most-visited-pages list.

    Ian @ OnEarth

  • E Royte wrote on March 11, 2008, 06:05PM :

    Thanks for the shout-out, Ian. Just wanted to add that reporting that story led me to look into broader water-quality issues, and at the social and environmental impacts of bottled water. The result of those investigations (and an answer to the burning question: what the heck are we supposed to drink?) will appear in mid-May in my forthcoming Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale and Why We Bought It. (www.bottlemania.net)

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