Toxic Water and Media Fear Mongering: Responses to the AP’s ‘drugs in the water’ story
A couple of years ago I received a phone call of a reporter. She wanted to know the effects of human-ingested substances–pharmaceuticals, caffeine–on the environment and other humans after being deposited in sewage. Before referring her to the resident environmental scientist experts, I did some research.
Five minutes and a few Google search terms later I found a readily available report (from an expert, non-news-media source) on the subject that essentially said the amounts of such substances are so minuscule that there is no ill effect.
My short amount of research, and the reporter’s excellent sense of judgment, effectively killed the story.
But it’s a story that won’t die that easily. And the cost is being shared by everyone as a result of the Associated Press’ latest iteration last week, which stirred the pot and generated fear among readers by suggesting not enough is being done about potentially toxic public waters. Water agencies are going out to test local water supplies as a result of this story in an attempt to calm public fears and address the issue.
The AP story is so full of qualifiers–the word “may” appears over and over–the the story’s unintended reaction, maybe, is to engender fear. JunkScience.com has this to say:
The first question to be asked is can people physically drink enough water to receive a therapeutic dose? No? Then do these trace levels trigger a response at this sub-therapeutic level? Could we even isolate the effect of such trivial agents amongst normal population variability? Still no? Not much point feeding the AP’s little scare-mongering foray then, is there?
And here’s what one thoughtful scientist from the Southern Nevada Water Authority*, who has studied this issue for more than 10 years, says (text from this week’s eSkeptic):
Last week, a widely circulated Associated Press story reported that “a vast array of pharmaceuticals–including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones–have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.”
Derek & Swoopy look beyond the headline hype in their interview with Dr. Shane Snyder, who published his first study on “Screening of Drinking Water for Possible Endocrine Disrupting Compounds” over ten years ago. As a doctor of Environmental Toxicology and Zoology, Dr. Snyder has devoted most of his career to studying the evidence of chemical, environmental and pharmaceutical compounds in the water supply — and what harm, if any, it poses to the organisms that utilize it.
Download the podcast (29 mb).
*DISCLOSURE: My day job involves communicating information about water rights cases, of which the SNWA is often a party. I don’t know this individual nor do I have much direct interaction with the agency.
