Senate Holds Hearing on Drugs In the Water
Two years ago, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy formed a task force to develop a plan to research the issue of pharmaceutical products in drinking water. Monday, an Associated Press report revealed that the group failed to carry out its responsibilities. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality held a hearing today, hoping to put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency to take initiative on the issue.
Lawmakers called the hearing in response to a series of investigative pieces by the AP, which “revealed how drugs—mostly the residue of medications taken by people, excreted and flushed down the toilet—have gotten into the water supplies of at least 24 major metropolitan areas, from Southern California to Northern New Jersey.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, also expressed concern that trace amounts of drugs can end up in the drinking water supply when people dispose of drugs by flushing them down toilets instead of putting them in the trash. Improper disposal of drugs is a public health concern, especially in children and pregnant women, she said. Robert Hirsch, Associate Director for Water at the U.S. Geological Survey, explained that antibiotics can also harm microbial ecosystems when they enter the soil. Long-term effects of pharmaceuticals and chemicals for both humans and ecosystems, he said, are uncertain, however.
Scientific uncertainty is a central problem for dealing with drugs in drinking water. Benjamin Grumbles, Assistant Administrator for Water at the Environmental Protection Agency, asserted that there are not enough data available to justify taking regulatory action on part of or all of a list of 140 chemicals that the Subcommittee is concerned about, including rocket fuel, gasoline additives, and pesticides. Instead, he outlined a “four-pronged” approach to addressing the problem, emphasizing that the Agency must work to improve “public understanding” of actual risks. Boxer accused the EPA of not adequately funding research that would provide answers on specific chemicals; the EPA’s lack of scientific data is its “own fault,” she charged.
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