Drugs In Our Drinking Water

MikeURL alerts to a AP story just published after a months-long investigation on the vast array of pharmaceuticals present in US drinking water. These include antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones, as well as over-the-counter drugs. Quoting: "To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe. But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health."

Mood stabilizers?

[Genocaust]

Really? Shit sure doesn't seem to be working on my wife.

LSD

[McGiraf]

What! no LSD yet? When will these lazy hippies finally get to it?

RE: Drugs in Our Drinking Water

[Anonymous Coward]

I fail to see the problem. However, what I do see is a pink elephant running across my living room carpet as I write this. The good news is that I am very calm as I know the purple dolphins in my kitchen will protect me.

It's the commies

[Anonymous Coward]

They're corrupting our precious bodily fluids!

Stuart

[mightybaldking]

Who cares what the drugs are doing to are water? I'm more concerned with what the queers are doing to the soil.

Apply directly to the drinking water

[Dachannien]

Just think of the consequences if homeopathic remedies - which are supposed to work better with minuscule quantities of an "active" ingredient - get into our drinking water, too?

That's not pollution

[Anonymous Coward]

That's free homeopathy.

Hooray!

[EggyToast]

According to supporters of Homeopathy, we'll all become incredibly healthy thanks to this!

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[calebt3]

She's dehydrated.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[call-me-kenneth]

Shit sure doesn't seem to be working on my wife.

Why not suggest that she tries mood stabilisers instead, then?

three questions

[edwardpickman]

What drugs?

What water supplies?

And how can I buy some of the water?

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Mr. Roadkill]

Why not suggest that she tries mood stabilisers instead, then?

Perhaps he enjoys having a penis, and doesn't wish to do anything to jeopardise that.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[edittard]

She's dehydrated.

I hate being a spelling nazi, but it's "deflated".

Re:Apply directly to the drinking water

[Anonymous Coward]

You did hear the one about the homeopathic 'doctor' who forgot to take his treatment didn't you?

He died of an overdose...

Re:But then....

[Bloke down the pub]

That's why I prefer beer - though I heard a rumour it contains female hormones: after you've drunk ten or so, you can't drive and you start talking crap.

Don't drink the water

[Slackhead]

Years ago most drinking water in towns was too bad to drink unless you lived in the country near to a good spring. Hence the invention of beer. My advice is stop drinking water and just go for beer, wine and spirits instead.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Nefarious Wheel]

Hey, why do you think they call it the Department of Water and Power?

Precious bodily fluids

[Nimey]

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream.

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Lord, Jack.

General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began?

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack.

General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh, Jack, Jack, listen, tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory?

General Jack D. Ripper: Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.

General Jack D. Ripper: Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence.

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.

General Jack D. Ripper: I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake.

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No.

General Jack D. Ripper: But I... I do deny them my essence.

Re:Apply directly to the drinking water

[zippthorne]

That's why it's there. You have to set the baseline level so that you don't accidentally dilute the treatment into dangerous over-potency.

Re:Strange...

[iknownuttin]

The Russians are contaminating our water through their toilets?!

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Thexare Blademoon]

I heard the distinctive "whoosh" of a joke sailing far above someone's head and came as fast as I could.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Stripe7]

Are these concentrations higher than those used in Homeopathy?

Re:More misleading 'news' about 'drugs'

[Harmonious Botch]

No, his/her plumbing is broken.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[smittyoneeach]

Even in the presence of severe deflation?

And that's not all

[Mr2001]

You should worry about the massive amounts of fluoride that is being placed deliberately in our drinking water despite many known dangers.

Yes, indeed, although it's not nearly as dangerous as dihydrogen monoxide [dhmo.org], which is present in much, much higher levels in tap water as well as bottled water. Even the most advanced water filtering systems let 99% or more of the DHMO pass right through, but thanks to loopholes in the FDA regulations, you won't see that unpleasant fact listed on the safety sheets.

I mean, you're right to be worried about the Commie plot to impurify our precious bodily fluids, but fluoride is just the tip of the iceberg. (By the way, the iceberg that sunk the Titanic also contained dangerously high levels of DHMO. Icebergs don't naturally grow to that size except in the presence of DHMO.)

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard the distinctive "whoosh" of a joke sailing far above someone's head and came as fast as I could.


That's gotta be the weirdest fetish I've ever heard of.

Re:the only way to solve this problem

[MillionthMonkey]

Well people call me crazy, but for years I've been doing my part to stay "green" and ameliorate this problem simply by not polluting the water supply. My garage is full of thousands of jars of urine and excrement tainted by drugs that are not in your water thank you very much.

My homeopathic message (+5 insightful)

[MyLongNickName]

a.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard the distinctive "whoosh" of a joke sailing far above someone's head and came as fast as I could.

That's gotta be the weirdest fetish I've ever heard of.

You must be new here.

Re:Tap Water vs Bottled Water

[dbIII]

If bottled water really was a scam it would be labelled "naive" backwards or something.

Re:But then....

[CastrTroy]

Ripper: Mandrake?
Mandrake: Yes, Jack?
Ripper: Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, I can't say I have.
Ripper: Vodka, that's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well, I-I believe that's what they drink, Jack, yes.
Ripper: On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, eh, yes. I, uhm, can't quite see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water, that's what I'm getting at, water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of you is water?
Mandrake: Uh, uh, Good Lord!
Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake: Yes. (he begins to chuckle nervously)
Ripper: Are you beginning to understand?
Mandrake: Yes. (more laughter)
Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure-grain alcohol?
Mandrake: Well, it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation. Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake: Uh? Yes, I-I have heard of that, Jack, yes. Yes.
Ripper: Well, do you know what it is?
Mandrake: No, no I don't know what it is, no.
Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?

This is great news!

[$pace6host]

With the cost of my drug coverage going up every year, and the co-pay going up, too, I thought I'd never be able to afford prescription drugs! Now all I need to do is drink a few hundred thousand gallons of water!

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Sure, its not your wife. What happens if she stabilizes on the wrong mood?

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[martin-boundary]

why do you think they call it the Department of Water and Power?

They actually wanted to be called the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, but the name was already taken.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[aurispector]

You sure it isn't the other way around?

Re:LSD

[Viceroy Potatohead]

We decided against it. The world is weird enough as it is, and it appears too many people (generally well armed) are in the midst of bad trips, anyhow. However, intriguing patterns, such as paisley, Atari graphics, or mirrors are still available to help us all through this difficult time.

This is a community service message brought to you by The-People-Who-Were-Fired-Out-Of-A-Gun-Lined With-Baroque-Paintings-Into-A-Sea-Of-Electricity[Wade Davis reference].

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[Spokehedz]

Dr. Egon Spengler: There's something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don't cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.

Re:It's the commies

[Foobar of Borg]

From Dr. Strangelove. Whoever modded down parent wants slapping.

Don't be too hard on them. The mods have been drinking a lot of tap water lately.

Re:Mood stabilizers?

[tehshen]

No, that's just the air coming out of his wife.