[theBuckwheat]

>>
What exactly is Prozac doing in the streams, anyway? Do so many people take Prozac that they are peeing it downstream?
<<

When a drug is ingested, the body eventually excretes it. Some drugs are metabolized, that is, digested or altered. Others eventually leave the body just as they entered it. Although very dilute when flushed down the toilet, if the sewage plant drains into a body of water, the chemicals that do not evaporate tend to accumulate. If a drug, such as female hormones from birth control pills reach a sufficient level in the water, they will have an effect on the wildlife. Some animals are affected by much lower doses of a drug than are the humans the drug was given to. So, this is can be a serious issue of environmental pollution.

We will hear a lot more on this issue in the future. If the EPA wants to address it, I hate to think of the changes that will have to be made to sewage treatment, not to mention the costs involved.

[NinoFan]

Granted, there may be extra costs involved, but what other solution is there besides changing the way sewage is treated?

[VoiceOfBruck]

Along those lines, I heard on a documentary about waterways in New York that they find sewage leaks by checking for elevated caffiene levels in the water.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Did'ja miss #14? Or disagree? Or just ignored it?