Topical Drugs May Pollute Waterways THURSDAY March 25, 2010 --
Showers and baths are potential sources of hormones, antibiotics
and other medicines that pollute water, a new study shows.
Toilets are a known source of environmental pollution from
active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which are excreted in
urine and feces. In addition, many people flush unused drugs
down the toilet. APIs can make it through the disinfection
process at sewage treatment plants and enter rivers, lakes and
oceans. Some APIs end up in drinking water. This study is the
first to link bathing, showering and laundering with API water
pollution. "These routes may be important for certain APIs found
in medications that are applied topically, which means to the
skin. They include creams, lotions, ointments, gels and skin
patches," study co-author Dr. Ilene Ruhoy, director of the
Institute for Environmental Medicine at Touro University in
Henderson, Nev., said in a news release. Because they are intact
when they enter the environment, t