Continine is in my Water, What Drugs Are In Yours

Oh oh, looks like our good friends are spiking the water supply with continine and other prescription drug goodies.

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Phexerian, on 3/10/2008 6:39:02 PM
Total Posts: 98, Joined: 7/24/2006

Very nice editorial Dan. I am impressed.

Couple of things.

This is not a new subject. This has been around for some time now. People have been worried about how to properly dispose of medications without contaminating the environment. Unfortunately, we as a society haven't come to any great conclusion as to properly dispose of such medicines. The major way that drugs such as these end up in our drinking water is from people flushing their meds down the toilet when the no longer need them.

The best way to dispose of them is to just throw them in the trash rather than flush them. Does it still go back to the environment? Yes it does. But it doesn't go directly into the city's water system and back into other people.

About half of the meds listed in that small list were antibiotics by the way.

As to the other additives in water, well, lets start with fluorine. Fluorine is added into the water at about 1 ppm. The primary reason for it is to prevent tooth decay. Now of course, just about everyone brushes their teeth. Toothpaste itself has lots of fluoride that we use topically that is not absorbed systemically a lot. So why the need for fluoride in water? I've asked that many times before. The only exception to that are little infants and kids who have teeth who don't brush them. They could possibly use fluoride to help prevent cavities. I have mixed feelings as to fluoride treatment in public use.

Is fluoride a poison? It can be if you absorb to much of it. However, it is also considered a nutrient. It is important for your body to have enough fluorine for healthy teeth and bones. You can actually have a deficiency in fluoride as well.

What about Chlorine? Chlorine is added to city's water supply for the prevention of legionella primarily but also for other organisms like giardia lamblia. I do believe it is necessary to have in drinking water and chlorine itself is also used by your body quite a lot. Your body also has a buffer system against it as part of your acid base system. Would you want drinking water with legionella or giardia in it?

Cotinine is a by product of nicotine. When people smoke a cigarette, and then urinate in the toilet, they excrete nicotine. It has about a 20-24 hour half life in the body. Once out of the body it stays in the water system for quite some time I would think.

It would be interesting to see the percentage of people that smoke in those cities where high levels of cotinine were found in the city's water supply and see if any correlation or evidence of causality could be made.

Cotinine is also known to be cancerous to the human body. It is also thought that cotinine also improves memory function but may also lead to Alzheimer's Disease and a few other neurodegenerative problems. BTW, cotinine is also an anagram for nicotine.

All in all, tap water is just as good as bottled water. But I would still probably get a charcoal filter for my drinking water.

-Phex
-2nd Year PharmD Candidate