[ RadSafe ] The solution to pollution

[Steven Dapra]

Aug. 23

         I don't make the news, I only report it.

         Antibiotics end up in drinking water and some people are 
allergic to them.  I do not know if the concentrations in drinking 
water are high enough to cause any harm to anyone.  Estrogens have 
also been found in drinking water.  Perhaps they are at low enough 
levels to also not be harmful.  Do I want to drink water containing 
antibiotics and estrogens at levels that are BRC?  Let me think about 
it for a while.

         At the same time, 65 percent of cancer is caused by smoking 
and diet.  In light of that, perhaps we should be putting our emphasis there.

Steven Dapra


At 08:48 PM 8/22/2011, you wrote:
>     All sewage ends up in river water that may be the source of 
> drinking water.
>So what??
>Is it conceivable that the concentration of waste medications in the 
>resultant
>drinking water
>
>could high enough to be a hazard. How about all the other stuff in sewage?
>Remember Paracelsus--"The dose makes the poison". Just because something is
>detectable does necessarily  make it a hazard.
>     I reviewed the references you cited, and saw nothing that addresses my
>question. It seems that the simplistic reasoning that--if it's 
>thare, it must be
>a hazard is used. We may be dealing with just another "science" scam 
>similar to
>global warming. It is difficult to get funding for research on non-problems.
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Steven Dapra <sjd at swcp.com>
>To: Jerry Cohen <jjcohen at prodigy.net>; The International Radiation Protection
>(Health Physics) Mailing List <radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu>
>Sent: Mon, August 22, 2011 6:16:05 PM
>Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] The solution to pollution
>
>Aug. 22
>
>         Yes, don't you just love tautologies.
>
>         Expired medications can end up in river water that is used 
> for drinking
>water.
>
>         See for example:
>
>http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/awr/july00/feature1.htm
>
>         The article does not suggest any human health effects, but does note
>that a lot of pharmaceuticals end up in drinking water.  You can do a Google
>search using "medications in river water" and obtain more results.
>
>Steven Dapra
>
>
>At 03:05 PM 8/22/2011, you wrote:
> >    Many years ago, when I began to work in the environmental health field,
> > there existed a guideline to the effect, "The solution to pollution is
> > dilution". In other words, if it could be assured that disposal 
> of any harmful
> > agent could not result in environmental concentrations above designated
> > standards, the disposal method could be considered acceptable. 
> Over time, this
> > approach had apparently been superceded by the "Any is too much" philosophy
> > where the detectible presence of anything harmful is not 
> acceptable. The ALARA
> > principle in radiation safety is a manifestation of this type of thinking.
>
> >    Now, it seems that we have evolved to the next level. I recently noted a
> > warning from our state Health Dept. to the effect that any disposal of
>outdated
> > medications into the sewage system is forbidden. I've tried to 
> imagine a set
>of
> > conditions where this practice might conceivably result in some harmful
>effect,
> > but I am stumped. When I inquired about the rational, I learned 
> the reason for
> > this prohibition is because the practice is illegal. OK, ---I 
> give  up! Maybe
> > someone on radsafe has a reasonable explanation.
>
> > Jerry Cohen
>
>
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