Most epidemics that hit our country are highly publicized by local and national media outfits. When avian flu hit China, we heard about it. When salmonella poisoning hit a small group of people, we heard about it. Every week there’s a new show or newscast mentioning the H1N1 virus, though it hasn’t been as widespread as we thought it would be. What we don’t hear about, though, is drugs in our drinking water. Though it is only recently becoming a health concern, we still haven’t had a lot of coverage on this subject.
Back in 2000, United States health department officials conveyed concern regarding the discovery of antibiotics in our water supply. They stated that the presence of these drugs in drinking water could give way for super bugs to grow- organisms that would be harmful to our health and resistant to current medications like common antibiotics. Those considered experts on the matter of antibiotic resistance stated that these sorts of super bugs had been around for a long time and already caused health issues, so all was fine. The EPA, however, insisted that drugs in drinking water was not safe and would be a major health concern.
