Who needs a prescription? US tap water 80% likely to contain traces of pharmaceutical drugs

The Associated Press is reporting that trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs have found their way into drinking water in 28 out of 35 cities tested -- 80 percent of the communities surveyed.

A recent study by the USGS showed that major Oregon waterways, including the Willamette and Columbia rivers found detectable levels of caffeine, prozac, and tagamet.

How does it happen?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

''We know we are being exposed to other people's drugs through our drinking water, and that can't be good,'' says Dr. David Carpenter, who directs the Institute for Health and the Environment of the State University of New York at Albany.

Indeed.