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Prozac In Drinking Water

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SoundDust

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Prozac found in Drinking Water

story here

Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed.
An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.

A report in Sunday's Observer says the government's environment watchdog has discussed the impact for human health.

A spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said the Prozac found was most likely highly diluted.

'Alarming'

The newspaper says environmentalists are calling for an urgent investigation into the evidence.

It quotes the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, Norman Baker MP, as saying the picture emerging looked like "a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".

He says: "It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water."

Experts say the anti-depression drug gets into the rivers and water system via treated sewage water.

Prescriptions increase

The DWI said the Prozac was unlikely to pose a health risk as it was so "watered down".

The Observer says the revelations raise new fears over how many prescriptions for the drug are given out by doctors.

In the decade leading up to 2001, the number of prescriptions for antidepressants went up from nine million per year to 24 million per year, says the paper.

The Environment Agency report concluded that the Prozac in the water table could be potentially toxic and said the drug was a "potential concern".

The exact amount of Prozac in the nation's drinking water is not known.
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[edit]here's the Observer article btw
 
So in addition to the scare about levels of oral contraceptives in the water in the future everyone's going to be sterile, but chilled about it.

Unless the levels of caffeine in the water stress out everyone.

(Actually the serious point is that SSRIs are very useful drugs, but some doctors do hand them out like sweeties).
 
Incidentally, this must be a contender for headline of the day . . .

Brits turn into nation of Prozac-sodden eunuchs
THE UK'S OLDEST newspaper tells us today that we're all glugging gallons of water loaded with the Prozac drug - whether we like it, like it not or are simply not bothered in the slightest.
According to the Observer, Prozac is being prescribed by so many quacks in Blighty that an alarming quantity is building up in drinking water.

Scots who take their whisky neat and believe in the old WC Fields adage that they're not drinking anything that fish have urinated in, aren't at all edgy about the report, for different reasons.

The Observer quotes the Environment Agency as saying that Prozac was a potential concern, although perhaps the civil servants are drinking so much water that really it's very serious indeed.
:hmm:
 
I'm not a usually a great one for accepting that governments are all taking part in some insidious, international plot but I have to admit they'd want to keep the citizens of their respective countries under control.
It used to be said that flouride was added to drinking water to dull the senses and make the populace more passive but now there seems to be quite a few stories about anti-depressents cropping up in drinking water. I remember one other thread on this board about it happening in the USA and now it's being discovered over here.

Prozac "found in drinking water"
Sun 8 August, 2004 13:42

LONDON (Reuters) - Traces of the anti-depressant Prozac have been found in the drinking water supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned about potentially toxic effects.

The Observer said that a report by the government's environment watchdog found Prozac was building up in river systems and groundwater used for drinking supplies.

The exact quantity of Prozac in the drinking water was unknown, but the Environment Agency's report concluded Prozac could be potentially toxic in the water table.

Experts say that Prozac finds its way into rivers and water systems from treated sewage water, and some believe the drugs could affect reproductive ability.

A spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate said Prozac was likely to be found in a considerably watered down form that was unlikely to pose a health risk.

"It is extremely unlikely that there is a risk, as such drugs are excreted in very low concentrations," the spokesman said. "Advanced treatment processes installed for pesticide removal are effective in removing drug residues."

But environmentalists called for an urgent investigation into the findings.

Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it looked "like a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".

"It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water," he told the Observer.

The Environment Agency has held a series of meetings with the pharmaceutical industry to discuss any repercussions for human health or the ecosystem, the Observer said.

Prescription of anti-depressants has surged in Britain. In the decade up to 2001, overall prescriptions of antidepressants rose from 9 million to 24 million a year, the paper said.
Click to expand...

The link.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=561273&section=news


Of course it could just be another sign that doctors are over prescribing.
 
Might be worth remembering it's the silly season for news, I'm sure this story cropped up about this time last year.:eek:
 
Might be worth moving this to urban legends then?
 
There are many drugs, some illegal, with far wider usage profiles than prozac, or even all the SSRI's combined. If any amount in the water were to have an effect, then so would tons of other crap, like caffeine as some one joked, or tylenol, or...viagra.

It IS only a matter of time before some one markets diet-drug laced water or cola. I've seen ephedrine-spiked candy bars many times.
 
Doesn't the water in some areas naturally have lithium in it?
 
I have no problem with people taking anti-depressants when they really need them, but I have been to enough psychologists to know that all you have to do to get a prescription for prozac is to in there and say you're depressed (not that I was trying to get a prescription. I was actually TRYING to get some counseling.) If these stories are true then many, many, many psychologists ought to be shot.
 
It's all an evil government plot to keep us happy, so we won't notice stuff.
It's true though, all you have to do is say you're depressed, and the docs will prescribe! Like a kneejerk reaction.
 
This rather ties in with the Prozac Pee Poses Problem thread, which was much the same story but in Dallas.

One of my friends GPs pushed SSRIs on him for ME. He decided not to take them, then next time he saw the GP they were like "wow, this is the best improvement I've ever seen" before he'd even sat down:rolleyes:
 
This is kind of my main problem with Homeopathy - if undetectable amounts of a substance can affect us in the way they allege, what the hell is the tapwater I drink doing to me!!!!
 
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