NYC Traces of sedatives in NYC water
Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:45:35 GMT
By JEFF DONN, AP National Writer
NEW YORK - Locals say this city makes the world's best bagels from the best water, piped in from rustic reservoirs up to 150 miles north. Yet few know of a secret ingredient in their source water: a dash of pharmaceuticals.
Research studies have turned up minute amounts of more than 15 drugs or their byproducts in several pristine-looking rivers, a reservoir, and aqueducts feeding the country's biggest water system.
Though barely measurable, these pharmaceuticals are present in a variety worthy of a medicine cabinet: drugs for aches, infections, seizures and high blood pressure; hormones for menopause; the active ingredient in a popular sedative; and caffeine — all bound for the city that never sleeps.
How did they reach waterways? The vast watershed, while mainly rural, stretches almost from
Pennsylvania to
Connecticut and encompasses lots of human activity. Human and veterinary medicines are excreted or discarded, and eventually enter source waters mostly through residential sewage or farm runoff.
And while these waters are processed at
wastewater treatment plants upstate, much of the pharmaceutical residue passes right through, studies show.
It's unknown how much lingers each day by the time 1.1 billion gallons reach the faucets of more than 9 million people in the city and northern suburbs via a century-old network of aqueducts and tunnels.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which runs the city's water system, responded to an Associated Press survey of water utilities, saying it has not tested its drinking water for pharmaceuticals, despite the findings in its watershed.
The tests that detected pharmaceuticals in the upstate source waters were conducted by the
U.S. Geological Survey and New York State Department of Health.
City water officials declined repeated requests for an interview and issued only a brief general statement: "
New York City's drinking water continues to meet all federal and state regulations regarding drinking water quality in the watershed and the distribution system" — regulations that do not address pharmaceuticals in trace amounts.
As in other cities, human health risks from trace pharmaceuticals are uncertain, since concentrations in
New York source waters are way below medical doses and undergo dilution as they mix with fresh water en route to the city.
Already, though, troubling studies indicate that traces of pharmaceuticals may be harming fish in New York City's Jamaica Bay, within sight of Manhattan's skyscrapers. Researcher Anne McElroy at Stony Brook University has found feminized male flounder there, and she links them to high levels of the female hormone estrone or other estrogenic chemicals discovered in the waterway.
Estrogen also has been found in the city's watershed in recent years. Upstate, the geological survey and state health agency also detected the heart medicine atenolol; anti-seizure drugs carbamazepine and primidone; relaxers diazepam and carisoprodol; infection fighters trimethoprim, clindamycin, and sulfamethoxazole; pain relievers ibuprofen, acetaminophen and codeine; and remains of caffeine and nicotine.
Despite all that, the federal government considers the New York City system to be so clean that it need not filter most of its water, as most big cities are required to do. When the filtering waiver was extended last year, Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg exulted: "I've always thought that New York City has some of the best water around, and now we've got confirmation from Washington."
However, filtration is meant mainly to remove germs, and the federal government hasn't required any testing of pharmaceuticals in source or drinking water. Though it lacks conventional treatment plants with filtering processes, New York City does disinfect and add chemicals to its drinking water. Plus, it is building a filtration plant for water from its
Croton watershed — its smallest and closest source.
Patrick Phillips, a geological survey hydrologist who has studied drugs in the city's watershed, says recent sewage treatment upgrades probably catch some, though the systems aren't designed to. The city also is building a plant to disinfect with ultraviolet radiation the water taken from the major, upstate sectors of the watershed. Research shows that ultraviolet can degrade some pharmaceuticals.
"I think both the state and the city are aware that these things could be an issue and you could be proactive about it," Phillips says.
Few New Yorkers seem aware of their possible presence. The AP contacted more than two dozen water-testing companies across the metropolitan area, and none had ever been asked to check for pharmaceuticals.
Douglas LeVangie, a sales executive at Simpltek, says even the company's home water tests for disease-causing germs sell modestly in New York City, with its global reputation for wholesome water.
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National Writer Martha Mendoza and writer Justin Pritchard also contributed to this report.
China Food poisoning deaths up in 2007
Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:33:22 GMT
BEIJING -
Food poisoning deaths in
China rose by about one-third in 2007, the state-run news agency reported Sunday amid ongoing scrutiny over the safety of the country's
food production chain.
Citing figures from the Ministry of Health,
Xinhua News Agency said 258 people were killed last year, up 32 percent from the previous year. The report said that while the number of deaths rose in 2007, overall cases of food poisoning fell to 506, 26 percent less than the previous year.
"Most of the fatal food poisoning incidents were caused by toxic seafood, meat and produce," Xinhua said.
It was not possible to verify whether the figures included all the food poisoning cases in China, a country of 1.3 billion people. Many cases in rural areas, where food is often mislabeled and sanitation problems are common, go unreported or are covered up by local authorities.
A series of product safety scandals last year involving domestic and exported foods has pushed the government to launch measures to restore public confidence. And with the
Beijing Olympic Games approaching in August, authorities have pledged to take rigorous measures to ensure food safety.
More Nevada surgery clinics to be cited
Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:09:25 GMT
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS - A statewide inspection of
outpatient surgery centers like the one believed to have spread hepatitis C to its patients has uncovered dangerous practices at four other clinics, a health official said Friday.
The state swore to quickly inspect all 50
Nevada outpatient surgery centers after it was discovered the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada spread the blood-borne virus to at least six patients by reusing syringes and sharing vials of medication.
Of the 18 clinics inspected by Friday, three in northern Nevada and one in
Las Vegas will be cited and fined for improper disease prevention techniques,
state health division chief Mike Willden said.
Willden said there was no evidence that the clinics were responsible for any outbreaks of disease.
The Gastrointestinal Diagnostic Center in Las Vegas will be cited for repeatedly reusing syringes, he said. Willden could not say whether the center also reused medication vials. Clark County pulled the center's business license, shutting it down shortly after the announcement.
Willden said the Digestive Health Center in Reno had problems with sterilization of equipment, but he did not elaborate.
The center did not immediately return a call for comment.
Dr. Dennis Yamamoto, a partner at the Digestive Health Center, said the infractions found at his clinic were "not even close" to those discovered at the Endoscopy Center.
"We have every confidence that we didn't do anything wrong in the sense of putting any patient's health at risk," he said, adding that the practice in question had been stopped. "They said don't do it, so we don't do it."
At St. Mary's Surgery Center at
Galena, inspectors found problems "with the lack of high-level disinfection or sterilization of instruments used between patients," Willden said.
"There have been no known cases of infection from any of our patients, but we encourage anyone who is concerned about their treatment to contact their doctor for appropriate follow-up care or treatment," St. Mary's Center said in a statement.
A staff member at the Sierra Center for Foot Surgery in
Carson City reported reuse of syringes. The clinic did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The
FBI is investigating possible Medicare fraud at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada,
Rep. Jon Porter's spokesman, Matt Leffingwell, said.
The FBI does not comment on open investigations. The Southern Nevada Health District said it would not confirm the conversation between the congressman and its chief, Dr. Lawrence Sands, for the same reason.
At issue is whether the surgical center may have billed the
federal Medicare program for 30-minute appointments that did not last that long, Leffingwell said.
A spokeswoman for
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said the state is also investigating whether the practices may have resulted in insurance or
state Medicaid fraud.
"We're looking at whether they billed for two vials and only used one," spokeswoman Nicole Moon said.
Six cases of acute hepatitis, a potentially deadly virus that attacks the liver, have been traced to the Endoscopy Center. Nearly 40,000 patients have been notified that they are at risk and should be tested for hepatitis B and C and
HIV.
The clinic has been temporarily closed and fined $3,000.
Health officials believe the virus was spread when clinic nurses used the same syringe twice to administer anesthesia, contaminating the vial. The staff also was found treating multiple patients with vials of medication intended for a single patient only.
Five of the six people infected received treatment at the clinic on the same day.
The owner of the clinic, prominent gastroenterologist Dipak Desai, has refused to answer questions about the outbreak.
Unlike some nurses at the clinic, Desai has not surrendered his medical license. He agreed to "voluntarily cease the practice of medicine" until the state Board of Medical Examiners completes its investigation, the board said Friday.
The state regulatory agency in charge of inspections at outpatient clinics has been criticized for falling behind on its inspection schedule. The Endoscopy Center had not received a full inspection since December 2001, despite a bureau policy of inspecting ambulatory surgical centers every three years.
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On the Net:
Nevada State Health Division: http://health.nv.gov/
Southern Nevada Health District: http://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/