I must confess that I had never thought much about this issue. I mean people take all kinds of prescription drugs and that's that right? Well, no it isn't. Those drugs go through our bodies and come out when we visit the bathroom. From there, they enter the water supply and end up coming out of the faucet you drink from!

How do I know this? Well, CNN is covering a story about analysis of drinking water from around the US and it is pretty frightening reading. That story is here.

Now that I think about it, I'm not surprised. In the US, most folks take prescription drugs by the wheel barrow load. You see, Doctors there are afraid of being sued to they over prescribe and Americans I guess have got used to taking all types of drugs now. When I first moved to the US year ago I went to the Doctor with a cold. I was after getting something to clear up the symptoms so I could work. It was just a common cold but I came away with 5 prescription drugs including antibiotics! When I asked why I was told that the antibiotic wouldn't cure the cold (a virus) but would protect me from secondary infection, the nasal spray would help me breathe, the pain killer would help me against aches and pains, the lozenges against sore throat and the decongestant... well you get the idea.

I recall asking the pharmacist to give me only the decongestant and having to fight with them because they felt like I should take all of the drugs prescribed.

Americans take all kinds of drugs routinely. I know because I fell into the same trap until I came back to Europe and realized what I was doing. I was taking an anti-depressant for migraine (to stop me from having a migraine that is), an aspirin to thin my blood to reduce heart attack risk, pills to reduce stomach acid so that the aspirin didn't upset my tummy and so on. See how you end up taking drugs to counter the side effects of other drugs?

And where does this all end up? It comes out in your pee and then ends up in the water supply. Lovely.

According to the CNN article, some water supplies in the US include sex hormones and worse. What impact might this all be having on your health - who knows...