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 (known technically as fluoxetine) 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.
16 comments:
The linked article from the BBC is dated August 8, 2004. Since this report, the UK has suffered horrendous terrorist attacks by their beloved muhammedan imports. One can safely assume the consumption/elimination of anti-depressants has substantially increased since these bloody attacks - leading one to believe that contamination of UK's water supply is ever more polluted/concentrated since 2004.
Thanks, HRW.
I didn't realize this article was so old.
I saw that you posted it over at JW, so I put it up here.
Dated or not, I still think the issue is something to consider. I wasn't able to locate any followup reports, perhaps someone who reads this will post any updates.
Pastorius,
i don't think we came blame cowardice in the UK on Prozac.
Damien,
First off, I don't think it is a simple cause and effect relationship.
Second, the British have been among the most brave in the history of the world.
To what would you attribute their astonishing dhimmitude?
Pastorius,
I wish there was just one cause. But I think its a combination of many factors. One is that many in the younger generation, are spoiled, and never had to do anything to defend their freedom or their country. There independence has been sapped by a life time of living in a nanny state and politicians think they need Muslim votes. Also most of the British people are not allowed to carry guns. I would add there are other reasons as well.
As predicted in Brave New World. Mass medication to keep the rabble underfoot.
Soma.
kevin,
I've heard of Aldous Huxley's novel.
No Prozac for this infidel. As I live in the SouthWest with Dartmoor on the skyline non of the water I drink is re-cycled.
In fact most of the country will be drinking water that is fresh from the hills.
The notable exception is London where the water is drawn from the Thames and has probably passed through many people on Prozac.
Of course that may explain why our politicians are dhimmies as they will spend some time drinking water recycled from the Thames.
Ray,
Yes, because London is the seat of power.
Or perhaps I should say, it is the seat of impotence.
Damien,
You've never read Brave New World? How old are you? Are you in your 20's or 30's?
Pastorius,
does it really matter? Not every single person on Earth is going to read one book. There are some people who live to be one hundred and never read the Bible, and that book has been a best seller for centuries. I might get around to reading a Brave New World one of these days.
Damien,
The reason I asked is because when I went to high school, there were certain books everyone read, Brave New World, 1984, and To Kill a Mockingbird are the three I remember being most prominent.
I'm in my forties.
So, if you haven't read Brave New World, I'm guessing you are at least 10 years younger than me. Or, you were too busy with your black light posters to bother with school work.
But, you don't seem like that kind of guy.
Pastorius,
I went to high school and I graduated high school as an honor student, and I was never assigned A "Brave New World," in any of my classes. Maybe I should read it one of these days though, you sound like you liked it.
No. I thought it was an ok book. Not great.
1984 was a good book. To Kill a Mockingbird was ok.
The best books I have read are Moby Dick, a few Shakespeare plays, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, The Garden of Eden by Hemingway, The Brothers Karamazov, ...
I'm not that impressed by most fiction.
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