Water, whats in it can hurt you.

I have two different articles to bring up today..both address the issue of water supplies and what is in them. First is this AP writeup about a new report that will come down this week about how KBR is making our soldiers sick because the quality of their bathing and washing water is not up to snuff. From the writeup:

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

The Defense Department’s inspector general’s report, which could be released as early as Monday, found water quality problems between March 2004 and February 2006 at three sites run by contractor KBR Inc., and between January 2004 and December 2006 at two military-operated locations.

It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report. But it said KBR’s water quality “was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards” and the military-run sites “were not performing all required quality control tests.”

KBR was busted last week with their smarmy-assed method of screwing the government and KBR’s own employees by not paying payroll taxes that went to unemployment benefits, Social Security Trust funds and other govt programs. That KBR is now cutting corners when it comes to taking care of our soldiers doesn’t surprise me, and in fact I do recall the stories AP did two years ago about the water filtration problems KBR had on many of the bases in Iraq.

Second, is this article also by AP, that tells us what exactly is in the water American’s are drinking, bathing or washing their dishes and clothes in. Its about the drugs in our water..yes, my dear reader..drugs. From the writeup;

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

See, what gets me is that no one considers the ‘long term effects’ of these concentrations of drugs coursing through our livers. Our livers process everything we take in, everything people..every little thing. It can not be good in the long term for our liver and hence our bodies to be constantly hit with even something as simple as acetaminophen..which has already been shown to have more health problems that it’s worth in my humble opinion. When you toss all those other drugs into the mix..drugs which by themselves have problems with our livers breaking them down and the half-life of it sitting in our livers..well it can’t be fucking good now, can it?

Just because it isn’t at a level to hurt you NOW, doesn’t mean it won’t hurt you years down the road. But Big Pharma and our public water systems really don’t want you to make that connection do they?