Monday, March 10, 2008

To Your Health!

And in yet another feel-good story about the perils of the world in which we live, an AP investigation has shown that prescription drugs have been found in the drinking water across the United States. In case you missed this story, you can have a look at it here, here, and here.

Lovely. As if it isn't enough that it was determined years ago that there is no longer any truly "clean" air left on the planet, we now have to worry about the effects of residual pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. Nevermind that we've been sold a bill of goods about the toxins that are put into our water deliberately -- flouride, a waste product from the manufacture of atomic bombs and chlorine, which reacts with other naturally occuring compounds to form trihalomethanes (THMs) which have been linked to asthma, eczema, cancer and heart disease.

Is it really too much to ask that my drinking water contain only three things -- two molecules of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen? Apparently it is. No wonder there are more children born with autism, ADD, ADHD and the like -- although I'm convinced that it's as much a result of unhealthy additives in the food as it is toxins in the water supply.

Not surprisingly, the head of a group representing a major California water supplier was quoted as saying that the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed. Really? I think my alarm is more than duly. I'm not trying to crack the Enigma code here. How much interpretation does it take when there are traces of antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones in my drinking water?

Oh, for the good old days back in the Dark Ages. There wasn't much potable water then, so everyone went around in a kind of haze because they were drinking mead. At least you knew what was in your honey wine wouldn't poison you.

When are we, as a race, going to wake up and realize that if we haven't got our health, we haven't got anything? Trite perhaps, but true. How much money and lives could be saved by simply having the "luxury" of fresh air, clean water and pure food? Everyone's howling about the economy like a bunch of scorched cats without understanding that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the ecology.

Of course, to actually make these enormous changes for the benefit of mankind would take staggering amounts of money and effort, and that means that many big corporations might have to short-change their stockholders -- and we can't have that. No, the corporate lobbyists are too powerful and most of our elected officials are quite comfortable being in their back pockets, so I'm not holding my breath that much of this will change during my lifetime -- unless it reaches a tipping point that forces us into a last minute reactionary effort trying desperately to fix what could have been prevented in the first place.

But that is a rant beyond the scope of this post. In the mean time, I'm trying to live a healthy lifestyle and my doctor recommends that I drink eight to ten glasses of water a day.

Bottoms up!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm not going to take my epilepsi pills so you can be healthy and i asked my mom to not take her thiroid pills and i asked my dad to give up bacon and stop taking his colesteral pills, i'm feel so bad, sorry my name is steve

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! How about take your meds and contibute to a filter system that lets us all feel better about the water we drink. This isn't about who takes meds but who's taking care of the water supply! For Heaven's sake. Stay on point!
Schotz

SavageWit said...

Steve,
Are you an under age, out of work comedian? Are you being deliberately obtuse? I sincerely hope you missed the point and didn't avoid it on purpose -- unless perhaps English is not your first language. This isn't about people taking their medication to stay healthy. It's about taking the appropriate steps to clean up the environment. Hello? Give me your address and I'll mail you a quarter so you can go out and buy a clue. However, it's definitely good advice that your dad gives up bacon. And don't be sorry that your name is Steve – it's a good name.
-SavageWit

Anonymous said...

Gee My Dad was a waste treatment Management for one of the townships. So let me tell you about the little chemicals that the government allow your water to be treated with to kill things like virus and bacteria. Also let me tell you that he died from those same chemicals that were said to be safe to all, even using government approved safety guide lines. Buy the best filter you can or find a CLEAN Spring to get water from. Smell the water as it comes out of the tap, most of the time it has a chlorine smell. Needless to say My Dad died from using the Government approved chemicals and safety guidelines on his job. When was the last time a government official got down in a waste treatment tank and cleaned it? Whats that can shovel it but can't clean it? We were never allowed to drink the tap water and I still don't!

Dawn72768@comcast.net