Some medications could end up making you sick. This is what reveals a study published this Monday, January 6 dans la revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Its authors say they found the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “perennial pollutants,” in wastewater from eight large municipal wastewater treatment plants in the United States. Even after treatment, high concentrations of extractable organic fluoride (EOF) which correspond to the definition of PFAS were found there.
Wastewater is impossible to clean from perennial pollutants for these plants, similar to those that serve 70% of the American population. According to the study, “the drinking water sources of 23 million Americans could be contaminated beyond regulatory thresholds by PFAS derived from wastewater alone”.
The researchers also discovered that 62 to 75% of these EOFs came from a dozen pharmaceutical products commonly prescribed in the United States. Among the latter, antidepressants, cholesterol regulators, drugs used in the treatment of diabetes or HIV. “This means that aquatic organisms and potentially people who drink the water can now also be exposed to these pharmaceuticals”explains Bridger Ruyle, the lead author of the study.
Serious consequences
At too high an exposure, PFAS can have serious consequences on the health of consumers. In an information note published in October 2023the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) warned of its potential dangers. It was written there: “PFAS are linked to a variety of human health effects of concern, including cancer, liver damage, and effects on fertility.”
“The number of deaths attributable to PFAS, in the United States alone, is estimated at several million over the past twenty years”, declared to Le Monde, in March 2023Robert Bilott, lawyer specializing in environmental issues who has been warning about PFAS for more than twenty-five years. More recentlyhe added that PFAS were “the most toxic, persistent chemicals (…) ever found in our nation’s drinking water supply (the United States, editor’s note).»
“You are all contaminated”
The issue of PFAS is not limited to the United States or the pharmaceutical sector. This Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the French association Consumption, housing and living conditions (CLCV) revealed in an investigation having discovered the presence of PFAS in “everyday products, particularly food packaging”like bagasse trays.
In March 2024, it was environmental activist Camille Étienne who revealed in her documentary PFAS: how manufacturers are poisoning usthe presence of eternal pollutants in our kitchen utensils, cosmetic products, contact lenses… In short, in everyday supplies. It thus alerted, from the first seconds of the film: “You are all contaminated.”
Source: www.slate.fr
