San Mateo County Times
Flushed meds could spur a fishy situation
Scientists concerned that discarded chemicals may affect aquatic life
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Julia Scott
 
REDWOOD CITY — The view of the Bay is placid from the South Bayside System Authority sewage plant in Redwood Shores. But beneath the surface lurks a mysterious soup of chemicals, some of which could be affecting fish.

Local scientists have long been concerned that a class of drugs found to alter the sex characteristics of fish in other parts of the country could also be present in Bay Area waters, but they have no proof of it so far.

From Chesapeake Bay to the depths of the Potomac, scientists have been discovering that fish exposed to sewage effluent have developed a series of genetic mutations over time. Some male fish developed sexual defects after being exposed to chemicals used in birth control pills. Other fish,exposed to small concentrations of blood pressure medications, experienced thyroid problems or stunted growth.

A 2005 study found some of the same problems in fish caught off the coast of Orange County.

Environmental scientists attribute these effects to endocrine disrupters, a largely unstudied group of synthetic chemicals found in pharmaceuticals that reach the water in sewage effluent after being secreted by humans or flushed down the toilet. Modern sewage systems are not built to clean them out, and they can stay in waterways for years, building up in the tissue of bottom-feeding fish.

No studies have yet been conducted on endocrine disrupters in Bay Area waters, so the extent of their presence is unknown. But local water officials are taking action. They are encouraging residents to get rid of their unwanted or expired drugs by throwing them in the garbage or bringing them to a designated disposal site during the week of May 13-21.

Held locally in Millbrae, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and Belmont, the Bay Area Pollution Prevention Group' Medicine Disposal Days are a first attempt to make residents aware of the dangers the drugs may pose to aquatic life.

There is also the fact that, in San Mateo County, every piece of litter and industrial pollutant that ends up in the streets flows directly to the Bay without being treated.

"We've realized it's an issue, and rather than be reactive, we're being proactive," said Karin North, head of the city of Palo Alto's Environmental Compliance Division.

North heads a Santa Clara County working group on emerging contaminants of concern in the Bay. The issue came to the group's attention over four years ago, but those involved have not made much headway in testing for endocrine disrupters, according to North.

With hundreds of chemicals to choose from, including hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and other industrial pollutants, and no test developed for them, it is difficult to discern which ones pose the greatest threat, said North.

And though no human effects have been documented, "you just don't know," said North.

A standard test for endocrine disrupters, however, is "several years away," said Bobbye Smith, regional science liaison for the Environmental Protection Agency's research and development division.

"The money is being spent to determine which of this enormous amount of chemicals poses the biggest problem," Smith said.

She added that pharmaceuticals would be a difficult class of pollutants to regulate, if it ever came to that; they have never been part of the EPA's responsibility.

The Bay Area's long industrial legacy has left other chemicals, such as animal hormones, commercial-strength pesticides and heavy metals at the bottom of the Bay, according to Rainer Hoenicke, deputy director of the San Francisco Estuary Institute. Samples of mussel and clam tissue taken from the Bay between 1999 and 2001 by the SFEI also revealed chemicals used in personal care products and detergents. Flame retardants, commonly used to protect couches and carpets, were detected at particularly high levels, said Hoenicke.

Dangerously high levels of mercury, a byproduct of mining activities, have prompted the state government to put up signs on local piers warning fishermen and residents about consuming too many predatory fish.

The results of the SFEI study "(S)howed that the way we manage our waste, the regulatory infrastructure, is inadequate to deal with newer drugs that come into the system, like pharmaceuticals," Hoenicke said.

He added that very few of the known chemicals present in the Bay, other than pesticides such as DDT, have been banned.

By joining the Bay Area Pollution Prevention Group's pharmaceutical-collection program, the South Bayside System Authority hopes to help residents of Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City and other service areas take action, according to Norman Domingo, the plant's technical services supervisor.

It is an important first step, but there's only so much individual districts can do, North said.

"Even if (the chemicals) are breaking down, there's always something being discharged into the Bay, seven days a week ... and we can't tell people to stop taking their medications," she said.

To find a medicine disposal location near you, visit http://www.Baywise.org.