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Welcome to the June edition of our newsletter. It was a long winter and spring of cold, wet and snowy weather. It's now time to open your windows, hear the birds sing and get some fresh air. Remember to check your well head and remove debris that might have accumulated around it during the stormy weather. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's near and far!
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Microplastics are generated in several ways: Polyethylene microbeads used in toothpastes, facial scrubs and other personal-care products enter the environment because many water-treatment facilities are unable to filter them out. Plastic garbage that is put into the ocean is broken down by wave action and sunlight which weakens large items and breaks them into ever-smaller fragments. Some microplastic pollution is dust from construction or industrial processes that's carried to the ocean by wind or water.
All of these tiny plastic particles wouldn't be a problem if they quickly broke down into simpler chemical forms, but plastic molecules are very resilient and could remain intact to threaten the environment for thousands of years. Microplastics have been shown to absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses, and then release them when consumed by fish and mammals. More research is needed to determine the health effects, if any, on human ingestion.
In 2015, congress passed the Microbead-Free Waters Act. This bill prohibits the manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics containing plastic microbeads. The law also applies to products that are both cosmetics and non-prescription drugs, such as toothpastes. This is a step in the right direction to help reduce and eventually eliminate these microplastics from entering our drinking water supplies.
Plastic has brought many benefits to society, from packaging materials and cutlery to plastic appliances and medical devices, but it is clear that the way we use and dispose of plastic has resulted in the widespread occurrence of microplastics in the environment.
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Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
In the news you often hear about arsenic, lead and other analytes found in drinking water; this is a real concern given the health affects they cause. What you don't often hear about are levels of pharmaceuticals and other illicit drugs that are being found in our water supplies. According to an Associated Press investigation pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.
How do these get into our drinking water? Some people flush unwanted medication down the toilet, these end up in our wastewater system. Also, when someone takes medication or other illicit drugs what is not absorbed in the body is voided and this too ends up in the wastewater system. After the wastewater is treated it gets discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. If the treated discharged water ends up in a body of water used for drinking it could then be further treated before being sent off to consumers. Even though the water is going through dual treatment most processes do not remove all traces of drugs. The concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are well below the levels of a therapeutic dose however experts in the field can't say for sure if the levels are low enough to not be harmful to health.
Easily degradable "green drugs" are in development to help fix this growing issue. However, it is still several years out before we can anticipate main stream use of these types of drugs. Unfortunately, in order to convince the big pharmaceutical companies to consider a drug's environmental impact, extra incentives will most likely be required.
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Agricultural Water Testing for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approximatley 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), enables the FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. Although chemical and physical hazards to consumers remain a consideration, the main focus of the regulation is definitely on minimizing microbiological risk from pathogens such as E. coli, viruses such as Hepatitis, and parasites which may be present in water or contributed by wildlife.
The rule establishes microbial standards and testing requirements for agricultural water. Different water quality criteria are established for water used during growing activities and for water used during and after harvest. Both are based on testing water for generic Escherichia coli, which is an indicator of fecal contamination. Below are the requirements.
- The requirement for agricultural water used during growing activities is a microbial water quality profile, based on a rolling 4-year sample data set, that has a geometric mean of 126 or less CFU/100 mL generic E. coli and a statistical threshold value of 410 or less CFU/100 mL generic E. coli.
- The requirement for agricultural water used during and after harvest is no detectable generic E. coli in 100 mL of water.
The original rule allowed only the use of EPA Method 1603. However, the FDA has issued a statement that deems other methods equivalent and acceptable for the purposes of E.coli monitoring in this rule. Included in this statement is the approval of Colilert® & Colilert-18® when used in
conjunction
with the Quanti-Tray/2000 for quantification.
The FDA is currently reviewing this rule and has issued a proposed rule that will extend the
compliance
dates for this testing. These dates vary depending on the average annual monetary value of produce sold by the farm. To view the prosed rule and learn more about the FSMA follow the links below.
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**NEW**
Contributor's Corner
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A & L Laboratory, a Division of Granite State Analytical Services | 207-784-5354 | rlabranche@granitestateanalytical.com | www.allaboratory.com
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