Pharmaceuticals, doctors and water

I mentioned before that pharmaceuticals can be found in treated waste water and cause havoc in nature. In fact, a recent article in the Epoch Times lists which type of pharmaceuticals (anti-depressants, antibiotics etc.) are dominant in certain US cities. Near animal feed lots concentration of growth hormones are way higher than in other water sources. The article also mentions the affected creatures such as fish, frogs, shrimp and how the pharmaceutical traces in the water change their behaviour or sexual organs. If it happens to them who says it will not happen to us? My husband told me today that the radio station he listens to asked why in recent years more girls are born than boys, even though boys have been the majority for a long time. How about BPA (bisphenol A, a toxin similar to oestrogen) and leftovers of the anti-baby-pill? They are in the water, no doubt. 
Obviously, there is enough reason not to tell the public about all that because you don't want to scare them about such simple things as drinking tap water. One major reason must be the pharma-industry that is keen on selling their products, which brings me to a different article on the same page. It states that aggressive marketing should make one very suspicious about a drug. But let's face it, doctors are only human beings too and just as susceptible to marketing as everyone else and it can be hard to say no. So doctors might happily prescribe a drug that is not very effective, is not approved because there has not been enough testing, not on the right test group anyway, is not as safe as the producer claims, but is marketed very well. In addition, the pharma-industry comes up with medication for conditions that do not even exist and did not used to be considered an illness, such as pre-diabetes or pre-hypertension. Voila, more and more pharmaceuticals make their way into our bodies, some of them needless and useless, get flushed out and cause further damage in fish, animals and us again as the water does its cycle and eventually comes through our tap again. 
I know we can't tell everybody to get off their medications but those who take them should question their purpose and usefulness and look into alternatives.                                  

Out of order

Baby has been sick for a week and since I spend a lot of time close to her, especially when she's sick, I got the bug now, too. I really like her doctor. When we went to see him yesterday and he did not recommend any medication. Instead he suggested to make her inhale eucalyptus or rosemary or something like that by putting a few drops of oil on a cloth underneath her bed sheet. So I bought the 12 ml bottle of eucalyptus oil at Planet Organic (the price tag did not quite make me faint) and simply opened the bottle in her room. Wonderful smell! Anyway, baby is better, mummy is worse. Of course, I don't take medication. I believe my body should be able to straighten itself out. It's just a cold after all. And there's a lot of bad medication, not all of it but lots. Medication derived from plants, such as homoeopathic stuff, is okay from my "green perspective" because it's natural. But I have a very bad opinion about chemical medication - it's designed in laboratories, it's so highly concentrated that a tiny amount has quite an impact on the human body, and what the body does not absorb gets passed out and into the water stream because it will not be removed in waster water treatment facilities. Apparently there's almost no drinking water source on the planet any more that does not have antibiotics in it. Antibiotics are given to patients, real and fake ones alike, so readily that they are now a "natural" occurrence in water!? Feeding antibiotics to animals certainly does its part, too. But people not feeling well do tend to go to the doctor demanding antibiotics even though it does not cure at all what their problem is. Colds can not be fixed with antibiotics so why does no doctor tell the patient? Placebo effect maybe, patient believes it helps and bang he feels already much better. Anyway, I think doctors should always consider alternatives to chemical drugs first and patients need to learn to be patient. A plant extract might not kick in quite as fast as the highly concentrated chemistry cocktail but it will come with fewer side effects. And since most chemical medications have not been tested on how they work together with other chemical medications I suggest to apply the "better safe than sorry"- rule. Saves the planet, too, by preserving our water quality.