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Cocaine, Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water

How's this for a sweet surprise? A team of researchers in Washington State has found traces of cooking spices and flavorings in the waters of Puget Sound.

University of Washington associate professor Richard Keil heads the Sound Citizen program, which investigates how what we do on land affects our waters.

Keil and his team have tracked "pulses" of food ingredients that enter the sound during certain holidays.

For instance, thyme and sage spike during Thanksgiving, cinnamon surges all winter, chocolate and vanilla show up during weekends (presumably from party-related goodies), and waffle-cone and caramel-corn remnants skyrocket around the Fourth of July.

The Puget Sound study is one of several ongoing efforts to investigate the unexpected ingredients that find their way into the global water supply.

Around the world, scientists are finding trace amounts of substances—from sugar and spice to heroine, rocket fuel, and birth control—that might be having unintended consequences for humans and wildlife alike.

Vanilla Seas?

When spices and flavorings are flushed out of a U.S. home, they travel to a sewage-treatment facility, where most of them are removed.

In the area around Puget Sound, the University of Washington team found, the spicy residues that remain in wastewater end up flowing into the sound's inland waterways.

Of all the flavors trickling downstream, artificial vanilla dominates the sound, Keil said. For instance, the team found an average of about six milligrams of artificial vanilla per liter of water sampled.

The region's sewage runoff contains more than 14 milligrams of vanilla per liter. This would be like spiking an Olympic-size swimming pool with approximately ten 4-ounce (113.4-gram) bottles of artificial vanilla. For now, there's no evidence that a sweeter and spicier sound is a bad thing—salmon, which can smell such flavors, could be enjoying their vanilla-enhanced habitat, (YEAH, OK) Keil said. In an attempt to understand some of the consequences of spice in the water, Keil and colleagues plan to study whether cooking ingredients harm the reproduction of octopuses in Puget Sound.

Overall, he added, the spice project has become a successful recipe for educating people, especially schoolkids, "that everything you do is connected to the watershed."

Illegal Drugs

The link from kitchen or bathroom to coast can also grease the path for some rather unsavory substances, such as illegal drugs, experts have discovered.

After a person has taken drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and ecstasy, active byproducts of these substances are released into the sewage stream through that person's urine and feces.

These byproducts, or metabolites, are often not completely removed during the sewage-treatment process, at least in Europe, said Sara Castiglioni of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy.

That means the drug-tainted wastewater can enter groundwater and surface water, which are collectively the major sources of drinking water for most people.

(Related: "Cocaine on Money: Drug Found on 90% of U.S. Bills.")

In a new review study, Castiglioni and colleague Ettore Zuccato found that illegal drugs have become "widespread" in surface water in some of Europe's populated areas.

For instance, in a 2008 study scientists discovered a byproduct of cocaine in 22 of 24 samples of drinking water at a Spanish water-treatment plant—despite a rigorous filtering and treatment process.

Likewise, in 2005, Zuccato found that a daily influx of cocaine travels down the Po River, Italy's longest river.

Though these drug traces are still tiny, it's possible that the potent residues could be toxic to freshwater animals, according to the study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

For this reason, the "risks for human health and the environment cannot be excluded," the study warns.

Pharmaceuticals

Scientists are also developing a clearer picture of how legal pharmaceuticals and personal-care products—from antibiotics and morphine to fragrances and sunscreen—are flooding our waterways.

For example, previous research had revealed that up to 44.1 pounds (20 kilograms) of pharmaceuticals flow down Italy's Po River each day.

Much like illegal drugs, traces of pharmaceuticals often filter through traditional sewage-treatment processes.

These products are also found in many U.S. waterways, and studies have shown that certain drugs may cause harm to the environment—though no evidence to date has shown effects in people, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Some of the drugs that mimic hormones, such as birth control, may also throw off an animal's endocrine, or hormone-regulating, system. Some male fish in the U.S., for example, have been growing female parts due to exposure to estrogen in the water.

Researching these substances is important, Castiglioni said, "because [these] are quite unknown contaminants, and they are present in the environment in huge amounts, especially for pharmaceuticals."

To control the flow of these substances, some experts have suggested creating "green pharmacies," which would allow a consumer to send back their drugs to a pharmacist or manufacturer instead of flushing them down the toilet and into the wild.

Contaminants

Current EPA regulations say that more than 90 contaminants must be filtered out of drinking-water systems, said Cynthia Dougherty, director of EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.

Viruses and other microorganisms are kept at bay, as are inorganic substances such as lead, cyanide, copper, and mercury. Pollutants from fertilizer runoff, such as nitrate and nitrite, are also removed.

In addition, the agency regularly studies new chemicals that may need regulation. Of particular interest right now is perchlorate, a natural and human-made chemical used in fireworks and rocket fuel, Dougherty said.

At sufficiently high doses, the chemical—found in at least 4 percent of U.S drinking water—can reduce iodine uptake into a person's thyroid gland. If continued long-term, reduced iodine can lead to hypothyroidism, according to the agency, which is now seeking input on whether to regulate perchlorate.

Ultimately, "what you really want is to not ever have things you're concerned about in drinking water in the first place," Dougherty said.

That's why it's crucial for local communities to keep a close eye on what runs into their waterways, she said.

"If you have an understanding of what your source of drinking water is and what can happen to it," Dougherty said, "you can be a more educated citizen in engaging in those issues."

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Terror continues: 5 shot, 1 dead in office shooting in orlando

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- At least seven people with serious gunshot wounds were brought out of an Orlando, Florida, office building Friday, a spokeswoman with the city fire department said.

An Orlando Police Department spokeswoman identified the alleged shooter as Jason Rodriguez, who used to work in the building. He is still at large, said John Tormos of the Orlando Fire Department.

A spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, which is helping the city police department, said investigators are looking for a man wearing a blue Polo shirt, gray vest and blue jeans.

"We're in a search mode for the gunman," said Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

CNN affiliate WESH said the shooting occurred at the Gateway Center -- a 16-story building near Lake Ivanhoe and Interstate 4.

Six people have been shot, two of them fatally at an office building at 1000 Legion Place in dowtown Orlando. The shootings happened on the 4th, 8th, and 12th floods of the building.

The interstate was closed in both directions near the office building, according to the Florida Department of Transportation Web site. Police cars and emergency vehicles surrounded the area, video showed. It also showed people fleeing.

At least 13 dead 31 injured in Fort Hood shootings. update3

Eleven people plus a gunman were killed and 31 were wounded after the gunman opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, a Fort Hood spokesman said.

The gunman was a soldier, and two other soldiers have been detained as suspects, said the spokesman, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone.

Cone said more than one shooter may have been involved. Eleven people plus a gunman were killed and 31 were wounded after the gunman opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, a Fort Hood spokesman said.

The gunman was a soldier, and two other soldiers have been detained as suspects, said the spokesman, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone.

Cone said more than one shooter may have been involved.

A congressional aide said he was on the post to attend a graduation service when he saw a soldier with blood on his uniform near the building where the service was being held, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Greg Schannep, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Carter, said the soldier ran past him and said a man was shooting. He said the soldier appeared to be injured in a shoulder, the American-Statesman reported.

FBI agents are headed to the scene to assist, said Erik Vasys, spokesman for the FBI office in San Antonio. He had no other details.

On the Fort Hood Web site, the word "closed" is posted with the statement, "Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel."

Fort Hood, with about 40,000 troops, is home to the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is located near Killeen, Texas.

At least 25,000 people are at Fort Hood on any given day, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon said.

Fort Hood is home to the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program, which is designed to help soldiers overcome combat stress issues.

In June, Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face. He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m., and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 -- a rate well below those of other posts.

update1: Fort Hood is Aprox 65.6 miles from Waco Texas. 11 dead and 31 injured, 3 suspects, nice numerology there.

update2: The suspect, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood around 1:30 p.m., Cone said.

Three others initially taken into custody for interviews have been released, Cone said.

Hasan, 39, is a graduate of Virginia Tech and a psychiatrist licensed in Virginia who was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, according to military and professional records. Previously, he worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A federal official said Hasan is a U.S. citizen of Jordanian descent. Military documents show that Hasan was born in Virginia, and was never deployed outside the United States.

So first it was multiple shooters, and now it goes back to the "lone gunman" theory.

update3: "All the casualties took place at the initial incident, that took place at 13:30, at the soldier readiness facility," Cone said, referring in military time to 1:30 p.m. Remember this also happened on Nov. 5th which is the anniversary of Guy Fawkes Attack.

13 dead, 31 injured, at 1:30pm or 13.30 military time, at the 31 degree latitude.

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