Companies Leak Drugs Into US Drinking Water

US intelligence fears 'water-based state conflict' in not-so-distant future

(NEWSER) - Soon, the precious commodity that starts wars may not be oil: It'll be water. Thanks to fresh-water shortages, droughts, and floods, US intelligence thinks it's increasingly likely that water could be "used as a weapon" in war, with one state denying water to another, according to a report released yesterday. And terrorists, always hungry for "high-visibility structures to attack," may begin targeting water infrastructure. The estimate is based on both current water policies and trends, and climate change projections, the Washington Post reports. More»

Johnson & Johnson division under scrutiny for manufacturing practices

(NEWSER) - After multiple drug recalls and an FDA safety probe, federal authorities are taking control of three Tylenol plants, CNNMoney reports. The plants, run by Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil division, are in trouble for dodging federal manufacturing rules; now, the company has agreed to let the FDA supervise the three—two in Pennsylvania and one in Puerto Rico—a decision that effectively wards off a threatened FDA lawsuit. The agreement, a so-called "consent decree," is subject to a Pennsylvania judge’s approval. More»

Cancer-causing material spreads through wells

(NEWSER) - A toxic plume of chromium continues to trouble the California desert town that Erin Brockovich put on the map—and the pollution is getting worse, reports the AP . High levels of the material, which can cause cancer, have spread through wells near Hinkley. “Because of the widespread nature of the lower concentration chromium, it's difficult to capture the contamination,” said a water quality official. More»

EPA fails to enforce water safety laws

(NEWSER) - Illegal concentrations of arsenic, radioactive materials like uranium, or bacteria have been found in more than a fifth of American water supplies in the last five years. Regulators were notified of the violations but penalties were imposed in only 6% of cases, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data. Contaminated water supplies affected some 49 million people—in some cases for years. More»

(NEWSER) - The world’s rivers are drying up as climate change worsens and the demand for water increases, the BBC reports. Researchers studying 925 major waterways—from the Ganges to the Colorado—found significantly less fresh water flowing into oceans in 2004 than 50 years earlier. If the trend continues, the growing global population could face shortages—with dire results. More»