Tuesday Tidbit

My first tidbit is that my book Irish Dreams released from Loose Id today ;)

My second tidbit is that I have a contest on my website until 3/24: http://www.michellehasker.com/contest.html

My third tidbit I found here: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/pharmaceuticals-drinking-water-47031110?src=rss

"The presence of a wide range of over-the-counter and prescription drugs, including antibiotics and hormones, was publicized by the Associated Press this week, after years of findings by government and independent scientists."

"To properly dispose of medication, keep it in its plastic container, fill it with water and kitty litter or sand, place the cap on the bottle, put it into a zip lock plastic bag, then dispose of it in the trash. The other option for discarding medications is to take them to your local hazardous waste facility or hazardous waste clean up day location."

The key thing here, people is that bottled water is NOT safer then Tap water. Tap water is tested and must pass certain tests. Bottled water doesn't and isn't as safe. Hard to believe, I know. Also, when you buy bottles water, you really aren't supposed to reuse those bottles. After several uses chemicals will get into the water in the bottle. It's also bad for the environment. Even if you recycle, imagine how much pollution is released into our atmosphere during production of the bottles.

Just drink for thought ;)

Michelle

*EDIT
Since someone wanted proof of my bottled water not tested statement....

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp
"Sales of bottled water in this country have exploded in recent years, largely as a result of a public perception of purity driven by advertisements and packaging labels featuring pristine glaciers and crystal-clear mountain springs. But bottled water sold in the United States is not necessarily cleaner or safer than most tap water, according to a four-year scientific study recently made public by NRDC.

NRDC's study included testing of more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. While most of the tested waters were found to be of high quality, some brands were contaminated: about one-third of the waters tested contained levels of contamination -- including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic -- in at least one sample that exceeded allowable limits under either state or bottled water industry standards or guidelines.

A key NRDC finding is that bottled water regulations are inadequate to assure consumers of either purity or safety, although both the federal government and the states have bottled water safety programs. At the national level, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for bottled water safety, but the FDA's rules completely exempt waters that are packaged and sold within the same state, which account for between 60 and 70 percent of all bottled water sold in the United States (roughly one out of five states don't regulate these waters either). The FDA also exempts carbonated water and seltzer, and fewer than half of the states require carbonated waters to meet their own bottled water standards.

Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA's rules, they are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water."

They have a chart on their page :)

Another quote from here: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/there-are-drugs-in-drinking-water-now-what/?hp
Yes I know it discusses polutants in drinking water, but notice that drinking water is at least tested and then can be treated ;)
"That Brita filter in your kitchen is not likely to do the trick, either. As for bottled water, it, too, may come from a tap, rather than some remote mountain spring. And the trade group representing bottled-water sellers told The A.P. that they aren’t testing for the presence of trace drugs anyway."

http://www.thisland.uiuc.edu/57ways/57ways_40.html

One last thing LOL
""20/20" took five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City and sent them to microbiologist Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like e. coli.

"There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated," he said."
from : http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070