Texas town releases name of drug found in water

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Drinking water in Arlington, Texas, tested positive for trace concentrations of the anti-anxiety medication meprobamate, city officials revealed Monday in response to a series of public records requests.
In a February interview with The Associated Press, Mayor Robert Cluck said trace concentrations of one pharmaceutical had been found in treated drinking water, but he declined to name it. He said revealing the name in the post-9/11 world could cause a terrorist to intentionally release more of the drug, causing harm to residents.
"I don't want to take that chance," Cluck said. "There is no public hazard, and I don't want to create one."
Monday's identification of meprobamate came after the Texas attorney general said those concerns were not well founded.

More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-06-09-18-16-22

The testing is paid for by taxpayers. i have a problem with Mayor Robert Cluck keeping secrets.
 
While I guess it's good that he was forced to tell, I do see his point about this information being useful to terrorists. If they know what does or does not pass through the treatment plant, it would help someone with a malicious motive plan an attack on the city's water.

I guess I don't understand what the average citizen will do with the information. I mean, we get that report every year, but I just look for the part that says where we fall on the quality scale and then pitch it.
 
meprobamate is an antianxiety drug - are the terrorists going to get us all super CALM and then take us over??

I guess the problem is that waste water is recycled into drinking water, and we live in a heavily medicated society. The levels in individual samples of water are not known to be dangerous, but long term effects are not known.

It is thought that hormones in our water and food could contribute to
precocious puberty and other health problems.

The potential for terrorists to strike is limitless, chemical and bioterrorism could be devastating. But is the solution to withhold information from us in our best interest?? Sounds a little like socialism.

bracken123
 
And what about mixing medications dangers?

a tiny amount will probably not hurt. but absorbing it every day?
 
I'm not sure why he felt this had to be a secret. This type of information has been in the media for a few years.
 
Very strange. That's an old drug! I wonder how it entered the water supply at all..... maybe some grandma's finally flushing her stash of happy pills?
 
Hmmm, sorry to make lite of the situation-but I want some of that water!!! :)
 
I know, MissieMt! I said, get me a glass of that! Or how about a gallon!?!

It is a really old drug, Torsade - I remember that something that is still used quite a bit (Robaxin maybe? or Soma?) is metabolized into meprobamate.

I grew up in Arlington and was a pretty high strung kid, so this must be a new phenomenon! :crazy:
 
bracken123 said:
meprobamate is an antianxiety drug - are the terrorists going to get us all super CALM and then take us over??

I guess the problem is that waste water is recycled into drinking water, and we live in a heavily medicated society. The levels in individual samples of water are not known to be dangerous, but long term effects are not known.

It is thought that hormones in our water and food could contribute to
precocious puberty and other health problems.

The potential for terrorists to strike is limitless, chemical and bioterrorism could be devastating. But is the solution to withhold information from us in our best interest?? Sounds a little like socialism.

bracken123
Click to expand...

I think you missed your calling as a stand up comic.:rolleyes:

Of course what I meant (and what I think the mayor meant, if you read the whole article) was that if someone looked at a list of what was in the water, someone with scientific knowledge far greater than mine might be able to figure out what those things all had in common that allowed them to pass through the water treatment process while other things are filtered. That person might then be able to figure out what OTHER, more malicious things also had that characteristic, which could be used as a weapon against an entire community.

Much like my friend who is being treated for a brain tumor has doctors looking at certain chemo drugs that will cross the blood/brain barrier. Even though some of them are not traditionally used for her type of brain tumor, they might still work if they can get across that barrier.

Or maybe they will try to calm us to death. Maybe they will give us enough of that drug that we no longer care if our country is at risk. Either way I'm sure someone will find a way to blame it on the government for not protecting us.
 
Plain Meprobromate is obsolete. It was the old tranquilizer known as Miltown.
It is currently used with Acetomenophen ( Tylenol) in the pain medication called Equagesic. Dentists prescribe Equagesic a lot.. Not sure if there is any correlation between Arlington dentists and the water supply, LOL.. Just saying.

Here is a fairly comprehensive rundown on Meprobromate for the public. It's not as good as the PDR, but not as hard to understand for non-medical personnel
either.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682077.html

Note that side effects are listed. I imagine that if this drug crosses the placental barrier, as most of the older anti-depressants did, then there could be possible embryonic toxicity with Meprobromate being in the H2O supply in Arlington. If a person is a heavy water drinker from the public supply and doesn't eat much, I can also see that they, along with the very young and eldery could have problems too.
 
could there have been a manufacturing plant nearby or upstream (in the past)?
 
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