Drugs in the Water – A comment on the current health state of the nation, or a byproduct of living healthier lives?

A recent article in CNN uncovered the existence of many prescription drugs in the water supplies of our nation.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1/index.html

What was interesting was the mix that was found. Antibiotics, mood stabilizers, sex hormones, caffeine – this says a lot about what we are taking and we have to ask why.

My first reaction: how does this come to be in the drinking water supply? Treatment plants apparently place the treated water back into circulation in reservoirs. But it seems the treatment plants were not looking to remove drugs, just waste.

We flush old prescriptions down the toilet. We pass these drugs through our systems and out into the treatment plants.

But we have to go back to the reason we are taking these drugs. I have cholesterol issues, and I take a drug that lowers my cholesterol. I also see that it must be passing from me as well, into my waste water. That leaches into the ground water supply.

Do I need this drug, is what it comes down to. My issue is a hereditary one, not a diet one. This drug becomes potentially lifesaving, balancing what my body refuses to balance on its own. We have found many drugs that can do this for us. And to deny the need is silly. While there is abuse, not all is abuse, and we cannot rightly assign all the blame to abuse.

There are a lot of pros and cons regarding this issue. An article discussing the possibility of drugged water being a water quality issue from the University of Arizona is an interesting read:

http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/july00/feature1.htm

A variety of drug sources are cited and it is a good overview of the issue.

And interesting article about what one community is doing to stem the flow of old drugs into the water supply from the Muncy StarPress:

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/NEWS01/805150351/1002

The amounts in the drinking water are not life threatening to humans, according to EHP Online, as one source:

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/113-10/spheres.html

However, some evidence of the hormones is starting to affect humans as well as the wildlife in certain areas is starting to appear from some early studies:

http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/2005-August/000183.html

It appears we need to take better control of some aspects of handling drugs. It also seems that there is nothing in place to standardize how this should be handled:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23504467/

What I have to ask is: what can we do about the drugs we can control? What can we do to dispose of drugs in a proper manner without endangering our environment and wildlife… and ourselves.

I like the idea of drug pickups for expired drugs or drugs that are no longer needed. Some questions need to be answered first in the area of how to best dispose of what we are not going to be using.

Like chemical waste, we need to examine what the consequences of storage could mean. Another “Love Canal”, this time with pharmaceuticals, is not a future event any of us want to see. The article in the StarPress says that the collected pharmaceuticals there are burned. Do we know the impact of this on the air quality? Should this require further study?

We need to look at national standards and legislation regarding this. Time to get out your email and write your representatives about how they are looking at this situation. What can be done to nip this before it becomes a major issue?

Drugs in the water. Are we taking more than we need? Can we dispose of this in a better manner? Can we look at current standards and either enact a national standard for disposal, or put into place better legislation that will enforce what we should have been doing all along?

Questions need to be asked, and we should start looking at the best places to ask them. One place is here, to raise awareness. Take this conversation back to your email lists, and discuss it further. There is a lot of research out there to start the awareness process and begin to make inquiries. Start with your local hospital. Do they have a program for unused drug collection and how do they handle it, if at all? Or do they know someone who does? Always ask questions. Do not be afraid to ask. It is your right to do so.

First Freedom First.org – A Video You Should Watch

I sat with my morning coffee today and watched all the way through the presentation by First Freedom First entitled “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Separation of Church and State … But Were Afraid to Ask!”

It was originally recommended to me because of the interview of Roberta Steward , but I sat glued to the monitor listening to Peter Coyote introduce his guests and discuss the various topics that are associated with religious issues.

I cannot condense down into a blog entry all the material presented, as the video is a bit long (I believe two hours). But all the topics covered are associated with our basic freedom to choose. It is hosted by First Freedom First and is a joint venture between Americans United for Separation of Church and State and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation.

The interview with Roberta Steward was intelligent, emotional and precise in the issue presented, the process she encountered and the ultimate resolution for the benefit of all who were pursuing the individual’s right to choose. As I have her to thank for her work on this and the Pentacle on my ex-husbands grave in Arlington, I watched with the intention of support. What I came away with was admiration for one woman’s pursuit of what is right, what the individual is entitled to and achieving a milestone in our right to choose. She was articulate; she came across as knowledgeable and sincere in her beliefs.

The other topics were approached with the same kind of sincerity and knowledge base. Also discussed were intelligent design in public schools, the individuals right to end of life choices, a woman’s right to choose, same sex marriages and quality of life, the recent trend of the military to permit fundamentalist proselytism at their academies and so much more. While there were “spots” featuring famous celebrities discussing these same topics in information commercials, the bulk of the program was the presentation of various issues by those involved directly and follow up discussion with The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, and the Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance Foundation. The Rev. Lynn is also a lawyer and discusses the legal aspects of these issues as well as the religious facet.

The entire program came across as an intelligent discussion of basic personal rights of choice. It was calm and exact; no jumping up and down, no spinning of material, just clear presentation of facts, incidents, conflict and resolution through legal action. Nowhere in any of the discussions did I feel I was being pandered to, did I feel they were dumbing down any of the issues, or that I was being treated as a child when it came to discussing the issues. This was adult discussion being handled in a very professional manner that also offered some entertainment to break between the hard discussions presented.

I would like to encourage you all to watch this presentation. I would like to suggest support of this foundation as well as Americans United. I feel the work done here lays the foundation for change in the United States towards what our founding fathers really had in mind. The video shows how our government has dangerously drifted towards what our founding fathers did not want to happen here, and we as American should be pressing our government to disallow as unconstitutional the actions presented that attempt to deny our personal rights and freedoms. The program also presents and recognizes the people who have taken action to prevent these infringements on our rights. They deserve our recognition, praise and support.

Give this program a viewing, and let me know if you find it to be as compelling and important as I make it out to be here.

http://www.firstfreedomfirst.org/

Oh, and don’t forget, if you feel this is worth your time and input, read the petition. As pointed out in the program, it took just one person willing to stand for their convictions to make change. This will give you the opportunity to stand with others and support these brave people and assure the rights we are guaranteed under the constitution.

I’m not telling you want to do. Rather, I am pointing in a direction and offering you an opportunity to view what I feel is the best material around right now that takes a stand on issues that are near and dear to all our hearts.

Boudica

Mr. Digitalis Speaks, and I reply

This morning I find a private message in my website guest book supposedly from Mr. Digitalis. It reads:

“Boudica, I found the review of my MTV feature from a Google alert. I have to say, why can't you be just happy that the Craft is getting positive public exposure? How is the piece so bloody inaccurate? Must you pick apart the details, such as the Craft not itself being a religion? If I were to have said that 'magick is a religion,' I would understand, but this nitpicking is just bitter! I'm sorry you feel Paganism is misrepresented through the feature, but don't you find it nice that it will at least expand *some* peoples' minds and turn them to earth-based spirituality?! I believe I do 'know what I'm talking about', so your review is honestly a bit hurtful. If there's one thing I strive NOT to do, it's MISLEAD people. Also, one of the main reasons I wrote 'Goth Craft' was to show people that Goth and magick are two separate beasts entirely, but that they can go together for some people. I'm sorry that a regular Witch (non-Goth) wasn't interviewed for their feature, but truth be told, Gothic culture doesn't get much exposure through major media outlets either, so it's actually serving both communities. BB
~Raven~”

If I found this MTV presentation to be a positive exposure for the overall general Pagan community, I would sing it praises. But rather than offering the public an honest view of the majority of the pagan community, the article offered a small glimpse of a subculture labeled “Goth” and specifically of a Goth person who seems to be associated Goth with witchcraft as the rule, not the exception. The MTV piece came away as being on a cultural life style that focuses on being “magical” in some manner and uses witchcraft as a religion.

I do not agree with your personal views of The Craft. I feel you did not differentiate between the life style of the Goth Community and the lifestyle of a general practitioner of the Craft and differentiate both from the spiritualities of the neo-pagan community (ie. Wicca, Drudism, Strega and more). I found that you tended to confuse terminology rather than clarify the differences between magic in witcraft and the diverse spiritual paths within paganism. Your success in separating Goth from the magical paths within our community in the piece is questionable. Your above stated intention was not obvious in the MTV piece and it missed your point completely. Your original intention may not have been to mislead, but the finished product did not go in that direction. If you really wanted to do a piece on Goth Culture, then the piece should have focused on what your culture is, not what your personal spiritual path is. However, the piece comes away as witches are Goth, here is the video to show it.

As a mainstream practitioner I am not interested in being seen in any light by the public other than just another person. But when someone from the mundane community says to me, oh, so that’s what you do with your free time, and then laughs… I know another show has missed the mark, and another publicity hound has made a mockery of what I have chosen as my spiritual path.

I say again, if the exposure had been positive, I never would have said anything other than praise. But your idea of positive is not my idea of positive. And the message I am sending here is that you do not speak for all the pagan community, we all do not behave in the manner you presented in your interview on MTV and there are those of us out there who do practice the life style of the Craft without confusing our own personal life style with our magical practices and personal spirituality. Magic is not a religion, it is a practice. And earth based spiritualities do not necessitate membership in a subculture lifestyle in order to practice.

I am tired of having members of subcultures speak for the entire community simply because TV prefers the sensationalism of a subculture and the controversy of religion to the mainstream practitioners as it draws a greater audience. Why do you think that is? Well, how about because subcultures draw attention because of their strangeness. And anything presented in conjunction with this also gets labeled strange. And I am tired of being labeled “strange” because of the publicity we receive. TV is not interested in your culture; it is interested in its ratings. And strange gets ratings.

I am not biter. Rather, I am tired of being lumped into the various subcultures that seem to think they can gain attention by focusing on “religion” to substantiate their own life style, rather than focusing on the merits of their specific life style. There are many life styles that have gained acceptance for who they are, not their spiritual practices. And they did not manage to insult the members of their spiritual community by flaunting their spiritual practices to gain attention.

Details are very important, and if you cannot focus on the details, then you have no business speaking for the entire pagan community. You should restrict yourself and your publicity to the life style and culture you practice and are familiar with and leave the discussion of spirituality to those who know how to deal with accurate details in a proper and respectable manner. You can be Goth, and you can be pagan, but remember that you speak only for a small, specialized group within the pagan community. If you wanted to give air time to the Goth Life Style, you should have limited yourself to that.

First Freedom First and MTV

In the emails this week, we had two events of interest. First was Roberta Stewart in a video with First Freedom First Film debuting March 26th. However, searching on line, and on UTube, I’ve not been able to locate any video. While it was simulcast at about 38 theaters across the US, the video piece has not shown up on line yet. Roberta was to discuss her role in the pursuit of the Wiccan Pentacle for our countries solders and Wiccan Rights.

I will keep an eye out for this piece. My understanding is that it will be available as a podcast sometime this month and it should be an interesting discussion. I’ve spoken with Roberta and she is a very intelligent woman. She speaks well, has some good ideas and knows what she is discussing.

Second was Raven Digitalis and his interview with MTV. It’s out on the web already: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1584096/20080325/index.jhtml?rsspartner=rssColdFusion

I watched it. MTV had a field day. This gent is Goth, no doubt about it. Even to his violet eye shadow. Just what TV has always looked for – the strange and the costumes that make good eye candy for attention.

But what concerned me was what Digitalis was saying. Quotes like “The Craft is one of the most empowering religions or spiritual life styles that exists”. While I agree that the practice of the Craft is a life style, I do not agree that it is also a religion. One could say it can be combined with a spiritual path, as with Wicca, but knowing so many people who are Craft but not religious – Digitalis misleads his audience. And MTV follows it right along. Viewers can come away thinking we are all Goths organized in a religion. He mentions a few times that “witchcraft is a religion” and discusses spells as prayers.

Probably the best thing he said was “most witches don’t look like me”. I was relieved, as I was beginning to feel the urge to get some tattoos, face painting and body piercings and run out to dye my red hair black and slick it back because maybe I had missed that email about witches looking like that somewhere. And oh, the violet eye shadow. This boy could give Laurie Cabot a run for the money in the makeup department.

But why is it MTV does not put the everyday witch on TV? Why is it when we watch TV shows that feature “real witches” we find ourselves shaking our heads and running to hide? Just once I would like to see someone do an interview a “witch next door” type person and discuss paganism and Craft path with someone who really knows what they are talking about.

I hear the Wiccan Rede included in the conversation, after a fashion, and then I hear propaganda being spit back on us in the form of the old “Black Magic” rhetoric. Again, this kind of talk can mislead the public.

Well, go watch the video. See for yourself. And I’m going to go find my shrunken head. Needs to be brought out and exercised every once in a while. 9-)

Boudica

At Risk: Health Issues from Large Farms

The last two years saw E. coli infect leafy greens and beef products. Reviewing what happened, it seems one producer was responsible for the growing, packaging or shipping of the infected food products in question. Examining the illnesses associated with these outbreaks and the deaths, we should take a good look at our own purchasing and eating habits. Maybe it’s time we started being concerned about where our food comes from and who handles it.

Improperly grown, produced, packaged or handled foods can become poison on our tables. Relying on a single source ups the odds that something that could go wrong is going to happen on a massive scale. We have seen this in action. We should not ignore the warnings.

It is not just the large commercial growers and packers. Organically grown produce has become large scale production over the past few years and large organic farms can have issues as well. Incorrectly composted manure on fields or contaminated water supplies can be fuel for an E. coli outbreak just as fast from the organic fields as it can be in the commercial fields.

As I said, we need to examine our sources for food, our diets and our way of thinking when it comes to where we get our foods and how we buy our foods. The movement to move to locally grown produce for the larger part of our intake of fresh produce may not be a bad idea, but it still does not guarantee that our foods will be clean and healthy when it gets to our table.

Locally grown produce will give us fresher foods as it does not have to travel as far or stay in storage as long. While we may not be getting those exotic fruits and veggies we all want to have, for our staples it would seem logical to want to obtain the nearest, freshest produce for our everyday tables.

We all cannot grow our own foods, and there is no guarantee that everything that comes to our tables will be free from contaminates. But following ecologically sound practices, which every pagan does strive for, we can look to supporting locally grown produce from local farms. Locating local farms is not all that difficult in most rural areas, you may even have some farms local to you that would welcome new business. Urban centers will have to compromise a bit, but weekend farmers markets would provide a monthly excuse to drive into the country to get really fresh foods in season.

Check into Local Harvest for farm markets and farms local to you. Spend some time considering what you want on your table and how it will provide healthy food for you and your family. And if you have the ability to grow some foods yourself, try some tomatoes or peppers this year. Nothing like fresh produce from your garden to make you feel like you are making the best use of the land the Goddess has given us.

Maybe we should also start looking at proper food preparation and clean food handling processes in our own homes. This could help combat some of the other issues that could come from poor food handling on the farm, in shipping and in storage. Proper washing, cooking and storing of foods is critical to keeping those fresh foods staying fresh. Proper preparation and cooking will not steal those precious vitamins and food proteins if we learn to do it properly.

So, maybe some cooking lessons are in order. Get those fresh food cookbooks out of storage and visit a local farmers market when the season starts coming in.
Boudica

Deported. Should we be surprised?

Making rounds of the pagan blogs, we find Starhawk at the top of the news pile. She had been refused entry into Israel and shipped home.

Some people seemed surprised. She was only going there to teach a “permaculture course”. Obviously someone is not reading her websites. And the Israel Government is.

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/israel_palestine/israel_palestine.html
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/about-ism/

She is a trainer with the ISM movement and there is a lot there to suggest that Starhawk is not happy with what the Israel Government has been doing and suggests that she feels something should be done.

Starhawk is not violent, but she does speak well, especially on topics she believes in dearly. I’ve heard her. Very Jewish Mother, if you are the type to be intimidated by such. She can make you walk away from her lectures feeling guilty. I left the lecture of her's I attended. I went to hear Starhawk on "The Goddess". It didn't happen.

I have no issues with Starhawk choosing any issue to stand for. That is her right and her path. But really, what did she expect?

I wanted to see what the Israel Government decided to hit her with to prevent her entry into Israel, so I looked for some newspaper reports on the event. Ya know what… there doesn’t seem to be any on the web over the past few days. Very surprising considering the coverage she is getting in the Pagan Press.

And this worries me in a way. What is supposed to make an impact is not even making a ripple in the newspapers. Starhawk, for all her appeal in the pagan community, is not even noticed in the international press, and that speaks a lot about who we are as a community . I am sure she will show up eventually as the press gets hold of her press releases.

She is important enough to turn away from the gate when it comes to entry into a country where she is perceived a possible threat. Don’t really blame the Israel Government either. They don’t need any more trouble than they already have.

She is kicked out, and the only one noticing is Starhawk and her band of followers.

Having “been there, done that, got a few ripped t-shirts” from protests in the late 60s and early 70s, this does not surprise me. See, we learned some very valuable lessons back then. The best way to make lawyers rich is to work civil disobedience. Yea, you make headlines… today. Tomorrow you are replaced by something more important. On the Internet, a crane falling on a building in NYC will wipe out even heavy political spitting contests in minutes.

The best way to make an impact, to remain in the public eye and to make yourself noticed is to use the pen and the talent that was given Starhawk to make her public presence noticed.

Education happens one person at a time. The more people you reach daily, the more people
you touch. If you impress them with your keen writing skills and purposeful content, you can have them come back again and again, till you become a regular household word.

I don’t like making lawyers rich. It did nothing for us back in that day, and it does nothing for us now. Rather, I am going to take up my computer, and put to blog those things that I think should be addressed and repeat over and over till someone notices that we need to wake up, smell the bad food , see the waste, look for renewable resources and save our own asses - first. After we fix what is at home, then maybe we can start giving others a hand with their issues.

But I think it’s farcical that we think we can fix the problems of the world when we can’t even see the problems we have here at home.

More things to consider. Start at home, make yourself heard, and offer not just bitch sessions, but working solutions to the issues we have to fix.

Come on home, Starhawk, and lets settle in and address the things here that need to be fixed.

Boudica

The Economics of Ecologically Conscience Production

As we are faced with an economic depression we reflect on what has changed since the last time fuel prices rose beyond our budgets and dropped us into chaos. And we find… nothing has changed.

The 1979 saw huge lines waiting for gasoline. People were shot and killed in Brooklyn over arguments about who was in line first. And we saw promises of renewable resources, cars that would burn alternative fuels and homes that would offer alternative heating and cooling choices.

The lines to the gas pumps are not visible right now. That is because the line is actually in front of the banks as we take out our hard earned cash to pay for our gasoline and home heating bills.

Almost 30 years later nothing has changed much. We have some hybrid cars just starting production late enough to not be a factor. Gas prices... wow. They went into the $1.50 to $2.00 range in 1979 and we screamed it was too high. Now we are looking at $3.50 and we still are not getting any relief.

The pagan community is so eco conscience yet, how many of us are prepared for this? Are our homes havens of alternative energy sources? In most cases, no. If we rent, we don’t have much of a choice. If we own a house built before 2000, probably not. Unless we had the financial resources, we still have the furnace we got when we purchased our house. That is because most alternative resources are not cheap to install.

Same with cars. Those new hybrids are not affordable for the average American, much less the average pagan. We cannot run right out and buy a new car because it is an alternative energy resource. We may not own the gas guzzlers, but we also do not own the latest technology in automobiles.

So many of us are stuck between the old rock and a hard space. And as we are faced with gas prices that make it almost impossible to drive to work, we look at a few exceptions.
Urban centers with reasonable public transportation. While many cities, big and small, have some kind of public transportation, many do not have a transportation system that caters to everyone who needs it. It may not run at all hours, it may not run to the places you live or work. It is only the big cities who have older systems that seem to offer a viable alternative to private transportation.

We are looking at most people outside the great urban centers relying heavily on cars to get them to their jobs.

So, what can be done about this? How can we make sure that this does not happen again in 30 years.

First, let’s look at the prices that are making it impossible for us to work or live. How about a cap on the price of gas? I am talking fossil fuel. No, Exxon, you can not make any more money on fossil fuels. Want more money? Then work on renewable liquid fuel. Produce a substitute that can be worked into our current system. It must be from a renewable source. Grain fuels, hydro, I don’t care how you do it. Want more money? Spend what you have on research into renewable fuels.

Work with the motor companies to augment the cars already out there, and new vehicles that will burn only renewable fuels.

Then adapt this to home use. Bring down the pricing of geothermal and solar power by building houses that only use this technology. Retrofit houses with affordable replacements.

When these companies want something, they have the ability to go out and get it without batting an eye. I am sure this could be turned around in a matter of a couple of years if they set their minds to it.

But how is this going to come about. What can be done to make them change their minds? What will force them into doing this?

Money. Your money and your voice saying “I want this, and I am willing to pay for it, but only if it is affordable and only if it is environmentally sound.”

Scream at them folks. We have enough voices to be hear around the world and then some. For all our claims to be living in harmony with the earth, we don’t bitch much about the state we are in. Rather, we bitch our rights are being violated or we are not being taken seriously.

Here is a chance to be taken very, very seriously. And a chance to change. Write letters to your representatives and these new candidates who claim they want to further the American Dream. As I heard someone say the other day – Why is it called the American Dream? Is it because we can only see it in our sleep?

There are some tough times ahead for us. And it looks from here like the only people who are going to feel it are the ones who can not afford it.

Time to speak up. We can be heard if we bitch just a little bit louder in the right direction.
Boudica

(image: 1979 gas line in California)