Alarming study finds abortion-inducing drug in drinking water of 3 US cities
Caroline MolloyA new study reports detecting mifepristone, an anti-progesterone drug used in chemical abortions, in water samples from three U.S. cities, raising concerns about potential harmful implications for fertility and pregnancy.
The research article, titled “Anti-Progesterone in Environmental Water,” was published online July 20 as a preprint in Issues in Law & Medicine, a journal published by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Researchers collected 36 water samples near Austin, Texas; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Carbondale, Illinois. In each area, they collected four upstream and four downstream samples from a wastewater treatment facility, along with four municipal tap water samples.
The test measured anti-progesterone activity and reported the results as mifepristone equivalents. The researchers said additional testing is needed to confirm the source of the activity and assess its potential health effects.
In one of the authors’ statistical analyses, eight of the nine groups of upstream, downstream, and tap water samples showed significantly greater anti-progesterone activity than the lab’s baseline control samples consisting of distilled water. Individual measurements reached as high as 0.041 micrograms per liter, or 41 parts per trillion, in one sample.
Study co-author Elise Rose said the findings warrant concern.
“Because of the importance of progesterone for human and animal health, the presence of anti-progesterone in environmental and tap water poses potential health risks,” she said, according to a July 24 Students for Life of America (SFLA) press release. “Everyone should be concerned that we are possibly being exposed to an endocrine-disrupting compound without our consent.”
