US Water Agencies Offered Complimentary Testing For The Presence Of Drugs By Waters Corp.

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Article Date: 21 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Responding to recent reports regarding findings of trace levels of pharmaceuticals found in U.S. drinking water supplies, Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) has announced that it will offer qualified U.S. water authorities complimentary drinking water analysis for common over-the-counter and prescription antidepressant pharmaceutical compounds to help assess regional exposure and move towards forward-looking solutions.

"As a provider of analytical technologies capable of detecting trace levels of contaminants in water, food and the environment, Waters® is keenly aware of the broad impact that contaminants can have on our natural resources," said Rohit Khanna, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for the Waters Division. "As scientists, we at Waters believe in the need - and have the solutions - to assess baseline data to measure contamination levels, if any. Through this program we hope to work in cooperation with U.S. water authorities to better assess the public's exposure to pharmaceutical residues and assist them with potential action plans."

For 50 years, Waters has been producing advanced environmental solutions and working with regulatory and government agencies at all levels. For example, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published a method to test for pharmaceutical and personal care products in water, soil, sediment, and biosolids; a method which references Waters solutions throughout. More recently, Waters is applying advance technology to deliver an automated solution with improved throughput for drinking water analysis.

Program Logistics

For a limited time, Waters will offer authorized officials from any U.S. water authority that serves more than 100,000 customers to submit a request for a complimentary test for common over-the-counter and anti-depressant pharmaceutical compounds of their finished water (tap water) by visiting http://www.waters.com/h2o. Requests will only be honored from authorized water officials and the results will be held in strict confidence. Waters will not accept requests from third parties.

The intention of these tests is to provide a baseline understanding of exposure to facilitate long-term solutions. These complimentary tests will not be validated or certified, and are only intended as an initial screen for the detection of pharmaceutical residues.

Waters Solutions

Waters will test submitted samples using the AquaAnalysis System, a total system solution designed to detect a range of contaminants in drinking water. The AquaAnalysis System can detect target analytes at or below 10 parts-per-trillion (PPT), easily meeting or exceeding regulatory standards worldwide. The AquaAnalysis System has been shown to improve sample throughput by up to 80 percent by cutting analysis times from between three to five hours to just 30 minutes.

In December 2007, EPA published Method 1694 Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Water, Soil, Sediment, and Biosolids by HPLC/MS/MS. Using Waters chemistry products, Method 1694 identifies pharmaceuticals and personal care products in environmental samples by high performance liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) using isotope dilution and internal standard quantification techniques. This method has been developed for use with aqueous, solid, and biosolids matrices..

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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About Waters Corporation

Waters Corporation creates business advantages for laboratory-dependent organizations by delivering practical and sustainable innovation to enable significant advancements in such areas as healthcare delivery, environmental management, food safety, and water quality worldwide.

Pioneering a connected portfolio of separations science, laboratory information management, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis, Waters technology breakthroughs and laboratory solutions provide an enduring platform for customer success.

With revenue of $1.47 billion in 2007 and 5,000 employees, Waters is driving scientific discovery and operational excellence for customers worldwide.

Waters is a trademark of Waters Corporation.

Source: Brian J. Murphy
Waters Corporation