an unintended environmental impact

I had heard about this years ago and there is a lot of information about it that can be read on google scholar. Today (and in recent years) there have become more and more prescription drugs and reasons to be prescribed medicines; and many people in America take multiple prescription drugs. Speaking of a couple of them, some have detrimental effect on freshwater fish and amphibians. Many prescription drugs pass through the human body unchanged having not been fully absorbed in the body. The drugs are then often found, and in somewhat alarming amounts in freshwater habitats after going through wastewaster facilities. Thus many aquatic creatures are subject to inadvertantly taking drugs like ethinylestradiol, the active ingredient in birth control pills. This and other hormones that we humans take cause such problems in fish as sex reversal , hermaphradism and other hormone problems. Prozac, which in 2005 was taken by 54 million people in the US alone shows up in our ponds, streams, etc. as well and studies have shown that Prozac not only stunts the growth and causes various major damage to tadpoles, but even to sometimes kills them. Studies also show that it negatively effects the reproduction processes of mussels and clams. Pharmaceuticals are not currently regarded or regulated as pollutants but thought has gone into ideas to keep them out of our freshwaters. The main idea is to develop and build better filtration systems for our wastewaters, but unfortunately these new plants appartently would cost around $100 million each. Of course pesticides are also found in our freshwater systems, and even the disinfectants used in soap are showing up. That for many American communities this fresh water is also imbibed publicly as what becomes tap water, points this as having a definate potential unfortunate impact on us personally.