When I gave up nearly all artificial sweetener ingestion a few months ago -- fyi ... I have raised a diet soda to my lips at a party or two -- I was comforted by the fact if I did down a soda, chemicals such as Splenda and Nutrasweet would leave my system shortly thereafter. But kiss away any clean start if artificial sweeteners are in tap water.

AP investigators have found trace pharmaceuticals in tap water, and now researchers from Sweden and Norway have measured sucralose (e.g., Splenda) in wastewater effluent and surface waters. Great. Even worse, sucralose has a long half-life, up to several years based on pH and temperature. This stuff sticks around.

One participating scientist, Henrik Kylin of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, is concerned a sugarlike compound in the environment could change organisms' feeding patterns or even worse, mess with plant photosynthesis -- sucralose interferes with sucrose transportation in sugarcane. The inventors of sucralose claim the sweetener is not "biologically active' and poses no environmental risks.

Medications and now possibly Splenda in my tap water. Makes me nervous. Even if I stay away from these chemicals, I'm forced to drink them from my tap. Thanks to Julie's Health Blog for her coverage on the story.

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