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"We are quite convinced, based on
this study, that there is an association between cancer and chlorinated
water." Medical College of Wisconsin, Senior Research Team It is not uncommon to find more
chlorine in tap water than is recommended safe for a swimming pool. A
simple chlorine test kit from the local discount department store,
around $6.00, will typically yield surprising results, Try it!
According to the U.S. Council of
Environmental Quality, "Cancer risk among people using
chlorinated water is as much as 93% higher than among those whose water
does not contain chlorine."
There is a lot of well-founded concern
about chlorine. When chlorine is added to our water, it combines with
other natural compounds to form trihalomethanes (chlorination
byproducts), or THMs. These chlorine byproducts trigger the production
of free radicals in the body, causing cell damage, and are highly
carcinogenic. Chlorine is also suspected of contributing to hardening of
the arteries, the primary cause of heart disease.
"We are learning the hard way
that all the time we thought we were preventing epidemics of one
disease, we were creating another. Two decades after the start of
chlorinating our drinking water the present epidemic of heart trouble
and cancer began."
-Joseph M. Price, PhD
"One common factor among women
with breast cancer is that they all have 50-60% higher levels of these
chlorination byproducts (THMs) in their fat tissue than women without
breast cancer..."
BreastCancerFund.org
"Up to two-thirds of the harmful
effects of chlorine are due to inhalation and skin absorption while
showering."
- The American Journal Of Public Health
The addition of chlorine to our water
began in the late 1800s and by 1904 was the standard in water treatment,
and for the most part remains so today.
We don't use chlorine because it's the
safest or even the most effective means of disinfection; we use it
because it is the cheapest. In spite of all our technological advances,
we essentially still pour bleach into our water prior to use. The
long-term effects of using chlorinated water have just recently been
documented.
No one will argue that chlorine serves
an important purpose, and that it is likely here to stay. The result of
not using chlorine in our water would be outbreaks of water-borne
disease like typhoid and cholera, as existed in the 1800s.
It is also clear and experts agree...
that chlorine represents a very real and serious threat to our health
and should be removed both from the water we drink and the water we
shower with. In-home water filtration can easily and affordably take the
risks of chlorine out of your water, at the point of use... just prior
to consumption.
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