ASClock The Blog About Everything!

Consider this quote: “U.S. drinking water contains more than 2,100 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.” So said Ralph Nader of the Ralph Nader Research Group. By the way, water utilities test for only about 75 of these. This article will focus on just one of these toxins found in most public water, chlorine.

So you buy an aquarium and some fish and you want to fill it with city faucet water. What is the first requirement? Yes, it is to de-chlorinate the water with tablets or by allowing the water to sit several days. If fish will die in chlorinated water, how can it be good for people? Yet, it is common in many cities for the maximum level of chlorine allowed in the public water system to be greater than what is recommended in swimming pools!

Chlorine does indeed work as a disinfectant in water. It kills bacteria such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. Unfortunately, it also damages the human body as well. Chlorine forms substances called THMs (trihalomethanes). These are cancer causing and damage cells. Chlorine can scar the arteries making them more susceptible to have cholesterol attach itself to the walls. Further, evidence shows that, when a city’s water is contaminated and extra chlorine added, the number of cases of cancers of the kidney, bladder, and urinary tract increase. One source said that Mississippi drinking water contains approximately 63 cancer causing compounds that are made when chlorine combines with pollutants such as methanol and carbon disulphide that are present in the water.

Drinking chlorinated water is only part of the problem. An even greater risk of chlorine poisoning occurs in the shower! The hot water, combined with steam, causes the body to take in far more chlorine than it would with just drinking water. Steam can contain up to 20 times the concentration of chlorine that tape water has because it evaporates at a lower temperature than water. The result is chloroform gas in the air that may cause bronchitis, asthma, and a greater risk of cancer. Further, the open pores take in chlorine causing skin irritations such as eczema. An inexpensive purchase of a Berkey Shower Filter could solve this.

Conscientious parents are rightly alarmed by all this. They know that the bodies of their small children are affected more by the contaminants than the parents are. Think of it; mothers who prepare formula with tap water may be inadvertently poisoning their baby!

Some deal with these alarming facts by buying bottled water. Yet consider this: bottled water may be no purer than tap water! This is because there are simply no government standards that require bottled water to be any better. A company could bottle tap water and ship it to another state with the label, “Pure Mountain Fresh Water.” This is not honest but it is legal. The FDA itself states: “Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.” In other words, with bottled water you can’t believe what the label says.

So what is the answer? The only safe and sure way to know your water is safe for you and your family is to filter it yourself. Start with a portable water filter such as the Berkey Filter. Be sure the company is reputable and that it clearly claims to remove chlorine. Carbon filter systems will do this. It is time to act, don’t you think? After all, units such as the Big Berkey have been filtering people’s water since Queen Elizabeth’s time so thousands of people can’t be wrong.