Some 25% of the drinking water in New Zealand is regarded as unsafe by the Ministry of Health. The remaining is chlorinated for our “safety” by the various local Council and Government operations.
If you are part of the 75% and you thought you were now drinking and using healthy water, sorry to disappoint you.
According to recent research in Europe , pregnant women in their first trimester who drink five or more glasses of chlorinated tap water a day may be at a much higher risk of miscarriage than women who drink non-chlorinated water.
Concerned that chlorine may cause spina bifida and stillbirths, the British Government has ordered an independent study of chlorine-treated drinking water. Scientists from Imperial College , London University , are interested in new research from doctors in Norway , Canada and the United States who reported higher levels of birth defects in areas where chlorine is used, compared with drinking water treated by alternative methods.
John Fawell, a leading specialist on water quality and an independent industry consultant in the
U SA , says, “The people who have done this work in Norway and in the United States are reputable researchers and the Government and water companies have commissioned their own research from London University . All of Britain ’s and the United States ’ water companies chlorinate their public water supplies. The only people who use non-chlorinated water are those with their own water wells.”
A Norwegian study of 141,000 births over a three-year period found the risk of birth defects increased 14 percent in areas with chlorinated water. Scientists have already found an association between chlorine and an increased risk of bowel, kidney and bladder cancer, but it is the first time a link has been verified with higher levels of spina bifida.
Dr. Per Magnus, the research scientist who carried out the Norwegian study, says, “This is an important finding because we know there are chemicals released by the action of chlorine on organic particles at treatment works. We have observed mutations in these chemicals that seem to tie up with mutations that are found in babies. We were in a unique position in Norway to make these observations because in some areas our water comes from the mountains and doesn’t require cleaning with chlorine.”
A study by Dr. Niels Skakkebaek of the University of Copenhagen demonstrated that average human sperm counts have dropped in Denmark by almost 50 percent due to the presence of man-made chlorine found within human tissues and breast milk.
At Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia , researchers found that high levels of trihalomethanes, a by-product of chlorine in drinking water, significantly increased the risk of stillbirth.
Bladder cancer has been linked to chlorinated drinking water in an average of 10 out of 11 studies. One of the studies in Ontario , conducted with funding from Health Canada , found that 14-16 percent of bladder cancers in Ontario showed a direct correlation to drinking water containing high levels of chlorine by-products. Chlorinated water has been linked to colon and rectal cancers in the studies, but the occurrences were not as common as those for bladder cancer.
When chlorine interacts with organic matter in aging pipes, it can produce several known carcinogens. These are referred to generally as “disinfection by-products” (DBPs). Overseas water companies/municipalities in many instances implemented non-chlorine treatments with chemical substitutes called chloramines [blends of ammonia and chlorine]; regrettably, these have been linked to DBPs that has turned out to be 300 times more toxic than those from the chlorine treated water. Worse may be that an estimated 30% of the by-products from the alternatives have never been studied for their toxicity and their effects.
And as we are not told, we become guinea pigs in a huge poison study.
If you regularly go swimming in a chlorinated pool you are even worse off than daily showering in chlorinated water, the chlorine levels in pools are far higher . The heated spa pool however is worse still, they are loaded with chlorine to ensure bacteria are killed off.
Remember that the pores of your scalp are highly absorbent when showering and you inhale the vapours from the steam as well.
So what’s the problem with our continuous intake of chlorine? It may be prompting atherosclerosis – narrowing of the arteries.
In the book titled “Coronaries/Cholesterol/Chlorine” by Dr. Joseph Price, he writes: “The highly reactive nature of the chlorine molecule scars the arterial intima [the inner lining of the artery]. The body protects itself by painting a thin film of cholesterol over the damaged area. It’s not the cholesterol that kills; it’s the continual need for protection against the scars that eventually gets out of hand.”
An issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology recently published featured a study from the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona . The Research team begins by noting that bladder cancer has been associated with chlorination by-products, especially chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs). [See above re stillbirths].
STUDY ABSTRACT
More than 1,200 bladder cancer patients were interviewed to assess their lifetime exposure to THMs
More than 1,270 people without bladder cancer were also interviewed
Researchers also assessed average THM levels in the water in more than 100 municipalities where subjects lived
Subjects with long-term exposure to high
THM levels (more than 49 micrograms per litre, mcg/L) were twice as likely to develop bladder cancer compared to subjects with low exposure (50 mcg/L is a common level in industrialized nations)
* Subjects who frequently swam in swimming pools increased bladder cancer risk by nearly 60 percent.
Researchers also noted that when
THM is inhaled or absorbed through the skin, carcinogens bypass the liver where they might otherwise be detoxified.
Increased risk of bladder cancer and atherosclerosis are excellent reasons to reduce exposure to chlorinated water. But the good reasons don’t end there.
A 2003 report titled “Trihalomethanes and Our Water Supply,” written by John Capece, Ph. D., of Southern DataStream (a water resources research consulting firm), offered this chilling comment: “Some investigations have found that chlorination by-products may be linked to heart, lung, kidney, liver, and central nervous system damage.”
Dr. Capece goes on to detail a California study that showed miscarriage risk to be significantly higher among women with a daily consumption of five or more glasses of water containing high
THM levels.
One final note for anyone who takes regular dips in swimming pools: For many years, ozone generators have been used in Europe to kill bacteria, viruses, mould, and other contaminates in swimming pools – eliminating the need for chlorine. And for some years non-chlorine products were available in New Zealand for swimming pool treatment, but we are unaware of any Council or Government owned or operated pools using other than Chlorine to disinfect the water, usually obtained from already chlorinated tap water.
Dr. Price also noted that heart disease is a modern health problem. We’re told by mainstream nutritionists that high-fat diets are to blame, but high-fat diets were common in the 19th Century while heart disease was rare. Meanwhile, the steady growth of heart disease rates throughout the 20th Century parallels the steady increase in the use of chlorine in our water, paper, clothing, insecticides, paints and cleaning products.
If you have read this far you’ll probably stay far away from chlorinated hot spa pools and swimming pools using chlorine for disinfection, you may also remember the devastating effect the use of ‘Mustard’ Gas by the Germans in the first World War and by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds and the Iranians in recent years, had on those exposed to it. Mustard gas is Chlorine gas [Nitrogen Gas] as a blistering agent [bis(2-Chloroethyl) Sulphide], and we use the same gas to disinfect the water supply, which we are told is safe to drink.
Even the small amount ingested, inhaled and absorbed, day after day, year after year, may have a devastating effect on your health.
How do you protect yourself? Firstly, you drink pure, distilled water only; secondly, you can install a dechlorinator showerhead. Combined they will improve your chances for a healthier life.
See ‘Special Information’ to read more about drinking water and water safety.
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