Disinfection By-products (DBPs) – chlorine is not the major issue, the greatest harm comes from the disinfection by-products (dbps) created when chlorine combines with organic material in the water. DBPs, such as trihalomethanes (thms) and haloacetic acids (haas), are thousands of times more toxic than chlorine. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets the goal limit for some of them at zero, a requirement impossible to enforce, which means you always have some in your municipal water supply.
- Human studies suggest that lifetime consumption of chlorine-treated water can more than double the risk of bladder and rectal cancers – in certain individuals;
- DBPs have been linked to reproductive problems – in both animals and humans;
- Studies have shown DBPs may wreak even more havoc when they’re absorbed through your skin –
E.g. one study published in the Journal of Environmental Sciences in 2008 found that swimming in a chlorinated pool presented an unacceptable cancer risk.
| DBM COMMENTYou can easily absorb as many DBP toxins in one shower as you would by drinking tap water for a week, so short showers are advised. |
- Chlorine is a halogen and is essential to body functioning
- Chlorine enters the body via diet, skin or breathing – food contains small and necessary amounts of chlorine, HOWEVER, excessive amounts can enter the body via chlorinated drinking/ shower water as well as pool and spa water that is cleaned using chlorine
- Especially detrimental is warm shower water which opens skin pores and chlorine gas that is released by warm water and breathed into the lungs
- Excess chlorine replaces essential iodine in the body with deleterious consequences
- Chlorine uses up oxygen in water – by oxidising toxins
- Excessive chlorine in the body is strongly correlated to higher risk of cancer, heart disease and other health problems
- Chlorine hardens arteries, destroys proteins in the body, irritates skin and sinus conditions and aggravates asthma, allergies and respiratory problems.
“We are quite convinced, based on our study, that there is an association between cancer and chlorinated water”
Medical College of Wisconsin Research Team
“Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”
U.S. Council of Environmental Quality
“Putting chlorine in the water supplies is like starting a time bomb. Cancer, heart trouble, premature senility; both mental and physical, are conditions attributable to chlorine treated water supplies. It is making us grow old before our time by producing symptoms of aging, such as hardening of the arteries.”
Dr. Herbert Schwarts Biological Chemist
“Nothing can negate the incontrovertible fact, the basic cause of atherosclerosis and resulting entities, such as heart attacks and stroke, is chlorine.”
Joseph Price, M.D. Coronaries, Cholesterol, Chlorine
“I deal extensively on several newsgroups that focus on animal cancers – particularly feline leukaemia, mast cell tumours, etc. I am amazed by the upsurge in these kind of cases and the only common element I can find in all of it is water. That’s right. I have 28 cats of my own and they all drink from a pond – none of them have ever developed any kind of cancer, nor have those of my friends who are committed to avoiding chlorinated water. The correlation is too widespread to ignore out of hand.”
“Jim”
Chloride vs. Chlorine
The mineral supplement chloride is very different from the gas chlorine. Elemental chlorine is a dangerous gas that does not exist in the free elemental state in nature because of its reactivity, although it is widely distributed in combination with other elements. Chloride is related to chlorine however, as one of the most common chlorine compounds is common salt, NaCl. Chloride is a by-product of the reaction between chlorine and an electrolyte, such as potassium, magnesium, or sodium, which are essential for human metabolism. Chloride salts are essential for sustaining human metabolism and have none of the effects of isolated chlorine gas.
Used With Permission Shirley Emmons Bsc. (Hons) – Independent Natural And Alternative Health Researcher
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