INTO YOUR WATER AND HOW?
Bacteria and parasites represent just a small fraction of the broader water contamination picture. Other contaminants in our drinking water take much longer to ruin our health by causing such ailments as cancer, heart problems and many others. Many people become sick and stay sick throughout their entire lives and are not being able to learn of the real reason for their illnesses.
"No one knows the true sum of our toxic throwaways...since 1950's we've disposed of possibly 6 billion tons in or on the land, steadily increasing our potential exposure to chemicals that can cause cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, nervous disorders, blood diseases, and damage to liver, kidneys or genes." – National Geographic
As previously mentioned, some information about violations at water treatment plants sometimes make their way into the media. At the same time, many officials, as well as non-officials state there is no danger in consuming water. Nevertheless, most people do realize that tap water threatens our health. The sources of toxins in tap water can be various: poisonous chemicals used for water treatment, human errors at the treatment plant, imperfections in the purification process and plumbing that brings us tap water, to name just a few. Thus we cannot even be sure how often and to what extent our safety is compromised when we open our faucets.
Many treatment plants do a fair job of water purification in the sense of taking out pollutants that can lead to immediate illnesses; but they don't eliminate poisons that can harm your health in the long term. Based on an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) survey, estimated 200 billion gallons of liquid industrial waste are dumped daily, throughout the country, into surface ponds and lagoons!
Dr. F. T. Allen, Ph.D. writes,
"The number of contaminants monitored in public water supplies is small in comparison to the number that may be affecting drinking water. If a contaminant is NOT specifically tested for, it won't be found, even if it's present in the water. EPA regulations require testing for only 30 contaminants. There are an estimated 12,000 chemicals in water and this number is growing. So whatever an illegal dumper puts in the water six states away, may end up in your glass. In the past 50 years, more than half a million new chemical compounds have come into existence. The 14 ‘priority’ chemicals identified in this study are considered the most toxic and carcinogenic."
There are 5 basic kinds of water pollutants:
· Radioactive substances
· Additives
· Microorganisms
· Organic chemicals
· Non-organic metals/minerals
Microorganisms consist of harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites. As a rule, ordinary tap water does not contain any dangerous concentration of bacteria since they are destroyed by chlorine compounds added to it. “Great!” you might say. Unfortunately, not so great! Drinking chlorinated water is not harmless to our health. Chlorine combines with organic chemicals contained in water and creates poisonous contaminants called THM's (trihalomethanes.) THM’s are known carcinogens. In other words, substances that increase the risk of cancer. They can be very harmful to our kidneys and liver. Further studies and articles in various medical journals have shown that THM’s may be linked to more than 10.000 yearly cases of colon and bladder cancer in the United States. Additional studies show that these contaminants are directly linked to cancer of the pancreas as well. The Sierra Club's Guide to Safe Drinking Water, states, “The studies by the U.S. Public Health Service...indicate that these chemicals may cause major birth defects, including neurological disorders & spinal defects.”
A well-known U.S. doctor, Joseph Price, after having conducted extensive studies, showed a direct connection between the introduction and wide use of drinking water chlorinating technologies and an increase in the number of heart diseases.
Water chlorination kills not only harmful bacteria but also the useful in our digestive tract and, by doing this, deprives our body of these vital “friendly bacteria” (e.g. Acidophilus, Bifidus, etc.). After all, chlorine doesn’t know which bacteria are good and which are bad.
“The bottom line on chlorinated water: Drinking it, washing with it, breathing its vapors in the shower - are all likely causes of cancer.” [Toronto Sun, Dec. 11/95]
The Journal of Preventative and Alternative Medicine is dedicated to providing timely information on health matters, but its contents are not intended to provide medical advice or diagnosis for individual health problems or circumstances. Readers should seek advice from health professionals regarding the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of diseases. The information contained in the Journal is believed to be correct, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The publisher, editors, and contributors are not responsible for errors or omissions. The Journal is published by the Foundation for the Advancement of Alternative Medicine (FAAM), a not-for-profit foundation.