Drinking and Showering with Chlorinated Water

Drinking and Showering in Chlorinated Water

Chemicals like chlorine get into our bloodstream and bodies very efficiently through shower water because the shower provides the ideal venue. The warm shower expands the skin’s pores and therefore permits a high rate of absorption of chlorine and other harmful contaminants.

IT’S A CHEMICAL REACTION

Because chlorine has a much lower boiling point than water, it vaporizes more quickly. Therefore, the steam in the shower can contain as much as twenty times the level of chlorine as compared to water that pours from the tap. The inhalation and absorption of these chemicals from the vapors routes them directly into the bloodstream without benefit of the body’s natural filtration systems.

THE DANGERS OF CHLORINE

Long suspected a cause of asthma and bronchitis, the inhalation of chlorine’s vapors acts as a harsh irritant to delicate lung tissue. As opposed to ingesting contaminants by drinking unpurified water, chemicals that are inhaled enter the bloodstream. Because they bypass both the liver and the kidneys, they have no opportunity to filter the toxins; thereby increasing chlorine’s harmful effects.

While chlorine is considered a leading cause of hair loss, some studies have also found that the hazards of inhaling chlorine can even exceed those derived from drinking chlorinated water. The quantity of chloroform (the most common trihalomethane found in chlorinated water), adsorbed through the course of the average shower can be up to six times more than the trihalomethane introduced into the body by drinking chlorinated water.

CLEAN WATER

Water is our most basic element essential for survival. Clean water is vital to maintain the proper functioning of our bodies and its systems from skin and organ integrity to a healthy immune system to longevity.

HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH

Facts, figures, and evidence have been stacking up for years about the unhealthy substances to which we unsuspectingly expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It is therefore imperative we guard ourselves against the destructive chemicals that serve to compromise our health and wellness.

SOME FACTS FROM THE EXPERTS

“Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times. It is an insidious poison.” - Dr. Joseph M. Price, MD, in Moseby’s Medical Dictionary

“I am quite convinced, based on this study, that there is an association between cancer and chlorinated water.” - Robert D. Morris of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee

The American Journal of Public Health recently linked chlorine to significant increases in certain types of cancer and stated that - “up to 2/3 of our harmful exposure comes from inhalation of steam while showering.”

The U.S. EPA recently released a report that said, “Virtually every home in America has a detectable level of chloroform gas in the air due to chlorine and showering.”

In the January/February 1987 issue of Health Freedom News, this quote: “The drinking of chlorinated water has finally been officially linked to an increased incidence of colon cancer. An epidemiologist at Oak Ridge Associated Universities completed a study of colon cancer victims and non-cancer patients and concluded that the drinking of chlorinated water for 15 years or more was conducive to a high rate of colon cancer.”

“Chlorine has so many dangers it should be banned. Putting chlorine in the water supply is like starting a time bomb. Cancer, heart trouble, premature senility, both mental and physical, conditions are 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 Schwartz, Cumberland County College in Vineland, N.J.

A Norwegian study of 141,000 births over three years found a 14 per cent increased risk of birth defects 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 that a link has been found with higher levels of spina bifida.

The U.S. General Accounting Office reports that there are serious deficiencies in water treatment plants in 75% of the states. More than 120 million people (about 50% of the population) may get unsafe water according to a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“The drinking of chlorinated water has finally been officially linked to an increased incidence of colon cancer. An epidemiologist at Oak Ridge Associated Universities completed a study of colon cancer victims and non-cancer patients and concluded that the drinking of chlorinated water for 15 years or more was conducive to a high rate of colon cancer.” - Health Freedom News, January/February 1987

“Long-term drinking of chlorinated water appears to increase a person’s risk of developing bladder cancer as much as 80%,” according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Some 45,000 Americans are diagnosed every year with bladder cancer.” - St. Paul Dispatch & Pioneer Press, December 17, 1987