Chlorine, Cancer And Heart Disease
“We are quite convinced, based on this study, that there is an association between cancer and chlorinated water.” – Medical College of Wisconsin, Senior Research Team
The addition of chlorine to our water began in the late 1800s and by 1904 was the standard in water treatment, and for the most part remains so today.
We don’t use chlorine because it’s the safest or even the most effective means of disinfection; we use it because it is the cheapest. In spite of all our technological advances, we essentially still pour bleach into our water prior to use. The long-term effects of using chlorinated water have just recently been documented.
It is not uncommon to find more chlorine in tap water than is recommended safe for a swimming pool. A simple chlorine test kit from the local discount department store, around $6.00, will typically yield surprising results – try it!
According to the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality, “Cancer risk among people using chlorinated water is as much as 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”
There is a lot of well-founded concern about chlorine. When chlorine is added to our water, it combines with other natural compounds to form trihalomethanes (chlorination byproducts), or THMs. These chlorine byproducts trigger the production of free radicals in the body, causing cell damage, and are highly carcinogenic. Chlorine is also suspected of contributing to hardening of the arteries, the primary cause of heart disease.
“We are learning the hard way that all the time we thought we were preventing epidemics of one disease, we were creating another. Two decades after the start of chlorinating our drinking water the present epidemic of heart trouble and cancer began.”
Joseph M. Price, PhD“One common factor among women with breast cancer is that they all have 50-60% higher levels of these chlorination byproducts (THMs) in their fat tissue than women without breast cancer…”
BreastCancerFund.org“Up to two-thirds of the harmful effects of chlorine are due to inhalation and skin absorption while showering.”
The American Journal Of Public Health
No one will argue that chlorine serves an important purpose, and that it is likely here to stay. The result of not using chlorine in our water would be outbreaks of water-borne disease like typhoid and cholera, as existed in the 1800s.
It is also clear and experts agree that chlorine represents a very real and serious threat to our health and should be removed both from the water we drink and the water we shower with. In-home water filtration can easily and affordably take the risks of chlorine out of your water, at the point of use… just prior to consumption.
Aquasana gets the chlorine out of your drinking and shower water!
Learn about the benefits of Shower Water Filters
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