What’s In Your Water?
Water comprises over seventy percent of a mature human body and covers the same amount of our planet. Water is the very source of all life on this planet, the quality and integrity are vitally important to all forms of life. The body is very much like a sponge and is composed of trillions of chambers called cells that hold liquid.
The quality of our life is directly connected to the quality of our water.
Weston Price lived in an era before the chemical revolution and thus did not have to turn his attention to the subject of how to come by pure water. Thus we are left to wrestle with the subject ourselves.
The Top 10 toxins in our drinking water are fluoride, chlorine, THM, chloramines (which is a combination of ammonia and chlorine), metals, MTBE, rocket fuel, Chromium-6 (which was the focus of the movie Erin Brokovich), pharmaceutical residues and what is yet unknown. Number 10 is left as unknown to represent the toxic threats which are in our water right now, but which like THMs, MTBE, and so many other toxins, remain undiscovered or unacknowledged for years or decades.
Top 10 Toxins in our Drinking Water
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1.Fluoride – an industrial by-product; bone cancer in boys; potent enzyme inhibitor; causes brittle bones; doesn’t help teeth.
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2.Chlorine – 40 years to realize that in addition to being a free radical, it creates carcinogenic Trihalomethanes (THM).
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3.THM – known carcinogen. 9/11 – led to increased chlorine levels in municipal supplies, with increased THM. EPA mandates municipalities to reduce THM.
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4.Chloramines (ammonia + chlorine) added to reduce THM and create more potent anti-bacterial compound. Chloramines added to most municipal supplies, leach metals into water (makes filters obsolete).
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5.Metals– Canadian research shows animals exhibiting Alzheimer’s symptoms after drinking chloramine treated water sent through copper pipes.
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6.MTBE – added to gasoline for air quality, now polluting groundwater (carcinogen).
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7.Rocket fuel – showing up in vegetables, groundwater in California. (Actually is a byproduct of chloramines).
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8.Chromium-6 – See the movie Erin Brokovich.
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9.Pharmaceutical Residues – Residues of Prozac, Lipitor, Tamoxifen, and many other pharmaceuticals are urinated into the sewage system then sent back into the water system in treated water. Hard to remove.
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10.Unknown. #10 is left as unknown to represent the toxic threats which are in our water right now, but which like THMs, MTBE, and so many other toxins, remain undiscovered or unacknowledged for years or decades.
Fluoride
A Google search for the definition of fluoride reveals a long list consistently stating, in essence, that fluoride is "a natural element, or mineral, that can be found in water and toothpaste that can help prevent tooth decay". Yet, we propose that fluoridation is not about "children’s teeth" – but, rather that it is about industry getting rid of its hazardous waste at a profit, instead of having to pay a fortune to dispose of it. Only calcium fluoride occurs naturally in water; however, that type of fluoride has never been used for fluoridation.
Instead what is used over 90 percent of the time are silicofluorides, which are 85 times more toxic than calcium fluoride. They are non-biodegradable, hazardous waste products that come
straight from the pollution scrubbers of big industries. If not dumped in the public water supplies, these silicofluorides would have to be neutralized at the highest rated hazardous waste facility at a cost of $1.40 per gallon (or more depending on how much cadmium, lead, uranium and arsenic are also present). Cities buy these unrefined pollutants and dump them – lead, arsenic and all – into our water systems. According to the handbook, Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, silicofluorides are more poisonous than lead and just slightly less poisonous than arsenic. It is a cumulative poison that accumulates in bone over the years. Numerous campaigns and organizations have been created, such as the Fluoride Action Network, to educate the public about the fact that fluoride is proving to be dangerous and ineffective.
The Toxic Effects of Fluoride
In addition to the well documented toxic effects of fluoride such as the risk to the brain, thyroid, bones, and kidney patients, fluoride even at dosages of 1 part per million, found in artificially fluoridated water, can inhibit enzyme systems, damage the immune system, contribute to calcification of soft tissues, worsen arthritis and, of course, cause dental fluorosis in children. These are unsightly white, yellow or brown spots that are found in teeth exposed to fluoride during childhood. In 1993, the Subcommittee on Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride of the National Research Council admitted that 8% to 51% and sometimes up to 80% of the children living in fluoridated areas have dental fluorosis. Malnourished people, particularly children, usually targeted for fluoridation, are at greater risks to experience fluoride's harmful effects. 97% of western Europe has chosen fluoride free water.
What Kind of Water Should We Drink?
Not surprisingly, Dr. Thomas Cowan, a San Francisco holistic medical doctor, encourages us all to use non-fluoridated water for all internal consumption, even brushing our teeth. As we’ve mentioned, fluoride is a potent enzyme inhibitor, and therefore is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to foster. We want to promote health and healing through the enzymes in our bodies and the enzymes in our food.
Since virtually all of the local Bay Area tap water contains fluoride, as well as many other toxins – you may wonder what type of water we would consider safe to be drinking? Dr. Cowan states: "The best water to use is deep well water or clean spring or mineral water." Note that in regard to mineral water – we are referring to naturally mineral rich, carbonated water that bubbles up from the earth, which is bottled in glass, such as Gerolsteiner. This is in contrast to bottled water, whereby minerals have been added to treated municipal and/or water in which the carbonation has been forced into it via man-made intervention.
What About Bottled Water?
What about bottled water such as Evian? We propose that the environmental impact of the country’s obsession with bottled water has been staggering. Each day an estimated 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away. Most are not recycled. The Pacific Institute has estimated 20 million barrels of oil are used each year to make the plastic for water bottles. There is also a concern about a chemical commonly found in plastic food and beverage containers called bisphenol A (referred to as BPA) which has been fueling debates over packaging safety.
As such, we highly encourage you to invest in a water purification system in your home. Please see our recommendations. Meanwhile, we don’t recommend using a Brita, the popular pitcher filter, being that their product gets rid of a minute amount of fluoride, but the filtered water is still considered "fluoridated".
Recommendations
A local, San Francisco "first step" option is to go to Rainbow Grocery with your own containers to purchase their multi-stage purification water on tap: http://www.rainbowgrocery.org/index.html
We believe that the Radiant Life Company offers the best water drinking system the market today. Fluoride, lead, chlorine, MTBE, chromium-6, nitrates, pesticides, pharmaceutical residues, water-borne illness - you name it: this is the only system that can completely take out whatever your water can throw at it! http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/category/water-purification-systems
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