Chlorine: Friend or Foe?

Chlorine: Friend or Foe? It’s common knowledge that all city water purveyors add chlorine to their public drinking water supply. Chlorine has single handedly – by itself – saved millions of lives throughout the world. Chlorine has made it possible for all cities to flourish by providing miles and miles of safe drinking water to every faucet connected to the city water supply.  

Chlorine is used almost universally in the treatment of public drinking water because of its total effect on harmful bacteria and other waterborne, disease-causing organisms. Chlorine is a poison that is very effective at killing bacteria thus providing millions around the world with bacteria safe water.

Most people assume that since chlorine is in our water supply and our water has no bacteria present that it is safe to drink and bathe in. Nothing could be further from the truth!

First alarming fact: chlorine will not kill cryptosporidium cysts and therefore cannot guarantee microbiologically safe water.

Second alarming fact: as stated above, chlorine is a poison. Some people think it’s okay to consume this poison in small amounts, but the fact remains the same…poison is poison.

Obviously, if you quickly ingest a glass of straight liquid bleach, such as Clorox, you will die a very violent death which is not suitable for description in this article. So, don’t be fooled that a little chlorine is okay to ingest.

Our bodies’ are remarkable at filtering all the chemicals and junk we throw at them, but what happens is our bodies’ collect and store these poisons and when our body filters’ are full, then the poisons spill out into our bodies. Scientific studies have linked chlorine and chlorination by-products to cancer of the bladder, liver, stomach, rectum, and colon, as well as heart disease and arteriosclerosis, anemia, high blood pressure and allergic reactions. There is also evidence that shows chlorine can destroy protein in our body and cause adverse affects on skin and hair.

“A new statistical analysis indicates that people who drink chlorinated water run a 21% greater risk of bladder cancer and a 38% greater risk of rectal cancer than people who drink water with little or no chlorine.” Science News, July 1992

Third alarming fact: you don’t have to drink chlorinated water to get chlorine poisoning. A little known fact – breathing vaporized chlorine gas while showering, bathing, soaking in a hot tub, cooking or washing dishes has been shown to be worse than drinking chlorinated water. Besides breathing chlorine vapors, we also absorb the poison through our skin. “Showering is suspected as the primary cause of elevated levels of chloroform in nearly every home because of the chlorine in the water.” Environmental Protection Agency

“Skin absorption of contaminants has been underestimated and ingestion may not constitute the sole or even primary route of chlorine exposure.” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 74, 1984

Since chlorine is required by public health regulation to be present in all public drinking water supplies, it is up to each individual consumer to remove it from their homes.

WaterChoices.com

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