01-02-2014, 04:18 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Sun
Sure, we can begin with an old favorite, flouride. There are a number of good reasons why fluoride should not be addd to water supplies. Fluoride is a halogen but acts much like a heavy metal in potently inhibiting and damaging important enzymes. It can also cause cellular dysfunction and damage hormone receptors and other regulatory sites if it makes its way into cell membranes. Of particular importance with regards to autism and other behavioural disorders is the news that fluoride damages enzymes within the brain and lowers IQ's. Furthermore, there is evidence that fluoride causes excessive calcification in arteries, joints and ligaments. It has also been implicated in an increase in hip fractures and bone cancers due to it's accumulation in bones at the expense of calcium.
Next we add a lot of chlorine, chlorine has been added to the water supply in western countries for decades for the purpose of killing bugs. The trouble is that chlorine has a number of negative consequences for humans as well. Amongst these are the fact that chlorine is a free radical initiator, elevates cholesterol and accelerates aging. These facts are bad news for anyone, since free radicals can lead to an increased risk of heart disease and various cancers, amongst other things, but it is even worse news for those with environmental illnesses.
Pesticides inevitably end up in our water supply as the run off from fields where crops are sprayed makes it's way into reservoirs. A major class of pesticides are the organochloride pesticides that include more than 15,000 chlorinated compounds. Included in this class of chemicals is atrazine which is widely sprayed onto grain crops, fruit and vegetables. Others include DDT, chlordane and lindane, which rather worryingly, is the main ingredient in the head lice lotions we innocently rub into our young children's scalps. All of these pesticides are highly damaging to the endocrine, immune and detoxification systems of the body. What makes pesticides truly hazardous is the fact that many cannot be completely detoxified by the body and therfore accumulate in the tissues where they continue to cause dysfunction and disease. Of course, with this being the case, every time you drink water contaminated with pesticides, you are adding to the toxic burden within your body and increasing your chances of disease, or potentially exacerbating an existing condition.
Like pesticides, our water supply is often contaminated with varying levels of fertilizers that have run off from agricultural land. Fertilizer use has increased by a factor of 10 since World War II and many consider the amounts used to be far in excess of what can resonably be expected to be taken up by the crops they are applied to. The major chemical ingredient of fertilizers is nitrogen, in the form of nitrate, and this can have a serious impact on health when ingested. Levels in drinking water are frequently found to be above safe levels set by governments in industrialized countries. Nitrate is converted into nitrite in the body, which in turn lowers the blood cells ability to carry oxygen. This prevents oxygen from reaching the brain, which can be fatal, especially in infants drinking formula where it can lead to so called 'blue baby syndrome'. In people with environmental illnesses, poor oxygen transport and utilization is already an issue, causing fatigue and muscle aches for example, so chronic exposure to nitrate in drinking water can only serve to exacerbate the problem. Nitrate has also been strongly linked to gastric cancers.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are byproducts from industrial processes and consumer waste. Some of the most prevalent in water supplies are mercury, lead and cadmium. The most unsettling thing about their effects on health is the fact that the body finds it very difficult to excrete them. Heavy metals therefore accumulate in the tissues of animals, including humans. This is why predatory fish, high up on the food chain, such as tuna, often contain such high levels of mercury. Once these metals build up in the tissues they interfere more and more with normal biological processes. High glutathione activity is needed to have a chance of coping with chronic exposure. Unfortunately, those with environmental illnesses have been found to have lower than normal glutathione levels, so avoiding exposure as much as possible is essential.
Dioxins - are organic environmental pollutants which are thought to be some of the most toxic chemicals known to man. Dioxins are compounds produced during chlorine bleaching, paper production processes, waste incinerators, production of pesticides and the burning of wood for fuel. Although originally thought to be entirely manmade chemicals it is now understood that dioxins can also be produced in nature through events such as volcanic eruptions and wild fires. Dioxins are a major health hazard when in the air but what is less well known is that dioxins in the air can also enter the water supply through fog and rain.
I could go on but I type with two fingers and it is a drag plus I have to get on my roof for internet access and it is wet up here.
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Sun,
Sorry your two finger typing causes you so much difficulty. Clearly, you need to learn the art of "cut and paste" because your alleged two finger typed post above sounds eerily similar to this website - all you had to do was cut and paste it!
http://www.cleanwater.com/types-of-water...inants.php
Now here is a link to a much more factual and reliable source other than a Water Softening Company's advertisement webpage that for some reason has spelled out verbatim what you claim is in our drinking water!
http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyour...o/0000101/