Chemicals in Your Drinking Water That Could Be Wrecking Your Health

Every day, you lose water from your body through urine and sweat, and this fluid needs to be replenished. Clean, pure water is therefore one of the most important foundations for optimal health. Unfortunately, most tap water is far from pure, containing a vast array of disinfection byproducts, chemicals, radiation, heavy metals, and even pharmaceutical drugs. Fluoride, which is still being added to many municipal water supplies, is yet another factor that can make the water you drink each day more harmful than healing. The featured documentary, An nconvenient Tooth,! reveals the many problems associated with water fluoridation, and why it"s a practice that really needs to be stopped for the public"s greater good. Ama#ingly, the debate over the dangers of fluoride and has been ongoing for more than si$ decades. %et study after study confirms that fluoride is a dangerous, to$ic poison that bioaccumulates in your body while being ineffective at preventing dental decay... Unregulated Contaminants Found in &any U' (ater Utilities Fluoride isn"t the only ha#ard that might be lurking in your tap water. n related news, federal scientists report finding traces of !) unregulated contaminants in one*third of the water samples collected from +, municipal utilities across the U' in their most recent testing. As reported by the featured article in 'cientific American-+ . ncluded are !! perfluorinated compounds, an herbicide, two solvents, caffeine, an antibacterial compound, a metal and an antidepressant... /The good news is the concentrations are generally pretty low," said 0ana 1olpin, a research hydrologist with the U'2' who participated in the study. /3ut," he added, /there"s still the unknown. Are there long*term conse4uences of low*level e$posure to these chemicals5"6 7erfluorinated compounds 87FCs9, !! of which were found in this most recent government test, have become so ubi4uitous that many of them are now detected in humans:including children. According to the C0C;s .Fourth <ational =eport on >uman E$posure to Environmental Chemicals6 published in +??@,A a do#en different types of perfluorinated

compounds were detected in Americans tested. The potential health conse4uences of ingesting 7FCs are not a complete mystery. As reported in the featured article.The two most common perfluorinated compounds, 7FB' and 7FBA, in the utilities" water have been detected in the blood of nearly all people in the United 'tates. A panel of scientists has concludedC that there is a /probable link" between 7FBA in drinking water and high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer and pregnancy*induced hypertension. The findings were based on people in &id*Bhio Dalley communities whose water was polluted with 7FBA from a 0u7ont plant.6 EEmphasis mineF (hat %ou <eed to 1now About 7erfluorinated Compounds ;ve written many articles about one of the most common sources of these ha#ardous chemicals, namely non*stick cookware, but contaminated drinking water is another pervasive source. 7FCs like 7FBA and 7FB' are part of an e$panding group of chemicals commonly referred to as Ggender*bendingG chemicals, because they can disrupt your endocrine system and affect your se$ hormones. n animal studies, 7FBA has also been linked tonfertility ** A +??@ study, found that both 7FBA and 7FB' 8perfluorooctane sulfonate9, dramatically increased the odds of infertility. 7FB' increased the risk of infertility anywhere from H? to !AC percent, while 7FBA was linked to a I? to !,C percent increase in the chance of infertility. Thyroid disease J According to a studyI published in +?!?, 7FBA can damage your thyroid function. ndividuals with the highest 7FBA concentrations were more than twice as likely to report current thyroid disease, compared to those with the lowest 7FBA concentrations. %our thyroid contains thyroglobulin protein, which binds to iodine to form hormones, which in turn influence essentially every organ, tissue, and cell in your body. Thyroid hormones are also re4uired for growth and development in children. Thyroid disease, if left untreated, can lead to heart disease, infertility, muscle weakness, and osteoporosis. Cancer ** 7FBA has been associated with tumors in at least four different organs in animal

tests 8liver, pancreas, testicles, and mammary glands in rats9, and has been associated with increases in prostate cancer in 7FBA plant workers. The E7A has ruled 7FCs as Glikely carcinogens,G and has stated that 7FBA Gposes developmental and reproductive risks to humans.G mmune system problems ** 'everal studies by scientists in 'weden indicate that 7FCs have an adverse effect on your immune system. As described in a report on 7FCs by the Environmental (orking 2roupH 8E(29, 7FBA was found to decrease all immune cell subpopulations studied, in the thymus and spleen, and caused immunosupression. ncreased K0K cholesterol levels J A recent study in the Archives of 7ediatric L Adolescent &edicine) implicates both 7FBA and 7FB'. Children and teens with higher 7FBA levels had higher levels of total cholesterol and K0K or GbadG cholesterol, while 7FB' was associated with increased total cholesterol, including both K0K cholesterol and >0K or GgoodG cholesterol. Fluoride:A 'tealth 'ource of Arsenic Contamination Another common water contamination is arsenic:a powerful carcinogen that has been linked to an increased risk of several types of cancer. The level of arsenic in U' tap water tends to be high due to natural groundwater contamination.@ 3ut the biggest culprit is actually fluoride, as the most common form of fluoride used for water fluoridation 8he$afluorosilicic acid9 is fre4uently contaminated with arsenic. n fact, according to one recent study,!? switching the type of fluoride used to pharmaceutical*grade sodium fluoride would reduce the amount of inorganic arsenic contamination in drinking water by @@ percentM For people living in areas with fluoridated tap water, fluoride is a part of every glass of water, every bath and shower, and every meal cooked using that water. t seems inevitable that the addition of contaminated he$afluorosilicic acid to the water supply by definition must also increase the cancer rate in the U' because of the arsenic it contains... &oreover, not only is there mounting evidence that fluoride itself poses grave health risks to infants and children:including reductions in N:arsenic e$posure in utero and during early childhood is also particularly problematic, as it can cause lasting harm to children;s developing brains, and endocrine and immune systems.

(ater Filtration:A &ust for Clean 7ure (aterO strongly recommend using a high*4uality water filtration system unless you can verify the purity of your water. To be absolutely certain you are getting the purest water you can, you;ll want to filter the water both at the point of entry and at the point of use. This means filtering all the water that comes into the house, and then filtering again at the kitchen sink. currently use a whole house carbon*based water filtration system, in addition to a reverse osmosis 8=B9 filter to purify my drinking water. %ou can read more about water filtration in this previous article to help you make a decision about what type of water filtration system will be best for you and your family. 'ince most water sources are now severely polluted, the issue of water filtration and purification couldn;t be more important. t is important to remember that once added, fluoride is very difficult to remove from water. The best way to remove fluoride from your water supply is to never put it in there in the first place. This is one of the reasons we are actively collaborating with 7aul Connett and F.A.<. to help remove fluoride from the water supplies. To date, we have been successful at helping over +?? cities in <orth America to remove it from their water supply, including 7ortland, Bregon last year. deal (ater 'ources 3esides purification, also believe it"s critical to drink living water. recently interviewed 0r. 2erald 7ollack about his book, The Fourth 7hase of (ater- 3eyond 'olid, Ki4uid, and Dapor. This fourth phase of water is referred to as .structured water6 and is the type of water found in all of your cells. This water has healing properties, and is naturally created in a variety of ways. (ater from a deep spring is one e$cellent source of structured water. The deeper the better, as structured water is created under pressure. There;s a great website called Finda'pring.com!! where you can find a natural spring in your area. 3ut you can also promote structured water through vorte$ing. water nearly e$clusively as personally drink vorte$ed

became a big fan of Diktor 'chauberger who did much

pioneering work on vorte$ing about a century ago. 0r. 7ollack found that by creating a vorte$ in a glass of water, you"re putting more energy into it, thereby increasing the structure of the water. According to 0r. 7ollack, virtually A<% energy put into the water seems to create or

build structured water. &y own =L0 team is working on a careful study in which we use vorte$ed water to grow sprouts, to evaluate the vitality and effectiveness of the water. (e"ve already budgeted a 4uarter million for this internal research to develop the best vorte$ machine on the market, because we believe an ideal vorte$er could be one of the simplest ways to improve your health and we hope to bring it to market in the ne$t year. (ater Fluoridation s Anything 3ut 'afe... &ost likely, water fluoridation remains a government policy because the government agencies that have been promoting it as safe for all these years stand to lose public trust. The thing is, the longer they wait to take corrective action, and the more people discover the truth about fluoride, the worse public trust in those agencies will get anyway... Clean pure water is a prere4uisite to optimal health, and industrial chemicals, drugs and other to$ic additives really have no place in our water supplies. 'o urge you to Poin the Fluoride Action <etwork"s efforts!+ and your local anti*fluoride movements in the U' and Canada to clean up our water. Qoin the Fight to 2et Fluoride But of 0rinking (ater There;s no doubt about it- fluoride should not be ingested. Even scientists from the E7A;s <ational >ealth and Environmental Effects =esearch Kaboratory have classified fluoride as a Gchemical having substantial evidence of developmental neuroto$icity.6 Furthermore, according to the Centers for 0isease Control and 7revention 8C0C9, C! percent of American adolescents now have dental fluorosis:unattractive discoloration and mottling of the teeth that indicate overe$posure to fluoride. Clearly, children are being overe$posed, and their health and development put in Peopardy. (hy5 At least when it comes to topical application, you have a choice. %ou can easily buy fluoride* free toothpaste and mouthwash. 3ut you;re stuck with whatever your community puts in the water, and it;s very difficult to filter out of your water once it;s added. &any do not have the resources or the knowledge to do so.

The only real solution is to stop the archaic practice of water fluoridation in the first place. Fortunately, the Fluoride Action <etwork has a game plan to E<0 water fluoridation, both in the United 'tates and Canada. Clean pure water is a prere4uisite to optimal health. ndustrial chemicals, drugs and other to$ic additives really have no place in our water supplies. 'o, please, support the anti*fluoride movement by making a donation to the Fluoride Action <etwork today.