Monday, May 5, 2008

FAQ - How Dangerous is Tap Water For Showering?

People ask, "How dangerous is tap water for showering?" I have another question for you. How much danger/risk are you willing to take with your life?

Sure, you may bravely face danger, when it comes to hiking, mountain climbing, boating and sky diving or other risky hobbies. But, if you are like me, you avoid unnecessary risks.

I love to fly, hike and swim in the ocean. Some people are afraid the plane will crash; they'll be mauled by a bear or eaten by a shark. I feel the benefits, enjoyment, that I get from my past-time activities are worth the risk. But, I do not want to cancer.

How dangerous is tap water for showering, when it comes to increased cancer risk? The jury is still out, when it comes to estimated percentages. However, there is no doubt that carcinogens are released into the air of your home, each time that you shower in unfiltered water.

Cancer would greatly interfere with my lifestyle, to say the least. Yours too, I'm sure. There are a growing number of experts that believe the "cancer-epidemic" has been caused by our exposure to environmental toxins and that we should avoid them whenever possible.

Some toxins are unavoidable, unless you completely stop buying processed and packaged foods and beverages. You'd even have to stop breathing most outdoor air. You'd have to stop using many of your health and beauty aids. There are so many toxins in the environment and so many different ways that we are exposed. You cannot possibly control them all.

But, you can easily afford an effective shower filter that will remove the most hazardous compounds. Primarily, we are talking about THMs.

How dangerous is tap water for showering, when it comes to THMs? THMs or trihalomethanes become gases during a hot shower. They float around in the water that you drink. If you regularly swim in chlorinated pools, you are absorbing them through your skin.

You see, THMs are byproducts of the chlorination process. Researchers sometimes refer to them as DBPs or disinfection byproducts. At one time, it was said that their presence in tap-water was harmless. Numerous research reports to the contrary have now been released.

There is no doubt that drinking water contaminated with THMs increases your risk of bladder and colorectal cancer by about 40%. Every source of exposure increases that risk. What's the exact risk from all sources of exposure? I cannot give you a scientific answer to that question, but it would seem to me that the risk is great. Just one more question, before I go.

How dangerous is tap water for showering, if you are already in poor health? If you suffer from asthma, allergies, sinusitis, other respiratory conditions, skin problems, eczema, psoriasis or dermatitis...your condition is being aggravated by continuing to shower in unfiltered water.

Buy a shower filter, as soon as possible. Just make sure to get one that removes chlorine AND THMs. Then you won't have to wonder, "How dangerous is tap water for showering?" The point will be moot.

Larry Fletcher is an avid proponent of water purification and a passionate researcher on its health benefits. To get the facts on how to choose the best water purification system, visit http://www.pure-and-safe-water.com now.

Friday, May 2, 2008

The Chemicals in Tap Water Increase Your Cancer Risk, But Buying Bottled is Not a Good Alternative

It's true. The chemicals in tap water increase your cancer risk, but drinking only bottled is not a solution. Depending on the brand, you may as well drink tap water In fact, sometimes tap-water is the safer option.

The safest option of all is to buy a home purifier. The technology available for your home is a vast improvement over the purification methods used by public treatment facilities or bottling companies, mostly, because you are treating "less" water.

In order to completely remove all of the known chemicals in tap water your public provider would have to reduce the flow to a trickle. It would be impossible for them to service all of the homes in your community, at the same time.

Bottling companies could not meet their production quotas and provide the safest beverages. For large scale operations, the purification method of choice (if you can call it that) is reverse osmosis. But, if you drink tap water that has been run through a reverse osmosis system, you are still drinking chemical contaminants. Reverse osmosis does not remove them.

When you buy a brand like Dasani, Aquafina or Pure-Life, you are about to drink tap water that has been run through a reverse osmosis system. Those companies, as well as 25% of the other bottlers, use publicly treated sources and further reduce contaminants through the use of reverse osmosis.

But, as I mentioned reverse osmosis does nothing about the chemicals in tap water It was never designed to. It was originally designed for de-mineralization.

Many industries need to reduce the content of naturally occurring minerals, like calcium, in order to prevent excessive corrosion of machinery, to reduce the water's ability to carry an electric charge or for other reasons. Naturally occurring minerals do not corrode our internal workings. In fact, we need them for good health.

There are many environmental concerns revolving around all of those bottles of water that people are drinking every day. There's the overuse of natural resources (water, electricity and oil). There's the added pollution from those plastic bottles, 75% of which end up in a landfill. But, there are individual economic and safety considerations, as well.

If you drink tap water that has been run through a selective home filtration device that includes carbon, a multi-media block with a sub-micron porous structure and ion exchange, more than 99% of all the common chemical contaminants, as well as the traces of metals, prescription drugs and parasitic cysts will be removed. But, naturally occurring minerals are allowed to "pass" through. The system even enhances the mineral content, to a certain degree.

The chemicals in tap water increase your cancer risk, but those same chemicals are present in the majority of bottled brands. Environmentalists would like you to drink tap water more often. You can save thousands of dollars per year by installing a home purification system to remove the chemicals in tap water instead of buying bottled. If you're not convinced, there are more reasons, so, keep learning.

Dominic Anderton is a dedicated researcher on the health benefits of purified drinking and bath water. Visit his site now at http://www.pure-and-safe-water.com to get the facts on how to choose the best water purification system.