WATER-TO BOTTLE OR NOT!
C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D.
I have written about water before but the following attachment is so potent that everyone should see it!??
http://www.selfhealthsystems.com/water-disaster.pps
You may have to copy and paste this in your browser but it is worth it!?
I live on a farm and we have great well water. We check it every couple of years to be certain it remains free of pesticides, etc. For 27 years it has been pure. However when I travel, I have been drinking bottled water. I have tried two filters in the past that were of limited value and life. On the other hand neither bottled water nor city chlorinated water are pure water. Chorine has been essential to prevent many bacterial diseases which were major causes of illness and death prior to chlorination. BUT chlorinated water significantly increases the risk of congenital heart disease, cancer of liver, stomach, colon and bladder, as well as heart disease. Bottled water often has PCB’s, which are known carcinogens. The problems are that I have been told by one friend that there are two types of chlorine used and that one of them is not filterable!? I have been unable to find this info on the internet so you should check with your city water? company and cross check to see whether the easily available filters remove the chlorine.
IF YOU HAVE CHLORINATED WATER, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND A TOTAL HOME DECHLORINATION SYSTEM.
Incidentally reverse osmosis and steam distillation are not good alternatives—only naturally hard water is good for you and your heart. And NEVER drink “softened” water—it also is loaded with sodium.
I have not been able to find any consistent commercial source of bottled water that has unequivocally not been subjected to heat and that has no PCB producing plastic container!?
I think the taste of chlorinated water is enough to keep you from drinking water! I have just ordered a Sports Berkey? Water Bottle Filter, which supposedly will allow for 640 filters of 20 ounces of tap water. Cost is $47, including shipping. That is about 8 cents per bottle.?? If anyone has a better system, please let me know. Sounds MUCH superior to bottled water!
REF:
Epidemiology, 9:29-35, 1998
Am J of Epidemiology, 114: 178-190, 1981
Environ Health Perspect, 69: 275-279, 1986
?Joe Thornton, PANDORA’S POISON, MIT press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2000
International J of Epidemiology, 19: 49-59, 1990
Science News, June 5, 2008