Tapped Out?: Are Chlorine's Beneficial Effects in Drinking Water Offset by Its Links to Cancer?

Tapped Out?: Are Chlorine's Beneficial Effects in Drinking Water Offset by Its Links to Cancer?

www.scientificamerican.com

Thousands of American municipalities add chlorine to their drinking water to get rid of microbes [CORRECTED ACCORDING TO EARTHTALK E-MAIL]. But this inexpensive and highly effective disinfectant has a dark side. “Chlorine, added as an inexpensive and effective drinking water disinfectant, is also a known poison to the body,” says Vanessa Lausch of filter manufacturer Aquasana. “It is certainly no coincidence that chlorine gas was used with deadly effectiveness as a weapon in the First World War.” The gas would severely burn the lungs and other body tissues when inhaled, and is no less

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I am happy to see this is finally getting mainstream attention. Any chemicals in water is bad news. Flouridation should be the first to go because at least chlorine, if left out can dissipate in about a day. Good to see this sort of news, and hopefully we stop letting it into our water to poison us all.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

www.scientificamerican.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by predator0187
I am happy to see this is finally getting mainstream attention.

not really, that is just a ad from a filter manufacturer....

Maybe People will begin to realize there are other types of machines to use to refine water the way they want.

It is going to be a water revoltion

I have been drinking well water for years. It's really pure tasteing and clean. I can't drink chlorinated water now because the smell and the taste are really bad to me.

Yet my friends with "city" water can't smell or taste what I'm talking about. I guess they are used to it.

This morning, i was watching a cable channel with extreme accidents from around the world. IN sone southern state years ago, ( missed most of it) chlorine gas endangered an older couple in a house. 9/11 couldnt do much for them, jsut kept teeling them to turn of the A/c, close windows and wait it out in basement.
well, her husband saw the kitchen few days later. stanless steel refrigerator and appliances he claimed had melted*
scary hugh? if chlorine gas did that! and its in our water i want it out, along with the fluoride

reply to post by predator0187
This is no doubt true but breathing pure oxygen, will kill you also.
Funny, person is from filter company, I always heard it was better to let water sit for awhile before you drink it.

Originally posted by predator0187


I am happy to see this is finally getting mainstream attention. Any chemicals in water is bad news. Flouridation should be the first to go because at least chlorine, if left out can dissipate in about a day. Good to see this sort of news, and hopefully we stop letting it into our water to poison us all.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

www.wqpmag.com...

This year, America celebrates the 100th anniversary of one of the most significant public health advances in U.S. history—the chlorination of drinking water. Treatment plants in Jersey City, N.J., and Chicago began to routinely chlorinate municipal drinking water in 1908. Over the next decade, more than 1,000 U.S. cities adopted this life-saving technology.

And do you know WHY Chicago started using chlorine? Because so many people died from NOT using it.

I agree chlorine can dissipate and if people are just made aware of this, maybe they'll let their tap water sit for a day after extracting it, before drinking it. I extract the tap water, filter it, then let it sit for a while before drinking it, that's probably not a bad practice that more people should be aware of.

But after finding out about the Chicago incident I found out how hazardous drinking water used to be, without chlorine. I think that's why, historically, beer and wine were popular beverages, not only for their side effects, but it was one way to consume liquid beverages without getting sick or dying from bacteriological contamination.

So, maybe all our drinking water should be just changed to beer? That way they won't need Chlorine? Just kidding, but if we were to eliminate Chlorine, I don't know what we would use as an alternative. I learned Chlorine was poisonous in middle school and I've never felt safe drinking tap water until I removed the Chlorine, others should be mindful fo this too, good point, S&F.