Can Chlorine Cause Cancer?

Are you aware that municipalities have, since the late 19th Century, been adding chlorine to municipal drinking water as a disinfectant. Today, that same chlorine is still added to the water we drink, cook with, wash our clothes with, and bathe in. Chlorine is an effective disinfectant, killing over 99% of the bacteria found in our water; Unfortunately, chlorine is also a deadly poison, affecting us just as it affects bacteria.

Chlorine and Cancer

Dr. Robert Carlson, a researcher whose work has been sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), stated some years ago that, “chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times.” Strong words regarding a substance that we drink and bathe in regularly, usually without a thought.

Recent medical studies have identified four types of cancer that can be positively linked to chlorine exposure from our drinking/tap water:

• Bladder cancer
• Rectal cancer
• Colon cancer
• Breast cancer

An overwhelming incidence of these malignancies has been found to be a result of prolonged exposure to the low levels of chlorine in our municipal water systems. The evidence is conclusive, and alarming; if we drink it, if we bathe or shower in it, our unfiltered tap water is harming us - even killing us.

Bladder, Rectal and Colon Cancer and Chlorine

As far back as 2007, The London Daily Mail stated in an article regarding the alarming increase of cases of bladder cancer in Great Britain, that researchers and clinicians had found that “those who bathe regularly in areas (of Britain) with a high concentration of chlorine in the water were 83% more likely to develop tumors (in the bladder) than those who bathe in areas with lower levels of chlorine.” The report went on to state, that those who drink water with higher levels of chlorine “are 35 % more likely to get bladder cancer” than those who drank the water in areas with lower levels of chlorine.

Obviously, if we drink a lot of chlorinated tap water, this water circulates through the bladder to the colon and the rectum. The harmful by-products introduced into the body by chlorine reactants are eventually deposited in large amounts within these organs. These deposits are now prime suspects in the increasing incidents of malignancies noted in both organs.

Breast Cancer and Chlorine

Breast cancer is the most recent malignancy that has been blamed on drinking unfiltered, chlorinated water. A buildup of dangerous chlorine compounds in the breast tissue is, again, the primary culprit. A study undertaken in Hartford, Connecticut found a 50 % to 60 % higher level of chlorine byproducts (organochlorines) in women who suffered from breast cancer than in women who did not.

The Real Killers: THMs and Free Radicals

Free radicals, produced by trihalomethanes (THMs), are increasingly blamed for the malignancies that have been a result of exposure to chlorinated water. These harmful chemicals and reactants are a result of the combining of chlorine with other organic and inorganic chemicals in our water to form such nasty elements as chlorinated organic chemicals, chlorine salts, and, in the case of the oxidation of chlorine, hypochlorous acid.

THMs are a result of the reaction of chlorine with decaying organic matter in our water supply, a reaction magnified by their low vaporization temperature. Thus, THMs are especially reactant in a hot shower. These THMs are known to initiate the production of free radicals that have been proven to cause damaging changes in the molecular structure of our body’s tissue cells. Free radicals have long been known as carcinogens, thus THMs, besides causing a number of other heart, vascular, respiratory, and skin conditions, are now increasingly linked to cancer.

Water Filters and Shower Filters Work!

The EPA has maintained for some time that ingestion, or drinking unfiltered tap water is more damaging than showering with unfiltered water. However, chlorine vaporizes much more quickly than does the water in our hot showers, resulting in a form of chlorine gas that contains THMs. These THMs are effectively and quickly absorbed into the skin through our heat-enlarged pores. The fact that THMs are proven health risks would indicate that water filters on both the drinking-water tap, and the shower head are a sound idea. Tap water filters and shower water filters have been proven effective at removing chlorine and its resultant harmful byproducts from our water and should be mandatory in every household.

Click here for more information on the dangers chlorine and cancer.

The use of a Vitamin C shower filter will not only eliminate further chlorine damage to our skin and hair, it will also help protect your body from the onslaught of cancer causing substances.

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