In this week's blog, Ileana Nguyen of Holistic Healthcare discusses
what is in the water we are drinking...
Some people
will not spend a penny buying clean water or invest in water filtration because
they believe tap water is clean enough. Well I guess if you fancy ingesting a
load of chemicals then that's great! Others drink water stored in plastic
bottles exposed to powerful oestrogen mimics, hormone disrupting
xeno-oestrogens which come from the plastic and plasticiser which makes the
plastic pliable.
The practice of making
water safe to drink actually involves adding large amounts of
questionable chemicals to it. Key scientists are now providing evidence
that long-term ingestion of small amounts of chemicals like these could be the
cause of some major health problems. Professor Samuel Epstein, environmental toxicologist
has warned us well over 30 years ago of the chemicals found in our
environmental which also includes those in personal care products.
Here is a list of just a
few of the chemicals routinely added to our water supply:
- Liquified chlorine
- Fluorosilicic acid
- Aluminium sulphate
- Calcium hydroxide
- Sodium silicofluoride
Even if the water leaves
the source in a relatively clean state, don't forget that your water travels
through pipes, which may have been underground since Victorian times (in the
UK). It is almost impossible for the water not to become contaminated by
something undesirable.
Contaminants in Tap Water
Tap water is treated with a
large number of chemicals in order to kill bacteria and other microorganisms.
In addition, it may contain other undesirable contaminants like toxic metal
salts, hormones and pesticides, or it may become contaminated by chemicals or
microbes within pipes (e.g. lead, bacteria, protozoa). Philip Day, UK health
reporter has covered a lot on Fluoride.
Typical Tap Water
Content:
- Chlorine
- Fluorine compounds
- Trihalomethanes (THMs)
- Salts of:
- arsenic
- radium
- aluminium
- copper
- lead
- mercury
- cadmium
- barium
- Hormones
- Nitrates
- Pesticides
On PUBMED, a
search for 'Fluoride toxicity' showed 2443 articles!
Good News ‘Prominent
researcher apologises for pushing fluoride’
By Barry Forbes
(Article from the Tribune, Mesa, AZ Sunday, December the 5th
1999)
I had just tracked down Dr.
Hardy Limeback, B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry, DDS, Head of the Department of
Preventative Dentistry for the University of Toronto and President of the
Canadian Association for Dental Research. Dr. Limeback is Canada’s leading
fluoride authority and, until recently, the country’s primary promoter of the
controversial additive.
In a surprising newsmaker
interview, Dr. Limeback announced a dramatic change of heart. “Children under
three should never use fluoridated toothpaste,” he counseled. “Or drink
fluoridated water. And baby formula must never be made up using Toronto tap
water. Never.” Why, I wondered? What could have caused such a powerful paradigm
shift? “It’s been building up for a couple of years,” Limeback told me during a
recent telephone interview. “But certainly, the crowning blow was the
realisation that we have been dumping contaminated fluoride into water
reservoirs for half a century. The vast majority of all fluoride additives come
from Tampa Bay, Florida smokestack scrubbers. The additives are a toxic
by-product of the super-phosphate fertiliser industry.”
“Tragically,” he continued,
“that means we’re not just dumping toxic fluoride into our drinking water.
We’re also exposing innocent, unsuspecting people to deadly elements of lead,
arsenic and radium, all of them carcinogenic. Because of the cumulative
properties of toxins, the detrimental effects on human health are
catastrophic.” A recent study at the University of Toronto confirmed Dr.
Limeback’s worst fears. “Residents of cities that fluoridate have double the
fluoride in their hip bones vis-a-vis the balance of the population. Worse, we
discovered that fluoride is actually altering the basic architecture of human
bones.” Skeletal fluorosis is a debilitating condition that occurs when
fluoride accumulates in bones, making them extremely weak and brittle. The
earliest symptoms? “Mottled and brittle teeth,” Dr. Limeback told me. “In
Canada we are now spending more money treating dental fluorosis than we do
treating cavities. That includes my own practice.”
One of the most obvious
living experiments today, Dr. Limeback believes, is a proof-positive comparison
between any two Canadian cities. “Here in Toronto we’ve been fluoridating for
36 years. Yet Vancouver-which has never fluoridated- has a cavity rate lower
than Toronto’s.” And, he pointed out; cavity rates are low all across the
industrialized world including Europe, which is 98% fluoride free. Low because
of improved standards of living, less refined sugar, regular dental check-ups,
flossing and frequent brushing. Now less than 2 cavities per child Canada-wide,
he said. “I don’t get it, Doc. Last month, the Centres for Disease Control
(CDC) ran a puff piece all across America saying the stuff was better than
sliced bread. What’s the story?”
“Unfortunately,” he
replied, “the CDC is basing its position on data that is 50 years old, and
questionable at best. Absolutely no one has done research on fluorosilicates,
which is the junk they’re dumping into the drinking water.”
“On the other hand,” he
added, “the evidence against systemic fluoride in-take continues to pour in.”
“But Doc, the dentists…”
“I have absolutely no
training in toxicity,” he stated firmly. “Your well-intentioned dentist is
simply following 50 years of misinformation from public health and the dental
association. Me, too. Unfortunately, we were wrong.”
Last week, Dr. Hardy
Limeback addressed his faculty and students at the University of Toronto,
Department of Dentistry. In a poignant, memorable meeting, he apologised to
those gathered before him. “Speaking as the head of preventive dentistry, I
told them that I had unintentionally misled my colleagues and my students. For
the past 15 years, I had refused to study the toxicology information that is
readily available to anyone. Poisoning our children was the furthest thing from
my mind.”
“The truth,” he confessed
to me, “was a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it I did.” South of the
border, the paradigm shift has yet to dawn. After half a century of delusion,
the CDC, American Dental Association and Public Health stubbornly and
skillfully continue to manipulate public opinion in favour of fluoridation.
Meantime, study after study is delivering the death knell of the deadly toxin.
Sure, fluoridation will be around for a long time yet, but ultimately its
supporters need to ready the life rafts. The poisonous water of doubt and
confusion are bound to get choppier. “Are lawsuits inevitable?” I asked the
good doctor. “Remember tobacco,” was his succinct reply. Welcome, Dr. Limeback,
to the far side of the fluoride equation. It’s lonely over here, but in our
society loneliness and truth frequently travel hand in hand. Thank you for the
undeniable courage of your convictions.
For more information on
Fluoride, visit The Fluoride Action Network
(www.fluoridealert.org)
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