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The Truth About Tap Water

Most tap water in the United States is laced with fluoride, a toxic industrial chemical that has been widely promoted as being healthy for the public.

In reality, however, fluoride is a poison that may harm your health. Consider this:

  • The American Dental Association admits that fluoride is harmful to the development of teeth
  • Fluoride is used in rat poison
  • Ninety percent of the fluoride used to fluoridate U.S. water systems comes from the fertilizer industry and may contain trace amounts of various heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic

The only states where less than 25 percent of the tap water is fluoridated are Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, Montana, and New Jersey. The others fluoridate from 25 percent to over 75 percent of their water supplies.

Countertop and pitcher filters typically only filter out particulate matter, not fluoride. You can remove fluoride from your drinking water using a reverse osmosis filtering system.

Too Much Truth July 24, 2007



Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Fluoride has been added to the U.S. water supply for over 50 years to prevent dental decay. What you may be surprised to learn is that studies have found no difference in rates of tooth decay in countries that use fluoridated water, compared with those that don’t.

It turns out that any benefit of fluoride in preventing the spread of cavities results from a topical application -- not from ingesting it.

Meanwhile, swallowing fluoride -- from your tap water, toothpaste, processed foods, or beverages -- is not a wise practice. This chemical:
  • Accumulates in your bones, making them brittle and more easily fractured, and in your pineal gland, which may inhibit the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps regulate the onset of puberty
  • Damages tooth enamel (known as dental fluorosis) and may lower fertility rates
  • Has been found to increase the uptake of aluminum into the brain and lead into blood
  • Inhibits antibodies from forming in the blood
  • Confuses the immune system, causing it to attack the body’s tissues. This can increase the growth rate of tumors in people prone to cancer
Recognizing this very poor risk-to-benefit ratio, many European countries have banned fluoride altogether.

Yet, here in the United States, fluoride is added liberally to water supplies, and is even sold as “nursery water” to give to babies.

Earlier this year, the American Dental Association finally capitulated to the facts and issued a warning about giving fluoridated water to infants under 1 year old… but nursery water, which is essentially fluoridated water, is still on the shelves and, believe it or not, is advertised as being “a first step to your baby’s good health!”

If you are just finding out about the dangers of fluoride and want to know more, The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson is an excellent resource. You can also review What Your Dentist Isn't Telling You About Fluoride for more information on the dangers of fluoride.

Now, if you’d like to do something about the fluoride in your drinking water (for those of you who live in the United States), running out to stock up on bottled water will not protect you. Like tap water, bottled water is often tainted with fluoride (not to mention other chemicals like chlorine).

Right now, the best way you can provide pure, fluoride-free water to your family is by using a reverse osmosis filter, which you can install in your home.

Although a distillation unit will also remove fluoride from your water, I personally do not recommend drinking distilled water, unless you are using it for short-term detoxification purposes.

Distilled water has the wrong ionization, pH, polarization, and oxidation potentials, and if you drink it for too long it can drain your body of necessary minerals.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (84)
 
 
Posted On Aug 06, 2007
The water problem is greater than most people realize. In developed countries, we take for granted how plentiful water is. In India, for example, families spend 25% of their income on drinking water. Upwards of 10 million deaths per year are caused by water related diseases such as cholera and dysentery. (Great book on the water crisis: " Every Drop For Sale ")

But still, we in the West may join them soon. The world is about to run out of safe drinking water. Anyone ever wonder why 15 years ago the bottled water industry practically didn't exist and today it is a $100 billion annual business?

One hypothesis for the rapid decrease in confidence in the quality of drinking water (the free market doesn't lie) is the pervasiveness of laundry detergent. Every single person in every developed nation uses these toxic chemicals and then flushes them down into our fresh water supply. Every hotel, hospital prison and home in America--every single day by the millions of pounds. What do you think all those toxic chemicals do to the environment and the water (not to mention your skin)? How long can we keep this up before a bottle of drinking water costs $100?

The only thing that has the potential to counteract the damage being done, is all natural and eco-safe detergents (found in health food stores) or laundry detergent alternatives like this one . But people don't seem to be using these options en masse. It is like everyone is brainwashed by advertising & habit  & not realizing we are systematically destroying the one resource mankind needs to survive.

Dr. Mercola is one of the few alerting us on the chronic danger water pollution poses. Let's hope more listen.



 
healthiswealth
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 7/2007
healthiswealth  
Replied

stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 07, 2007
Nothing against your premise, but more efficient desalinization and filtration/santization to increase supplies of potable water - better technology - should, and will, also be a part of the solution - probably the largest part. 


healthiswealth
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 7/2007
healthiswealth  
 
Posted On Aug 07, 2007
I agree. Technology will be part of the solution. But it clearly is not at that point if there is a necessity for a $100 Billion bottled water industry. The free market is saying that tap water is unacceptable to drink. In most cases, it is correct.

Technology hasn't helped us get better fuel economy over the last several decades, and the internal combustion engine is still pathetically inefficient. It is prudent to stop polluting now, rather than depending on Big Business solving the problem down the road, that they are creating right now.


stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 08, 2007
Well, the fact that a $100 billion bottled water industry exists doesn't necessarily speak to it's necessity. It hasn't been uncommon to hear this or that brand of bottled water has been outed: just tap water, nothing special. There is a trendiness factor. There is a credulity factor. Probably others...

And the technology does already exist. Price points are stratified, but the best equipment is expensive and will stay expensive so long as the price of substitutes - like tax subsidized municipal water -  remains relatively low. 

I had Kinetico out to my place recently. Their softener/dechlorinator is $4000 and the r/o system is $1300. Or, instead of plain r/o, they have a system that uses the same technology used to manufacture pharmaceuticals & purify blood. That one is $3000. The salesman spoke at some length about the rise in use of processed (soft) water to fill swimming pools - typically in the wealthier strata. 

Take away the artificial price distortions in the water market, or the gasoline market, or any other market for that matter,  and the progress -in terms of quality technology and in terms of lowering price points - would be even more pronounced than it has been for computers (as important as computers are, that demand curve is microscopic compared to water and fuel...).

Easier said than done - the distortions are implemented purposively and to selective benefit - but it will happen.

 


 


KAC
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
KAC  
 
Posted On Aug 24, 2007

Also, besides flouride there are other major concerns of our water.  According to a recent study sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Pharmacists Association, there are measurable levels of all sorts of prescription drugs in Lake Michigan and public water supplies derived from it. The researchers found traces of Tylenol, ibuprofen, birth-control pill hormones, beta blockers, antidepressants, and anti-seizure medications. In fact, that anti-seizure medication was found even in water that had already been treated.

flouride there are other problems with water.  


 
 
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2007

As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I'm asked each day about the "best" water to drink. After 12 years in practice, I recommend only one:  Alkaline, Ionized Water.    Not Tap because of the toxins. Not RO or Distilled (empty, lifeless, void of Minerals). In Japan and Korea, Alkaline Ionizer machines are Medical devices. Both cultures emphasize preventative medicine. 1 in 5 homes in Japan and 1 in 8 homes in Korea is equipped with Alkaline Water Ionizer . In America, the prevalence is 1 in 18,000. I am selling my practice later this year to spread the word about the healing properties of Alkaline Ionized water.  Why?  Because Americans are hungry for a simpler solution to their health problems......We are a population that poisons itself on over-Acidic foods (packaged foods, fast foods, soda, processed meats) and products that dehydrate our bodies (coffees, teas, alcohol)..Then, we waste our valuable time running to Medical (and Chiropractic) offices to counter the effects of a Over-Acidic, Dehydrated Body. The foolish among us then waste our precious money on Pharmaceutical drugs that calm the symptoms, but prolong the Acidic Dehydration...OR...Expensive Surgeries that Quick-Fix the Symptom but NEVER address the cause (they remove Gall Bladders, Tonsils & Prostates like they were skin warts---what a joke). Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, who authored "Your Bodies many Cries for Water" wrote about the effects of Chronic Cellular Dehydration and how to easily cure Asthma, Allergies, ADHD, Ulcers, Lupus, Hypertension, Gout and Cancer (yes, Cancer) simply by adequately hydrating the body using water and Sea Salt....In my opinion, he didn't go far enough in his recommendation of water. Talking to his widow last week, I learned that he fully understood the power of alkaline solutions in the body. He just chose to keep his message simple. The solution to Cellular Dehydration and OverAcidification is Alkaline Ionized Water. www.truthaboutwaterhealing.com...... Dr. Danny Bettiol


 
Dr. Dan
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 6/2006
Dr. Dan  
Replied

Alvy
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2007
Alvy  
 
Posted On Aug 24, 2007

Dr. Dan,

I agree that alkaline water is very important and some of these units are quite excellent. However, you aree missing the point of Dr. Mercola's statement about flouride. These alklaline units will not remove floride, so no matter how charged the water is, it will still be a health problem and maybe more so if that charged floridated water is more easily absorbed. I agree with you that R/O water is not great either as it is a dead acidic and wasteful form and often it is hard to know whether or not the filter membranes have fouled-- so what does one do but make the best choice they can. But don't mislead yourself or others by assuming that alkalizing machines will filter out flouride.

Best,

Al


 
 
 
Posted On Aug 03, 2007
I think that the info on flouride is excellent but I question his recommendation of using distilled water as an alternative to flouridated water.

 
rablpn
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 2/2007
rablpn  
Replied

Laserman
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
Laserman  
 
Posted On Aug 05, 2007
It's very hard to know what to do when it comes to the issue of drinking water, and health. Fluoridated water is unhealthy, bottled water is bad for the environment, the reverse osmosis process wastes a lot of water, and both RO and distilled waters are stripped of minerals. Perhaps the solution would be to drink distilled or RO water, but somehow to remineralize them first. It certainly wouldn't require adding back much (in terms of quantity). Maybe there's a product on the market that does this, in the proper balance. Or maybe there should be.

Btw, for the time being, I am fortunate to have a well, and water that I trust. Everyone should have that right, or privilege, depending on how you prefer to look at it.


stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 06, 2007
yes to remineralization. I use concentrace trace mineral drops, which I buy from the water store I use - but can be had via amazon as well


xqqme
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
xqqme  
 
Posted On Aug 06, 2007
Our familly has a distiller and we use real sea salt with our food that has all the minerals you need. I will check out the drops though.


Bob2_203
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
Bob2_203  
 
Posted On Aug 06, 2007
Laserman,

I've done both distilled and RO.  Distilled takes too long and seems to waste a lot of energy.  RO with a carbon stage gets rid of pretty much everything.  Both distilled and RO taste about the same, really flat.  I've finally settled on RO and add liquid trace minerals.  Your local health food store or organic market should have these.  About 5 or 6 drops per liter works just fine.


Mercola Fan
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2006
Mercola Fan  
 
Posted On Aug 14, 2007
Distilled water is pure H2O, and distillation is the way nature purifies.
The water flowing down the mountain (mountain spring water) remineralizes it. I personally feel that distilling and trace mineral supplementation is the surest and  SAFEST way to insure your family has pure water. Tho it is important when doing a detox to drink the water in pure distilled form to aid in the cleansing process.
In my home even the dogs& cats drink distilled water, In fact, they actually refuse to drink the tap water and opt to drink collected rain water outside if their bowl by chance is empty.
They are all in fantastic health, as is our family.

http://www.alphaomegafood.com/distilledwater.htm

What is Distilled Water?

Distillation is nature's way of purifying water.  When the sun heats water, this causes evaporation, an example of distillation on the grand scale.  Vapor rises from the surface of water, leaving behind all its impurities.  These water vapors rise and cool as air temperature in the upper atmosphere drops, and the vapors change from gas to liquid, becoming water, ice or snow.  If our atmosphere were not polluted, each drop of rain or snow would be pure H 2 O.

The production of distilled drinking water is man's attempt to copy nature's form of water purification .  As with evaporation in nature, distillation actually removes water (in the form of steam vapor) from the heavier materials that are its impurities.  Other types of water treatment attempt to remove contaminants from water, rather than removing water from the contaminants .



christoff8
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
christoff8  
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2007

The Freshwater Filter company make a filtration system called the FW2000, which is composed of a twin housing filter , with one filter block for a  very  wide range of contaminents , using a ceramic-carbon block, the second block is in line and needs to use a different process for Fluorine removal. There are a choice of other second stage filters. I use an FW2000, which requires minimal maintenance. The key thing is  minerals are left intact in the process as opposed to reverse osmosis which strips minerals.



Auntie Evil
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2007
Auntie Evil  
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2007

Dr. Mercola does not recommend distilled but R/O water. Distilled water does not remove all toxins from water. Some will travel attached to the water molecules to the condenser. I learned this in grade six and double checked this information as that was 34 years ago. www.finewaters.com/.../Theres_No_Such_Thing_As_Pure_Water.asp

The above website is just one of several that concur with this information.

Personally I wish everyone had access to good, clean well water. This is what we drink and it is tested several times a year for contaminants. Unfortunately many of us are stuck drinking purposefully polluted tap water that is charged for both arriving and leaving one's house. Truly criminal.



pureandsimple
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
pureandsimple  
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2007

He didn't recommend distilled. How did you get that?


 
 
 
Posted On Aug 03, 2007
Fluoride is bad for any health and any level. 

As for Florida, the pollution of the Everglades is also contributed to by Flo-Sun Sugar Refineries (Clinton cronies and monopolists in the cane refining business owned by the ex Cubans, the Fanguel Brothers), who hoisted and deflect their overt pollution off onto Florida taxpayers, and then used Florida tax money ("to clean and protect the Everglades") to further bamboozle consumers into believing false and fraudulent labeled 'evaporated cane juice' was some how better for your body (proven to be illegally label for refined 'sugar') with Florida Crystal sugar refinery, and it's water treatment measures in place, while the much larger volume old sugar refineries still pollute drinking water there to this day. 

 
Russ Bianchi
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 9/2006
Russ Bianchi  
Replied

stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 06, 2007
Sugar protectionism predates Clinton by a long time. And it adds so much to the price of domestic sugar that it has it's own futures contract (the other contract, 'world sugar', always trades at much lower prices than the domestic, subsidized sugar...).

Funny this should come up after all the Ron Paul chatter, because it was sugar that got me interested in economics, history, social organization, politics....

I did a lot of my growing up in the South. Iced tea is a cultural beverage there, and people like it sweet - they even call it 'sweet tea'.

During the inflation spike of the 70's, sugar got so expensive that my father cut it out of the family budget. We all had to learn to drink the tea straight - which I still do to this day (and am better off for it, healthwise)...but it was traumatic at the time, and I wanted to know 'why?'....

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2007

There are serious shortcomings with most common "filtering" systems, including the Brita types, R/O, distilled and others. These systems provide "dead" water, without minerals and with high acidity. R/O also raises the chance of algae build up and distilled water leaches the minerals out of your bones! My wife & I have been using a system that makes "Pi" water - it is a 2-step process that filters the water with 3 stages, then adds in minerals; the 2nd step is to oxygenate the water in a "tornado-like" pitcher, which also raises the pH to a more alkaline state. We have seen a decrease in headaches, general aches, and I've reduced the need for a prescription (Neurontin - for headaches) and reduced my pain meds (Ultram - from 2-50mg tabs, 3x/day, down to 25mg, 3x/day...75% decrease!)  Keep up the fight, Dr. Mercola! WE ARE WHAT WE EAT........AND DRINK!!!


 
RonPJD
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 8/2007
RonPJD  
 
 
 
 
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