Every day, cases of cancer are rising in astounding and
unprecedented numbers.
While medical professionals work tirelessly to find a cure
for this most deadly of
diseases, the numbers of terminally ill patients continue to
climb. Although the
cure for cancer continues to elude medical professionals, it
is completely within our
own power to protect our families and ourselves and to
reduce our risks whenever
possible.
In recent years, individuals have begun to seriously examine
known carcinogens and
to protect themselves from these cancer-causing agents.
Sunscreen has become an
important defense against skin cancer, and its use is on the
rise. The number of
smokers attempting to quit rises each day, precisely because
of new information
about the carcinogenic nature of cigarettes.
The increase in such protective behaviors clearly indicates
an increased interest in
protecting oneself from cancer risks. Still, droves of
people continue to use and
drink unfiltered tap water, not knowing about or not
believing in the insidious
nature of this substance. Whether we like it or not, the
water that emerges from our
taps, however pristine it may appear, is filled with
carcinogenic compounds. A
simple water filter can now serve as a valuable safeguard
against cancer.
Chlorine and Tap Water:
Untreated tap water is filled with such dangerous
contaminants as nitrate, arsenic,
microorganisms, and chemicals from pesticide runoff. Once
this water reaches a
municipal treatment plant, many contaminants are removed.
However, one of the
most dangerous contaminants is actually added to drinking
water as a part of the
treatment process.
Chlorine, added as an inexpensive and effective drinking
water disinfectant, is also a
known poison to the body. It is certainly no coincidence
that chlorine gas was used
with deadly effectiveness as a weapon in the First World
War. This gas was known
to severely burn the lungs and other body tissues when
inhaled; it is no less
powerful when ingested by mouth. Each day, as we use
unfiltered tap water, we are
effectively pouring bleach into our water before we drink
it.
This poisonous chemical, accompanied by its byproducts, is
now known to cause at
least three types of cancers, among other serious health
problems. The U.S. Council
of Environmental Quality recently released a report stating
that the risk of cancer is
93% higher among those drinking chlorinated water than among
those not drinking
chlorinated water! In the following paragraphs, you can read
about the specific
cancer risks of chlorinated water and learn how to protect
your family and yourself
from this insidious poison.
Bladder and Rectal Cancer:
Chlorine has long been known to be a leading cause of
bladder and rectal cancer.
Once in water, chlorine interacts with organic compounds to
create trihalomethanes
(THMs). These THMs are particularly harmful to the body when
ingested. When
taken into the body, THMs encourage the production of free
radicals. These free
radicals proceed to destroy or damage vital cells in the
body. Because so much of
the water we drink ends up in the bladder and/or rectum,
ingestions of THMs in
drinking water is particularly damaging to these organs.
THMs cause innumerable
cases of bladder and rectal cancer each year.
Bladder and rectal cancer occur when malignant cells, often
created by THMs, infect
the inner tissues of the particular organ. Once they have
taken hold in the bladder
or rectum, the malignant cells can isolate themselves in the
infected area or they
can spread to infect other areas of the body, potentially
causing more deadly forms
of cancer. Each year, 13,000 new cases of bladder cancer are
diagnosed in women
while 37,000 new cases are diagnosed in men. Of these 50,000
new cases each
year, slightly more than 20% of individuals will die from
the disease. For rectal
cancer, more than 40,000 new cases are diagnosed each year
and approximately
55% of those individuals diagnosed will die from the
disease.
Ironically, one of the best means of protection against
these two types of cancer is
drinking plenty of fluids. However, drinking larger amounts
of contaminated water
only exacerbates the risk.
Breast Cancer:
Breast cancer is the newest type of cancer to be connected
to ingestion of
chlorinated water. Breast cancer affects one out of every
eight women in the United
States alone, and it kills approximately _ of its victims.
Recent research has linked this deadly cancer to a buildup
of chlorine compounds in
the breast tissue. In a shocking study conducted in
Hartford, Connecticut,
researchers found that "women with breast cancer have
50% to 60% higher levels of
organochlorines (chlorination byproducts) in their breast
tissue than women without
breast cancer." While chlorine can make its way into
our bodies in several ways,
there is no means of access more common or more frequent
than the ingestion of
common, unfiltered tap water.
A Simple Solution:
One preventive solution to these three deadly cancers could
not be simpler. If
chlorinated drinking water is a leading cause of cancer,
then the obvious method of
reducing one's risk of cancer is to refrain from drinking
chlorinated water. We
cannot choose whether or not to drink water, but we can
choose the type of water
we allow into our bodies.
Municipal water treatment plants add chlorine to water to
help make it cleaner and
more pure, but once that chlorine has performed its
function, there is certainly no
reason for it to continue its deadly presence in drinking
water. A simple home
water filter removes chlorine and its byproducts from
drinking water, producing
clean, pure drinking water that can also serve as a useful
protection against cancer.
Water filters are one of the only methods of water
purification capable of removing
chlorine.
So, what can a water filter do for you? The answer is simple
but extremely valuable.
A water filter can protect an individual from cancer, one of
the deadliest killers of
the 20th century.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23998
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