Proper hydration is crucial to good health, and you already know you won’t get that hydration from drinking sodas, sugary waters and imitation juice drinks.
If you’re smart you’ve turned to the only place to get it – something man has consumed from the beginning of time: water. Everyone, seniors especially, should drink more water and fewer sugar- and high fructose corn syrup-laden beverages. That’s because these beverages are acidic and HFCS is responsible for a majority of the obesity and poor health of Americans.
But today, it’s sad but true that your drinking water is worse for you than a sugary drink. The fact is no one would dare drink “public” water if they knew what chemicals it contains and what they would do to them. All but a very small number think nothing of it. They have been persuaded by propaganda to “volunteer” to take poison based on the assumption that government agencies and public water utilities keep them safe.
A study by the Environmental Working Group and Northeastern University in Boston has found that tap water supplies for 15 million Americans in 27 states from more than 48 industrial sources across the country are contaminated with highly toxic chemicals.
These chemicals go by a number of names based on their specific compounds, but are all harmful. They are known as perfluorochemicals (PFCs), polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). They have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease, weakened immunity and other health problems. They were formerly used to make DuPont’s Teflon and 3M’s Scotchguard products, and because of their nonstick, waterproof and grease-repellent properties they found their way into hundreds of consumer products and industrial applications. These include cookware, clothing, packaging and firefighting foam.
Products containing PFAS, PFOA and PFOS were banned in the U.S. after revelations that DuPont and 3M had covered up evidence of their health hazards but still come to America in imported products – primarily in those from China.
But those chemicals were replaced in U.S. manufacturing by PFCs, chemical similar to the banned chemicals but fewer carbon atoms even though they were not adequately tested for safety. There are now more than 3,000 PFCs being used worldwide.
As the EWG reports:
Despite widespread contamination and mounting evidence of health hazards, there are no federal regulations for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. After persistent pressure from contaminated communities and elected officials, last year the Environmental Protection Agency dramatically lowered its nonbinding health advisory level to 70 parts per trillion for either chemical or the two combined. (A part per trillion, or ppt, is about one drop of water in 1,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.)
But there is evidence that a safe level of exposure is much lower.
After reviews by state scientists in Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont, these same states have set or proposed health-based limits for PFOA or PFOS between 14 ppt and 35 ppt. In a 2015 study by the National Toxicology Program and the University of North Carolina, researchers were unable to find a level of these chemicals so low that it did not harm mouse fetuses during critical windows of development. From that and other studies, in 2015 Phillipe Grandjean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health and Richard Clapp of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell calculated that an approximate safe level for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water was 1 ppt. EWG endorses that level.
Under the EPA’s Unmonitored Contaminant Monitoring Rule, or UCMR, from 2013 to 2016 all U.S. public water systems serving 10,000 or more customers tested their supplies for PFOA, PFOS, and four other PFCs. EWG’s analysis of the results shows that the tests found PFOA and/or PFOS in 162 systems serving 15.1 million Americans. Because the EPA only required reporting of detections at or above 20 ppt for PFOA and 40 ppt for PFOS, all of those water supplies had detections exceeding Grandjean and Clapp’s safe level of 1 ppt.
In addition to the PFCs and others mentioned above, tap water was found in almost half of samples tested to contain glyphosate residues. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp herbicide that is being widely used on American crops, in addition to residential use as a weed killer.
Finally, in addition to the chemicals that have seeped in to contaminate our water supply, there are the harmful chemicals intentionally place in our drinking water: fluoride and chlorine.
Fluoride and chlorine in our water is mass medication.
Water fluoridation first began in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1945 and spread across the country over the next several years. Today, two-thirds of Americans drink tap water that has fluoride added.
There is little to no supporting evidence that added fluoride does anything to reduce cavities, as a report recently published by the Cochrane Collaboration shows. But it has been linked to brain development disorders, causes tooth and bone fluorosis, increases cancer risk, reduces IQs in children, causes arthritis symptoms and is an endocrine disrupter.
Dr. Joseph M. Price, in his book “Coronaries, Cholesterol, and Chlorine,” states that cholesterol is in itself harmless. But chlorine, the “sacred cow” of modern medical science, causes a buildup along the artery walls of a sticky plaque, causing the accumulation of fat deposits. Dr. Price says flatly that the cause of arteriosclerosis and resulting heart attacks and strokes is none other than the ubiquitous chlorine in our drinking water! He states that the Eskimos and other people who don’t have chlorine in their drinking water, but consume large amounts of natural animal fats, don’t have any coronary artery disease.
Drinking pure, clean water detoxifies the body, lubricates joints, suppresses appetite, helps with mood control, can help prevent headaches, prevent constipation and prevent aging.
To remove these harmful chemicals from your tap water you need either a reverse osmosis filtration system or a water distillation system. Only the process of reverse osmosis or a distiller will remove chemicals like fluoride from drinking water.
In reverse osmosis, water flows first through a carbon pre-filter to remove chemical contaminates and is then forced through tiny pores of semi-permeable membrane to remove solids like lead and arsenic. Distillers work by boiling the water and catching and condensing the steam, which leaves impurities in the boiling chamber. In higher grade systems, carbon filtration is included in the process.
Reverse osmosis systems for the kitchen faucet can be purchased for around $150 and up. Whole house systems start around $700. Countertop distillers can be purchased for about $80 on Amazon and the price increases with added capacities and other bells and whistles. The price for whole house distillation units start at about $330.
Selenium supplementation is a valuable tool against fluoride toxicity. Other research has shown that selenium has halted damage to the liver, kidneys, hearts and brains of lab animals. One study showed that selenium also increased the rate at which fluoride was eliminated from the body.
Supplementation of up to 100 to 200 micrograms (mcg) is recommended by many natural health professionals. The National Institute of Health’s upper tolerance limit is 400 mcg, but that figure is bogus. Brazil nuts contain about 100 mcg each and you can eat a handful of them with no ill effects.
