Want an idea of how harmful chlorine in drinking water can be. In the 2000 Olympic games in Australia, the United States swim team shockingly announced that 25% of its members suffered asthma. Research was conducted to find out why in particular, the US swimming team suffered from this illness. The results were shocking.
Whilst it has long been known that chloramines and Trihalomethanes (THMs) worsens asthma symptoms, the studies showed that these harmful contaminants (which are the byproducts of chlorine and is found in tap water) can cause previously healthy individuals to get asthma.
How Does Chlorine Affect You.
For decades, the chlorine in our drinking water has been used as a disinfectant, to get rid of bacteria and other harmful pathogens.
When chlorine interact with other organic substances such as skin particles, hair follicles and water-borne bacteria, they form Trihalomethanes (THMs), a medically proven asthma-inducing chemical. So when you drink a glass of tap water, you are increasing your risk of contracting this illness.
And even if you take a shower, you are at risk. When you take a hot shower, the chlorine turns into steam and is inhaled. This could be even more dangerous than ingesting chlorine via a glass of water.
The U.S. EPA backs this up by saying that just about every American household has elevated levels of chloroform gas indoors. Even when you wash the dishes or flush the toilets, you are elevating the chloroform levels in your home.
By the way, it is not only asthma that chlorine is linked to. In 1986, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 200 to 1000 people yearly in America may die from cancer, caused by food being cooked in chlorinated water.
Apart from the adverse health effects of this contaminant, have you ever noticed that after a swim in a pool, your skin gets drier and your hair is brittle. That is as a result of chlorine and it is the same things that happens after you have a shower in chlorinated tap water.
Reducing Chlorine In Our Drinking Water
With asthma now the leading illness that causes student absenteeism in the U.S, the response to this illness is still a pharmaceutical one.
More drugs to curb the problem rather than also advocating a way to prevent the problem. If you child has asthma or doesn't have it (and you don't want him to get it), why not improve the air quality in your home.
You can do this by acquiring a whole house water filtration system which will remove chlorine in drinking water. You can also go for cheaper alternatives. You could buy a shower head water filter or a counter top water filter for drinking.
The advantage of the wholehouse water system is that this one unit alone can provide safe, chlorine-free water to every tap in your home as opposed to you buying a different filter for each tap.
What To Do Now
Chlorine in drinking water is a serious matter. Now is as good a time as any to get a quality whole house water filter and give your family safer drinking water. The only question is now is how to determine what water filtration unit is quality and which is not.
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