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Water and Cancer
April 29, 2007 | 13 Comments
Most of the world’s drinking water supply is chlorinated. Google “Chlorine and Cancer” you get tons of hits and if you try “chlorinated water and cancer” you get tons more. Many of them have a litany of references touting conclusive proof of the linkage between chlorine and cancer and how dissolved chlorine in water ends up creating THMs (of which chloroform and other carcinogens are some) inside our body when we ingest it either through the skin or orally. I also noticed that most if not all of these sites were peddling filtration products. Now, I fall squarely in the “Trust but Verify” camp so I set out to find the source of these claims.
In doing so, I got a real education in how marketing gimmickry is generated and employed.
One of the most common claims was –
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!
So I went to the CEQ’s website which is a sub page of the White House’s page and searched to no avail. I could not get to any archival information as the claim did not have any date associated with it. I salvaged several reports from the CEQ on water quality but could not pin this finding. After lots of searching I found a post with a reference to a Feb 1981 article in Science, but I couldn’t get my hands on it as I had to pay for it.
I will go to the local library when I have time but the abstract says that the risk of certain types of cancer (predominantly bladder) increased anywhere between 19% and 93% (the statistical confidence interval was not provided). These websites which were quoting a “recent” article did not say that there was “up to” a 93% increase!
Another claim from a 60s book Coronaries/Cholestrol/Chlorine by Joseph Price links both heart attacks and cancer to chlorine in water. Haven’t checked the book, so I cannot comment on it here.
I did find evidence in several papers regarding the formation of THMs from dissolved chlorine (including one from the American Journal of Public Health), a paper linking lower sperm counts and a paper linking female breast cancer and increased lumps to chlorination by products, but none conclusively indicating that the levels were hazardous. A lot of these websites were promoting “shower filters” claiming research which suggests that most of the chlorine absorption occurs through the skin during prolonged showers or hot tub soaks. The only reliable journal article that I found was a 1997 article in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal where the authors (one from EPA) found increased THM levels in competitive swimmers through dermal and inhalation routes and recommended further investigation.
I then wrote to the American Cancer Society who replied with the following message:
As you mentioned, there have been studies involving byproducts of chlorination of drinking water. However, according to information provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the levels of chlorine and its byproducts do not pose a danger to human health. You can find more information on this topic on the EPA’s website: www.epa.gov
Again, we thank you for contacting your American Cancer Society. Please call on us again if we can assist you further.
The Canadian Cancer Society on the other hand has a sterner warning on chlorination and possible carcinogens such as THMs which are chlorination by products and recommend further investigation. There are safer ways of disinfecting water besides conventional chlorination, such as ozonation and UV treatment. However, these are useful as primary disinfectants and a secondary disinfectant such as chlorine (!) has to be used, albeit at much lower concentrations. Ozonation and UV treatment are very effective for swimming pools and have been in use in Western Europe for quite some time. In addition, they are more expensive to start up and manage.
In short, there is nothing alarming to indicate that you need a shower filter, however, it is still prudent to filter the water out of the tap for cooking and drinking. If you swim for long durations, maybe you can get yourself a alveolar breath sampling kit.
- Jai
Filed Under: cancer, chlorine, Defeat Cancer, vegetarian recipes, water
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13 Comments
Hey….. my google reader shows me a post on KFI- Jackfruit….. but I don’t see it here????!!!!!
oopes…. I meant JFI!!!
what? what fruit? it’s maya – illusion. – b
LOL! I saw that too. Are you going to change the ingredient and surprise us, Bee? Please do!
Hi Jai
I studied Environmental Engineering in my PG but am outdated by 7 years as I am now in IT industry. As per my knowledge chlorination doses used by water treatment plants lasts only till the tap is opened at the consumer’s end. The extra chlorine once out of the pipeline is lost to the atmosphere. It does not residue in the water to affect the human body at least not through water. When chlorine reacts with organic matter\ fatty acids it precipitates out. This is removed by filteration in the water treatment plants it does not reach the consumer. We in India have been drinking chlorinated water all our life and the studies have not been able to prove too many fatal nos. connected to chlorination alone. Pollutant and toxin consumption is very difficult to trace as it happens at micro level as well as multiple exposures with a combo of pollutants and toxins. There is really no need to be alarmed. Ozonation is excellent but expensive as of now the best available treatment. UV treatment is Ok with expsore of water to UV is optimum but there could be pockets of on exposure. Each treatment has its own pros and cons. Lately Reverse Osmosis works really well but again it does not come cheap and not too good for chlorinated water as the pH eats the membranes.
Very informative, Bee n’ Jai. I had the same thoughts about chlorinated water in India as Anjali, am not sure how thoroughly have the effects been investiagted there though.
This is very interesting. I’m not sure about the effects of chlorine in our bodies but many people have been drinking chlorinated water and still had none of the said risks.
Great info!!
I don’t know if it’s practical to filter all those everyday.Hard work.I live for today,whatever tomorrow brings ,I will be ready!:))
Chlorination of water has saved countless lives by dramatically reducing the numbers of infectious agents in water. But now times have changed…among people with access to water, infectious disease is not the biggest threat, instead, we live long enough to have to worry about cancer. So, certainly every effort to reduce the dose of chlorine we ingest is worth it. In my home, we drink tap water thas has been filtered with one of those Brita filters…I should check what they say about chlorine removal. Thanks for a very informative post!
Thanks for your hard work, Jai. The water here in Barbados is not as highly chlorinated as it is in some of the Eastern Caribbean Islands. I’ve drunk the water in St. Lucia and swore I was drinking bleach, no kidding. Like Nupur, I use a filter. What we have here is what is called HARD water. What exactly is that?
hard and soft water: http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education/quality-water-hard.htm – b.
Even chlorinated water these days are no longer safe. We should be more careful in choosing our drinking water. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Thanks for the link Bee.
It’s a good thing i don’t drink chorinated water. But I guess there are still risks in drinking any kind of water. Some that didn’t undergo any treatment will certainly have the highest, risk of course.
I know there have been no posts to this site since ‘Sally’ weighed in on 2 May and therefore my posting may not garner any attention. But I thought I would add my comments anyway, even if it is just a bit of personal therapy.
My wife of 30 years, Amy, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This wasn’t the first time that someone close to me had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m 53 years old and have had friends and co-workers who have also suffered this disease. Some survided. Some didn’t. It was always disheartening when I learned of a friend that was aflicted by this disease and the memories of those that I have seen buried will resonate with me forever. But there is nothing that strikes into your heart as much as learning that your spouse, my Amy, has breast cancer.
I won’t pretend to tell you that I am some renowned expert on the causes and cures for cancer. I’m just a husband who with love, compassion and even anger, has set out on a quest to find out WHY. Why so many women in this country, the United States, are developing breast cancer. I don’t sell water purification products. I drink from our faucet when at home and carry bottled water when I travel. I’ve also taken drinks from streams when I’ve been in the mountains of West Virginia. But I am convinced, beyond doubt, that there is a serious problem with our (USA) water supply. Chlorine and Cancer. I’m convinced by my research that this ‘epidemic’ of cancer among women is a by-product of the useage of chlorine mutating with bio-organics over decades.
I don’t know where we (USA) go from here in fighting cancer. Some days I think that cancer is big business and profits from treatment outway the motives to seek a cure.
But I will fight for my Amy. And never again shall she sip from water treated with chlorine.
Michael
thanks for your feedback, mike. here’s wishing amy and you strength and recovery. – b.