| 70%
of your body and 83% of your blood is made up of water.
The average
person would not survive more than 4 days without water.
Finding good
quality water has always been a challenge. That’s why
so many people have switched to drinking bottled water.
Advertisers
have done a fantastic job of convincing people that drinking
bottled water is healthy and so much better for you than tap
water.
But
is bottled water as safe and as pure as the bottled
water companies want you to believe?
A study conducted
by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows the
answer is No. And in many cases, bottled water is worse
than water you can draw out of your own tap.
The Facts About Bottled Water
At the time
of the study there were roughly 700 brands of bottled water
being sold in the United States.
The NRDC tested
more than 1,000 bottles from 103 different bottled water brands.
Here
are some of the findings:
• 22%
of the bottled water tested contained contaminants at levels
that violated
safe drinking water health standards for
the state in which they were purchased.
• 17%
of bottled water tested did not meet sanitary guidelines
for
microbiological purity.
• 33%
of bottled water tested did not meet the state’s safety
standard for
bacterial contamination, chemical contamination,
or both.
• 8%
of the bottled water tested contained arsenic,
a known carcinogen.
• 16%
of the bottled water tested contained some level of
synthetic
chemicals. Some of
these synthetic chemicals include:
o
Toluene: Which is linked to nervous system
disorders such as
fatigue, nausea, weakness, and
confusion. Spasms and tremors.
Impairment of speech, hearing,
vision, memory and coordination.
Liver and kidney damage.
o
Xylene: Which is linked to liver, kidney,
nervous system damage,
reproductive difficulties and an increased
risk of cancer.
o
Phthalate: Which is linked to cancer.
It is also known to produce
liver damage, male reproductive system damage,
and produce
birth defects in laboratory animals.
Bottled
Water Standards Are Very Lax
Bottled water
is regulated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Sadly, the FDA’s regulations are seriously flawed. For
example, did you know:
1) Bottled
water companies are only required to test for bacteria in
their water
once a week?
No
matter how many millions of gallons of water they bottle
each day, they only
have to stop and test one sample
for bacteria contamination, once a week.
To
put this into further perspective, if you live in a city,
the water you get from
your tap is typically tested for
bacteria multiple times a day.
2) FDA regulations
only require bottled water companies to test for industrial
chemicals, including certain
pesticides, once a year.
This
is even worse than bacterial contamination. Yet they only
have to test for it
once a year.
Amazingly,
even water companies supplying small cities are required
to test for
these hazardous contaminants
at least once every 3 months, because water
quality changes through-out
the year.
3) FDA regulations
do not even require bottled water companies to test for
viruses such Giardia
and Cryptosporidium.
4) There
are no FDA standards that require bottled
water companies to
disinfect water to remove bacteria
or parasites!
Additional
Facts
1) When plastic
bottles, made to hold bottled water, are manufactured, a
toxin
known as “phthalate”
can be produced.
This
toxin can leach from plastic bottles and into the water.
Yet
the FDA doesn’t even regulate this contaminant.
2) If bottled
water fails to meet FDA standards it can still be
sold!
That’s
worth repeating: “If bottled water fails to meet he
FDA’s standards, it
can still be sold.” The
bottler simply needs to include fine print on the label
that says “contains excessive
chemical substances” or “contains excessive
bacteria.”
What
Does This All Mean
It means good
quality water is not likely to be found in a bottle.
In fact, you
may be doing more harm than good by drinking your bottled
water instead of your tap water!
And just because
bottled water may contain the words “spring water”,
“natural water”, or “pure water”,
it doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot.
And even if
our bottled water were safe, you could still be exposed to
contaminated tap water when you:
1) Shower
2) Bath
3) Cook
4) Wash glasses, dishes, and eating utensils
5) Wash laundry
6) Etc.
That’s
why it is so important to first find out what is in your tap
water.
Once you know
what contaminants are in your water, you can install the appropriate
water filter to remove them.
Don’t
be fooled, no water filter exists that removes every
single contaminant.
They are specialized.
That’s why it’s critical to find out what’s
in your water before spending money to buy a filter that may
or may not be helping you.
|
Contact Us
