Pesticides and Herbicides are actually found in well water and city water. This article discusses where they come from and how water testing can detect them. Once water testing tells you the level of pesticides and hervicides in your water, you can install the right water filter to remove them.

Did you know 888 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides are used each year in the United States alone? That means three pounds of pesticides and herbicides are applied each year for every man, woman and child in this country.

About 10 percent of those pesticides and herbicides are applied by Americans to their lawns and gardens, and the rest are used in industrial, agricultural and commercial applications. What price do we pay for the heavy use of these toxins?

Extensive contamination of the environment and real damage to you and me.
Once applied, these chemicals drift into the air and are inhaled by passersby. They are also carried by winds to destinations miles away from the application site. And they are washed into streams, lakes, rivers and underground aquifers that supply our water.

A new report on the topic of pesticide safety, written by Dr. Theo Colborn, Ph.D., contains some very disturbing facts regarding how extensive pesticide and herbicide contamination has become. For example:

• Every child conceived today in the Northern Hemisphere is likely to be exposed to pesticides when they are in their mother's womb or within the first 12 months of birth.

• The herbicide 2,4 D was found in 50 percent of semen samples tested in a group of Canadian men.

• The pesticide CPF was found in 82 percent of urine samples tested, representing a broad section of the U.S. population (ages 20-59).

To put the last two percentages into a greater perspective, there are 891 pesticides and herbicides registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Just imagine how many of the remaining 889 toxins would show up in your blood, urine, semen samples if they were tested?

Physical, Mental Damage Caused by Pesticides and Herbicides

Pesticides and herbicides are certainly hazardous to your health. Among the many problems they cause include heart congestion, lung and kidney damage, low blood pressure, muscle damage, weight loss and damage to adrenal glands. And the list goes on and on ...

The intent of pesticide or herbicide applications is to kill various pests or weeds they come in contact with. And most of these toxins do that job very well. But that also means when we're exposed to them, they try to do the same thing to us. Yet since we are larger and are made a little differently, it seems they only do part of the job. Hence, we don't die immediately, but instead live debilitated lives.

New information coming to light focuses on the further damage pesticides and herbicides can inflict on the brain. This damage is more insidious because it's more difficult to measure. You see, scientists are keenly aware of the physical damage caused by pesticides and herbicides because they apply the toxins to lab animals and watch what happens.

Until recently, they typically applied the same logic to measure the effects on the brain. And while that method does measure much of the damage done to adults, when they are exposed to toxins as adults, it misses that same impact on children, when they are exposed to toxins at an early age. Why?

Because as a child grows, so does his or her brain, with changes occurring at the chemical and cellular level. So while some damage at that level is immediately detectible, other harm doesn't become apparent until years later when further growth in key sections of the brain doesn't occur.

Researchers also now believe pesticide and herbicide contamination is responsible for many cases of autism reported, as well as cases of attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Take Basic Precautions to Protect Your Family

1. Get rid of any pesticides or herbicides in your home, including any insecticides or lawn and garden products. There are safe natural alternatives that can be used in their place.

2. Make sure the food you eat is organically grown and organically fed.

3. Find out if the water you use for showering, bathing, washing dishes, cooking, cleaning, and drinking is free of pesticides, herbicides or other toxins. If it is contaminated, get the right water treatment system to treat your specific problem.

Is Your Water Safe? Use AquaMD's Water Diagnostic Service.

Go To AquaMD Water Testing Home Page.