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by Dr. Mercola
May 06, 2010
from
Mercola Website
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“Tapped” is a film
that examines the role of the bottled water industry and
its effects on health, climate change, pollution, and
reliance on oil.
Sources:
Tapped the Movie |
Comments
The next time someone offers you a bottle of water, take a stand and
say something clever like,
“No thank you, I don’t believe in it.”
This simple move will open up a conversation about the massive
swindle that is bottled water… and possibly persuade one more
person to give it up entirely.
Please also make a point to see this fantastic
new movie, "Tapped",
which is playing in select theaters in the United States and is
available on DVD.
Even beyond the issues of your health and the environment, bottled
water represents a novel form of privatization, in which private
corporations have succeeded, and quite successfully I might add, at
making water a commodity.
I would say, and I suspect you would agree, that water is more a
“right” than it is a commodity. And private corporations should have
no more control over the selling of water than they do the selling
of our air supplies. Well, this is already occurring to some extent
as corporations make a profit selling water -- which at times even
makes water less available to the people living in the area.
Even public water supplies are being increasingly taken over by
private corporations, and in some areas of the world are up for
grabs by the highest bidder.
This has been publicized in countries such as
Bolivia, where
residents battled police and the military to protect their water
rights from the US-based Bechtel Corporation, but you should know
water privatization initiatives are being pushed all over the world…
including in the United States.
If you’re interested in learning more, an excellent, eye-opening
film on this topic that I highly recommend is
Thirst.
Getting back to bottled water, however, many, many Americans still
drink it, believing it is somehow healthier than tap water. In 2008,
U.S. bottled water consumption reached nearly 9 billion gallons,
raking in revenues of more than $11 billion.
Folks, this is for a “product” you can get virtually for free by
turning on your kitchen tap!
Are You Paying 1,900 Times More for Unhealthy, Earth-Damaging Water?
If you drink bottled water, yes, you are!
Bottled water typically costs more than $1.50 per bottle, which is
1,900 times the price of tap water.
Yet, that very same bottled water that you’re paying a premium for
is, in about 40 percent of cases, simply bottled tap water, which
may or may not have received any additional treatment.
On top of that, most municipal tap water must actually adhere to
more strict purity standards than the bottled water industry.
Further, while the EPA requires large public water supplies to test
for contaminants as often as several times a day,
the FDA requires
private bottlers to test for contaminants only once a week, once a
year, or once every four years, depending on the contaminant.
An independent test performed by the Environmental Working Group
revealed 38 low-level contaminants in bottled water, with each of
the 10 tested brands containing an average of eight chemicals
including,
...were all
detected.
So what you are paying for is often no different, or even worse,
than the water that comes out of your faucet.
When you factor in other elements, like the chemicals that can leach
from the plastic bottle and its impact on the environment, bottled
water becomes a losing proposition no matter how you look at it.
Drinking From
Plastic Bottles is Not a Wise Health Move
When drinking bottled water you need to think not only about the
water but also about the bottle itself.
Plastic is not an inert substance as its
manufacturers would like you to believe. It
contains chemicals like
BPA and
phthalates, which mimic hormones in your body.
Even tiny concentrations can cause problems such as:
-
Structural damage to your brain
-
Hyperactivity, increased
aggressiveness, and impaired learning
-
Increased fat formation and risk
of obesity
-
Altered immune function
-
Early puberty, stimulation of
mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles,
and ovarian dysfunction
-
Changes in gender-specific
behavior, and abnormal sexual behavior
-
Stimulation of prostate cancer
cells
-
Increased prostate size, and
decreased sperm production
Anytime you drink from a plastic bottle
you risk exposure, but if you leave your bottle of water in a hot
car or reuse it, your exposure is magnified because heat and stress
increase the amount of chemicals that leach out of the plastic.
Plastic is
Hurting the Earth in a Major Way
About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to manufacture water
bottles each year around the world, and the processing itself
releases toxic compounds like nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide
and benzene.
Further,
according to the Sierra Club,
the U.S. alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil to make plastic water
bottles, the majority of which then end up in landfills. In fact,
1500 water bottles are thrown away every second!
This massive waste is one reason why there is now a plastic “stew”
twice the size of Texas swirling through the Pacific Ocean.
Also extremely harmful to the environment is the way corporations
are pumping water from underground aquifers. These natural springs
serve as water sources for nearby streams, wells and farms, but the
aggressive pumping can easily dry them out prematurely.
A Simple
Solution is at Your Disposal
Once you realize that many sources of bottled water is,
…the choice to stop using it becomes
simple.
Fortunately, the alternative to having
pure water is also simple: filter your own at home.
Unfiltered Tap
Water is NOT Better than Bottled Water!!
My favorite filter is a reverse/osmosis filter as it will remove
virtually all of the pollutants, such as disinfection by products,
fluoride, arsenic, lead, drugs in the water supply, rocket fuel,
bacteria, viruses, you name, it removes it.
Unfortunately the down side is that it
also removes minerals that should be in there. Fortunately the
solution is quite simply. Add some high quality salt, like Himalayan
salt, about 1/4 teaspoon for gallon.
I currently use a R/O system that is not yet commercially available.
It is a tankless system in which I fill a glass container directly
that is easy to clean. This eliminates the stagnant water in the
holding tank and inevitable mold/slime contamination with using a
R/O system with a holding tank. We hope to bring this to system to
market in the next year.
Additionally the filtering process damages the structure of the
water. A simple way to restructure the water would be to create a
vortex. You can do this by putting a large spoon in the container
and swirling it around very fast for awhile. This will clearly start
to restructure the water. Getting the water cold, down to about 4
degrees Centigrade or 39° degrees Fahrenheit will also work.
The best
way to do that would be to store your bottle outdoors in the winter
(when it doesn't go below 39° F) or put the bottle on your cement
garage floor at night and the earth will remove much of the heat
from the bottle. Store the water in a cool area.
You could cool the water in a refrigerator but that would impart
negative EMF into the water so it is less than ideal. Similarly
there are vortex machines you can purchase for about $500 but they
will also impart these EMFs into the water.
This enables you to rely on your own well or municipal source for
safe, clean water. If you need to take some with you on the road,
store it in a glass jar or bottle.
What is the
BEST Water in the World?
There is no question in my mind that the absolute finest source of
water in the world is NOT from an artesian well but from a gravity
fed mountain spring that is obtained directly from where it has come
out of the earth.
It is filtered by the earth and
structured and it is also not pasteurized or heated like nearly all
commercial bottled waters. You see there are living organisms in
water like algae that are actually beneficial for us but when you
heat the water, just like pasteurizing milk, you damage it.
So you are probably wondering the best way to find a gravity fed raw
spring.
Well fortunately there is a
web site called Find a Spring.com which
allows you to do so. The website also allows you to add a spring
that is not currently in the database. You can include information
about the spring's temperature and location, and insert pictures or
videos you took of the spring. Relax if you don't live near a
mountain though as just about any spring is better than all other
available options. So if you are at sea level just use that local
spring.
Typically they are monitored by the
local municipalities for contaminants.
It is an awesome resource and I strongly encourage you, your family
and your friends to use it. Please pass this gem along. There is a
strong likelihood there is a spring within one hour of your home.
Most of these springs are FREE, that is right, the best water in the
world and there is NO CHARGE for it. You can easily store ten five
gallon jugs in most cars and it is a wonderful opportunity for you
to regularly escape from the city get out in nature.
If you don't have the large water bottles you can easily find them
online. Glass would be best but if you use those, it would be better
to get the three gallon jars as the five gallon ones are too large
and can easily break and you can hurt yourself. You can also find
corks to stop the bottles at most hardware stores. Just bring the
bottle in with you so it fits properly.
If you do choose glass just make sure you wrap the bottles in your
car with some blankets or towels so they don't bang against each
other and break.
In my mind getting fresh raw spring water is one of the more
powerful, inexpensive and phenomenal lifestyle adjustments you can
make and I would strongly encourage you to try it.
Videos
Tapped
The Film (trailer)
Watch the complete video
HERE
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