My Simple Method

[waterbear]

Spanky,

Oh NO you DIDN'Tt! Now we are going to get a diatribe about urine and its health benefits when drunk.

Maybe it will even stop the dreaded

brominate thyroid hormone

from happening.

[Spanky]

Now we are going to get a diatribe about urine and its health benefits when drunk. Maybe it will even stop the dreaded

brominate thyroid hormone

from happening.

Sorry Waterbear, didn't even think of that one ..lol

Maybe we've found a solution for the OP's fear of chlorine!!

He could wear a kerchief over his mouth while using his tub!!

I'd be willing to donate a bottle of "Scotland's Finest" (Filtered through me kidneys first !!!)

[chem geek]

During a discussion I had in another forum in response to someone saying chlorine was toxic, chlorine was poison, etc., I was reviewing the hundreds of scientific peer-reviewed papers in respected journals that I had downloaded (and for many, had to pay for) and wanted to summarize them which is, of course, hard to do. I did find the Environmental Health Criteria 216 "Disinfectants and Disinfectant By-Products" document from the World Health Organization (WHO) from 2000 (updated somewhat in 2004) and thought it would be helpful to quote it's summary info below.

Epidemiological studies have not identified an increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with chlorinated or chloraminated drinking-water. Studies of other disinfectants have not been conducted.

The epidemiological evidence is insufficient to support a causal relationship between bladder cancer and long-term exposure to chlorinated drinking-water,THMs, chloroform or other THM species. The epidemiological evidence is inconclusive and equivocal for an association between colon cancer and long-term exposure to chlorinated drinking-water, THMs, chloroform or other THM species. The information is insufficient to allow an evaluation of the observed risks for rectal cancer and risks for other cancers observed in single analytical studies.

Studies have considered exposures to chlorinated drinking-water, THMs or THM species and various adverse outcomes of pregnancy. A scientific panel recently convened by the US Environmental Protection Agency reviewed the epidemiological studies and concluded that the results of currently published studies do not provide convincing evidence that chlorinated water or THMs cause adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Now if one looks at the details in the long document, one will find individual epidemiology studies showing links to a variety of cancers and that is what many pseudo-science websites selling products such as water filters or alternative disinfectants all show. However, if you look at the details, you find that nearly every study that shows a correlation has another study that shows no correlation and for many that do show something, the odds ratios are low and all are less than 2 meaning doubled risk. When this sort of mixture of studies happens and where odds ratios are fairly low, it often means that there are confounding variables people aren't taking into account. For example, if you find a correlation of lower cancer risk with people drinking well water compared to municipal water, it may be due to well water being in rural areas where more people work on farms or doing heavier labor for more exercise compared to people in cities/suburbs. Unless the study explicitly looks for exercise or physical labor as a variable, they will falsely attribute cancer risk to chlorinated water rather than the lower level of exercise.

The point I'm making is not, by the way, that chlorine disinfection by-products are harmless, but rather that their risk at the levels found especially in low bather-load residential pools is very low.

[waterbear]

Thank you chem geek. The voice of sanity, reason, and the facts reigns once again!