|
By Richard Mesquita, AquaMD
(AquaMD is the water testing division of the American Water Council,
a nationally respected provider of water education and testing
services. AquaMD has teamed with Dr. Mercola to provide you with
diagnostic services and the Dr. Mercola water testing packages
at http://www.aquamd.com/mercola/labtests.cfm.)
A new study from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine
claims that you risk permanent nervous system (brain) damage if
you regularly inhale water vapor, when showering, which contains
manganese.
What is Manganese?
Manganese is one of the most abundant metals in the earth and is
used extensively in making steel, welding rods, paints, fireworks,
fertilizers, varnish, livestock supplements and so forth. It's also
added to gasoline to reduce engine knocking.
Manganese is likely found
so extensively in water supplies because it is highly abundant
in the earth and because of its use in gasoline.
Most everyone is exposed to small levels of manganese from the
food they eat or mineral supplements they take. Low levels of manganese
are essential for good health, but high levels of manganese are
toxic.
What Researchers Found
The analysis was conducted by Dr. John Spangler, M.D. and Dr. Robert
Elsner, Ph.D.
They analyzed the levels of manganese that caused central nervous
system damage in rodents by accumulating inside their brains. They
then reviewed medical literature and animal studies to determine
how much manganese people would absorb by showering a mere 10 minutes
a day.
They found that by taking brief, daily showers over the course
of 10 years, children would be exposed to three times the level
of manganese that the rodents were exposed to; adults would be exposed
to 50 times more.
This also indicates that adults taking "brief showers"
for only one year would still be exposed to five times more manganese
than those rodents who suffered brain damage.
The doctors felt that even though all individuals could be at risk
from manganese toxicity as a result of their water supply, children,
pregnant women, the elderly and those being treated for liver disease
are at the highest risk, even when exposed to low doses of manganese
when showering.
Additional Facts
These doctors are very concerned about your exposure to manganese
levels that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently
says are safe for drinking water. The EPA standard for "safe
levels" of manganese in drinking water supplies is 0.5 milligrams
per liter.
But that standard for manganese is a "secondary standard,"
which means the EPA only considers manganese to be a nuisance and
not a health hazard. And because it is a secondary standard, it
is completely unenforceable by the EPA.
So, if your water supply has high levels of manganese, the water
company is free to say that it is completely safe--even when it
could, in fact, be the exact opposite.
Worse, the EPA standard was based on anticipated exposure by ingesting
drinking water. But this new study states that "drinking water"
is not the hazard for exposure to manganese toxicity. Instead, the
danger is absorbing manganese from water vapor inhalation when showering.
By the way, in the years since the EPA standard was set, and before
this latest research, other studies have shown that inhaling manganese
dust could result in nervous system damage, learning and coordination
disabilities and behavioral changes that are very similar to Parkinson's
disease. In fact, back in 1993 the National Institute of Health
issued a statement that occupational exposure to manganese for periods
of just six months to two years could result in a disease of the
central nervous system that resembles Parkinson's disease.
Moreover, these researchers feel that inhaling manganese from water
vapor bypasses the blood supply and travels directly to your brain.
Once there, it can cause extensive nervous system damage.
How Much Manganese is in Your Water?
Whether you are on a public water system or a private well, you
really should find out if manganese or other dangerous contaminants
are in your water. If you are on a public water system (85 percent
of people are), chances are good that you are exposed to some level
of manganese, trihalomethanes, haloaecetic acids, chlorine and other
harmful contaminants.
Once you determine the type and level of contaminants in your water
supply, you can get the right water treatment system to purify it;
and you can consult your health practitioner to help reverse any
damage you may have suffered from exposure to those contaminants.
| 