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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 both
the free home water evaluation and the Dr. Mercola water testing
packages at http://www.aquamd.com/mercola/labtests.cfm.)
It's estimated that more than 600 million pounds of herbicides
and pesticides are applied in the United States each year for commercial
and residential use. These are chemicals used to control weeds and
pests. Unfortunately, these chemicals are also leaching into public
water supplies. In fact, atrazine, possibly the most heavily used
herbicide in this country, is found in many public water supplies.
Atrazine is thought to cause many health problems. For example,
several recent studies have found exposure to atrazine increases
the risk of prostate cancer. And this pesticide is linked to congestion
of the heart, lung and kidneys, as well as low blood pressure, muscle
spasm, weight loss and damage to the adrenal glands.
Due to atrazine's risks, several European countries have already
banned the chemical, and the European Union has announced it will
ban it entirely by early 2005.
If atrazine is in your water supply, you can be exposed to it from
the water you drink, use for showering/bathing, washing clothes,
or cleaning eating and drinking utensils. So find out if this chemical
is in your water. And if it is, remove it promptly!
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