• Chlorine is universally recognized and used as an effective chemical for purifying water. Water companies use chlorine because of its effectiveness in killing microorganisms. 
• Chlorine attacks organic matter, making it a potent bleaching agent.  Almost every home uses common household bleach in their laundry.
• Chlorine is also very hazardous.  Even when diluted, it must be used with care.  Read the label on any bottle of household bleach.
• If chlorine works so well in killing bacteria and bleaching and oxidizing organic food stains, what does it do to our skin, eyes, and lungs?
• Chlorine plays havoc with our skin and hair because it chemically bonds with the protein in our bodies.  It makes hair brittle and dry; it can make sensitive skin dry; flaky; and itchy.
• It makes good sense to remove chlorine from drinking water.  It is just as logical to remove it from our showers.  Many authorities feel that we take in more chlorine from one shower than from drinking the same water in one day.
• 1. Medical science considers the human skin surface as the largest body organ, weighing about 12 pounds for the average adult. It would not seem any wiser to expose that much skin to a chemical disinfectant like chlorine, than it would be to drink it.

Chlorine in Your Shower and Bath

Chlorine is used almost universally in the treatment of public drinking water because of its toxic effect on harmful bacteria and other waterborne, disease-causing organisms.  But there is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that chlorine in drinking water may actually pose greater long-term dangers than those for which it was used to eliminate.  These effects of chlorine may result from either ingestion or absorption though the skin.  Scientific studies have linked chlorine and chlorination by-products to cancer of the bladder, liver, stomach, rectum, and colon, as well as heart disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), anemia, high blood pressure, and allergic reactions.  There is also evidence that shows that chlorine can destroy protein in our body and cause adverse effects on skin and hair.
“The presence of chlorine in water may also contribute to the formation of chloramine in the water, which can cause taste and odor problems.”
“Since chlorine is required  by public health regulations to be present in all public drinking water supplies, it is up to the individual to remove it at the point-of-use in the home.
Kemysts Laboratory
Dr. Riddle, Ph.D.

“Cancer risks among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”
U.S. Council Of Environmental Quality

“Drinking tap water that is chlorinated is hazardous, if not deadly to your health.”
Healthy Water For A Longer Life
Dr. Martin Fox

“Known carcinogens are found in drinking water as a direct consequence of the practice of chlorination, a long establishing public health practice for the disinfection of drinking water.”
Municipal Environmental Research Lab
Francis T. Mayo, Director

“Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times.  While it prevented epidemics of one disease, it was creating another.  Two decades ago, after the start of chlorinating our drinking water in 1904, the present epidemic of heart trouble, cancer, and senility began.”
Saginaw Hospital
Dr. J.M. Price, M.D.

“The cause of atherosclerosis and resulting heart attack and strokes is none other than ubiquitous chlorine in our drinking water.”
Coronaries/Cholesterol/Chlorine
Dr. J.M. Price, M.D.

“A Professor of Water Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh claims that exposure to vaporized chemicals in the water supplies through showering, bathing, and inhalation is 100 times greater than through drinking tap water.”
“As chlorine is added to kill pathogenic microorganisms, the highly reactive chlorine combines with fatty acids and carbon fragments to form a variety of toxic compounds, which comprise about 30% of the chlorination by-products.”
“During the mid-70s, monitoring efforts began to identify widespread toxic contamination of the nation’s drinking water supplies, epidemiological studies began to suggest a link between ingestion of toxic chemicals in the water and elevated cancer mortality risks.  Since those studies were completed, a variety of additional studies have strengthened the statistical connection between consumption of toxins in water and elevated cancer risks.  Moreover, this basic concern has been heightened by other research discoveries.”
The Nader Report-Troubled Water On Tap
Center for the Study of Responsive Law

“Evidence points to chlorine-based compounds (orcanochlorines) as significant contributors to the epidemic of chronic illnesses in humans, including breast cancer in women, and reproductive, developmental, immunological, behavioral and endocrine disorders.  In addition, chlorine-based chemicals, like CFC’s and other refrigerants, are primarily responsible for the destruction of the Earth’s protective ozone layer.”
Greenpeace. Jan-Feb-Mar 1993

“A long, hot shower can be dangerous.  The toxic chemicals are inhaled in high concentrations.”
Bottom Line August 87
Dr. Julian Andeiman, Ph. D.

“Skin absorption of contaminants has been underestimated and ingestion may not constitute the sole or even primary route of exposure.”
American Journal Of Public Health
Dr. Haline Brown

“You Get More Exposure From Taking A Shower Than From Drinking the Same Water.”...Summary statement from a recent study at a major University and as reported in Science News, Vol. 130, Sep 20, 1986