Drinking Water Contaminant Causes Cancer

The most widespread industrial contaminant in drinking water can cause cancer in people, the National Academy of Sciences reported this week (click the post title to read the Associated Press article). Trichloroethylene is a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers and is widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites. The easily evaporated, colorless liquid is one of the most common pollutants found in the air, soil, and water at U.S. military bases.

The Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the NAS report and could rule for stricter regulations. Currently the EPA requires limiting tricholoroethylene to no more than 5 parts per billion of drinking water. Stricter regulations could force the government to require more thorough clean-ups at military and other sites. The chemical is a possible cause of kidney cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, impaired neurological function, and autoimmune disease.

Here is the most frightening part of this story. According to the AP article, "In 2001, the EPA issued a draft document saying the risks of the pollutant causing cancer in humans were higher than previously thought. But that pronouncement was dropped after other federal agencies accused the EPA of inflating the risks." Now, barely 5 years later, the NAS report states, "The committee found that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to tricholoroethylene has strengthened since 2001. Hundreds of waste sites are contaminated with tricholoroethylene and it is well documented that individuals in many communities are exposed to the chemical, with associated health risks." In the last 5 years, instead of working to decrease this serious health risk that now infects everyone's drinking water, the EPA has sat on its hands while the risk has escalated to alarming proportions.

The alternative medical community has long cautioned about the cancer risks of industrial toxins, risks being proved daily in research studies by conventional medicine authorities. Alternative medicine advocates as standard therapy cleansing the body of these toxins and limiting exposure to additional toxicity in the environment. Reducing toxins in the body allows it to more effectively regenerate itself and bolster the immune system so it can fight off cancer.

"People on a typical American diet are loaded with toxins," says Dr. Lawrence Taylor, M.D., noted cancer researcher. "Those same toxins probably contributed in a direct way to the initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer. These factors also contribute indirectly by weakening the immune system." Given that exposure to toxic substances is a key factor in the development of malignancy, identifying and eliminating toxins is a standard procedure in Dr. Taylor's treatment.

The dangers of industrial toxins and what you can do to eliminate them from your body and limit your future exposure is discussed in detail in Dr. Burton Goldberg's best selling book An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer. Dr. Goldberg pursues the latest technology and chronicles the newest treatment therapies in both alternative and conventional medicine, interviewing today's experts in his remarkable video Cancer Conquest (click the link to view a preview). Visit Dr. Goldberg's website for more information on this remarkable leader of the alternative medicine community. Dr. Goldberg believes in a multimodal approach to fighting cancer. He advocates combining alternative medicine therapies with conventional protocols to give his patients the best chance of avoiding and conquering cancer.