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Sewage Added to Drinking Water

2008-03-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking

From the New York Times (original article here)

From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking
Axel Koester for The New York Times

This Orange County, Calif., Water District plant will purify sewer water to feed drinking water supplies, but not directly to the tap.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — It used to be so final: flush the toilet, and waste be gone.

After a process of microfiltration, chemicals, ultraviolet light and reverse osmosis, the treated sewer water will be injected underground to refill aquifers.
But on Nov. 30, for millions of people here in Orange County, pulling the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage into drinking water — after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals and ultraviolet light and the passage of time underground.

On that Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world’s largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth.

The process, called by proponents “indirect potable water reuse” and “toilet to tap” by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities.

The San Diego City Council approved a pilot plan in October to bolster a drinking water reservoir with recycled sewer water. The mayor vetoed the proposal as costly and unlikely to win public acceptance, but the Council will consider overriding it in early December.

Water officials in the San Jose area announced a study of the issue in September, water managers in South Florida approved a plan in November calling for abundant use of recycled wastewater in the coming years in part to help restock drinking water supplies, and planners in Texas are giving it serious consideration.

“These types of projects you will see springing up all over the place where there are severe water shortages,” said Michael R. Markus, the general manager of the Orange County district, whose plant, which will process 70 million gallons a day, has already been visited by water managers from across the globe.

The finished product, which district managers say exceeds drinking water standards, will not flow directly into kitchen and bathroom taps; state regulations forbid that.

Instead it will be injected underground, with half of it helping to form a barrier against seawater intruding on groundwater sources and the other half gradually filtering into aquifers that supply 2.3 million people, about three-quarters of the county. The recycling project will produce much more potable water and at a higher quality than did the mid-1970s-era plant it replaces.

The Groundwater Replenishment System, as the $481 million plant here is known, is a labyrinth of tubing and tanks that sucks in treated sewer water the color of dark beer from a sanitation plant next door, and first runs it through microfilters to remove solids. The water then undergoes reverse osmosis, forcing it through thin, porous membranes at high pressure, before it is further cleansed with peroxide and ultraviolet light to break down any remaining pharmaceuticals and carcinogens.

The result, Mr. Markus said, “is as pure as distilled water” and about the same cost as buying water from wholesalers.

Recycled water, also called reclaimed or gray water, has been used for decades in agriculture, landscaping and by industrial plants.

And for years, treated sewage, known as effluent, has been discharged into oceans and rivers, including the Mississippi and the Colorado, which supply drinking water for millions.

But only about a dozen water agencies in the United States, and several more abroad, recycle treated sewage to replenish drinking water supplies, though none here steer the water directly into household taps. They typically spray or inject the water into the ground and allow it to percolate down to aquifers.

Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, among the most arid places in Africa, is believed to be the only place in the world that practices “direct potable reuse” on a large-scale, with recycled water going directly into the tap water distribution system, said James Crook, a water industry consultant who has studied the issue.

The projects are costly and often face health concerns from opponents.

Such was the case on Nov. 6 in Tucson, where a wide-ranging ballot measure that would have barred the city from using purified water in drinking water supplies failed overwhelmingly. The water department there said it had no such plans but the idea has been discussed in the past.

John Kromko, a former Arizona state legislator who advocated for the prohibition, said he was skeptical about claims that the recycling process cleanses all contaminants from the water and he suggested that Tucson limit growth rather than find new ways to feed it.

“We really don’t know how safe it is,” he said. “And if we controlled growth we would never have to worry about drinking it.”

Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, in vetoing the City Council plan there, said it “is not a silver bullet for the region’s water needs” and the public has never taken to the idea in the 15 years it has been discussed off and on.

Although originally estimated at $10 million for the pilot study in San Diego, water department officials said the figure would be refined, and the total cost of the project might be hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the Council wants to offset the cost with government grants and other sources, Mr. Sanders predicted it would add to already escalating water bills.

“It is one of the most expensive kinds of water you can create,” said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the mayor. “It is a large investment for a very small return.”

San Diego, which imports about 85 percent of its water because of a lack of aquifers, asked residents this year to curtail water use.

Here in Orange County, the project, a collaboration between the water and sanitation districts, has not faced serious opposition, in part because of a public awareness and marketing campaign.

Early on, officials secured the backing of environmental groups, elected leaders and civic groups, helped in part by the fact the project eliminated the need for the sanitation district to build a new pipe spewing effluent into the ocean.

Orange County began purifying sewer water in 1976 with its Water Factory 21, which dispensed the cleansed water into the ground to protect groundwater from encroaching seawater.

That plant has been replaced by the new one, with more advanced technology, and is intended to cope with not only current water needs but also expectations that the county’s population will grow by 500,000 by 2020.

Still, said Stephen Coonan, a water industry consultant in Texas, such projects proceed slowly.

“Nobody is jumping out to do it,” he said. “They want to make sure the science is where it should be. I think the public is accepting we are investigating it.”

More on Knowing the Source: It's Tap Water

2007-07-27T21:57:00.000-04:00

From the Associated Press http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/27/ap3960953.html

Aquafina Labels: It's Tap Water

By VINNEE TONG 07.27.07, 11:37 AM ET

NEW YORK - The label on Aquafina water bottles will soon be changed to spell out that the drink comes from the same source as tap water, the brand's owner said Friday.

A group called Corporate Accountability International has been pressuring bottled water sellers to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices.

Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are now labeled "P.W.S." The new labels will spell out "public water source."

"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," PepsiCo (nyse: PEP - news - people ) spokeswoman Michelle Naughton said Friday.

The corporate accountability group is also pressing for similar concessions from The Coca-Cola Co. (nyse: KO - news - people ), which owns the Dasani water brand.

Dasani's Web site says that Dasani comes from local water supplies and is then filtered.

"We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source of Dasani water," Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said. "The label clearly states that it is purified water."

Sales of bottled water has been a growing source of revenue for companies such as PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola as they lessen their dependence on sales of traditional carbonated sodas, as consumer concern over health issues has weakened demand.

The importance of the source of your water

2007-06-10T21:49:00.000-04:00

Don't be misled to believe all tap water is safe.
Even highly regulated tap water can be contaminated--
by the source from which it flows.

Drinker beware--as is evidenced by this story.

Presenting a yucky truth
By Winston Ross
The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Entire story at: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/06/06/a1.water.0606.p1.php?section=cityregion

Which would you rather drink from?

NORTH BEND - Kyleray Katherman had a feeling the drinking fountains at his school were "gross." But it wasn't until he applied a little science to the spigots that he discovered just how right he was.

For an English assignment, Katherman tested the bacteria content at four North Bend Middle School water fountains and one toilet to challenge a four-year-old policy that banned students from bringing bottled water into class (some were sneaking in alcohol that way).

Guess which sample was cleaner? Hint: It wasn't the water fountains.

The way Katherman made his point shocked his classmates, teachers, the school's administrators and members of the school board, who had no idea just how gross a water fountain could be.

Katherman attends the Oregon Coast Technology School, a charter school that operates at the middle school with a focus on infusing technology into the curriculum, be it in science, math or in this case, English. Students use digital cameras, computers, scanners and the Internet to bolster their education, and they often earn credit on the same project in two or three separate subjects.

This assignment was pure English, but Katherman, 13, used what he'd learned in science class about growing bacteria to inform his presentation. When he needed help, he marched into a campus lab to get it.

The project was simple: Armed with a Q-tip and a petri dish, Katherman swabbed the spigots of four drinking fountains and one toilet, dunking the cotton in the bowl's center and then dragging it around the rim so he'd get a complete sample.

Then he took the results back to the lab and shone a light on the dish to speed up the bacteria's growth, via photosynthesis.

Each of the drinking fountain samples resulted in petri dishes swimming with bacteria. The toilet sample, by comparison, turned out mouth-wateringly clean, likely because it's doused with cleansing chemicals daily. Before revealing where each sample came from, he asked his classmates which water they'd prefer to drink.

They chose the toilet.

"I wanted to see the looks on their faces," Katherman said.

Katherman's presentation also explained the importance of drinking water to the brain's function, and recommendations that students drink between eight and 12 8-ounce glasses each day. Either bring back the water bottles, Katherman urged, or install "down-pour" systems, the kind used in office water coolers. His classmates voted that Katherman take his message to the school's site council, which advised him to take his presentation to the next North Bend School Board meeting.

It didn't take long for the eye-opening PowerPoint to bring about change. Administrators quickly replaced the spigots and casing at three of the water fountains Katherman had tested, and custodians gave them all a thorough cleaning. There's no plan on reversing the bottle ban but more teachers are providing water in their classrooms, Katherman said.

"It was a great lesson. We don't always see things in and about the school that are in need of repair," said Scott Edmondson, the school's principal, adding, "You'd be surprised how clean the water is in a toilet."

Katherman's teacher, Barb Becker, said other students also are bringing about changes - even before they write essays. Administrators noticed them taking pictures of broken lockers, for example, and fixed them.

"The kids got to see that, yes, they can make a difference, if they do it right," Becker said.

One key difference is at the fountains themselves. Even though they've been cleaned, Katherman said, "There's not as long a line."

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Visit www.vitagenesis.com for more information on Pure Aqua Di Vita Water

Add Yourself to the Vita Genesis Map

2007-04-14T12:21:00.001-04:00

Toxic Water in West Virginia

2007-04-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

VIDEO: Toxic West Virginia

Everyone knows that coal mining is an ugly business, but seeing its full effects is not something many people get to do.

Now, in an extraordinary new series of independent documentary shorts, web-based VBS TV investigate the staggering environmental and human health cost of coal mining in West Virginia, USA.

View the video about Water and see what coal mining has brought to the drinking water supply in West Virginia.

Thank you to Independent Presidential Founding Associate, Terry Rhoades for sharing this information. See the other 4 parts of the series on West Virginia on Terry's blog -Click Here.

Water More Valuable Than Oil?

2007-03-16T08:10:00.001-04:00

Freshwater Becoming More Scarce
The United Nations estimates that by 2050 more than two billion people in 48 countries will lack sufficient water. Approximately 97 percent to 98 percent of the water on planet Earth is saltwater (the estimates vary slightly depending on the source). Much of the remaining freshwater is frozen in glaciers or the polar ice caps. Lakes, rivers and groundwater account for about 1 percent of the world’s potentially usable freshwater.

If global warming continues to melt glaciers in the polar regions, as expected, the supply of freshwater may actually decrease. First, freshwater from the melting glaciers will mingle with saltwater in the oceans and become too salty to drink. Second, the increased ocean volume will cause sea levels to rise, contaminating freshwater sources along coastal regions with seawater.

Complicating matters even further is that 95 percent of the world’s cities continue to dump raw sewage into rivers and other freshwater supplies, making them unsafe for human consumption.

The Need for Freshwater is Increasing Rapidly
Yet, while freshwater supplies are at best static, and at worst decreasing, the world’s population is growing rapidly. The United Nations estimates that the world population—approximately 6.5 billion in 2006—will grow to 9.4 billion by 2050.

The cost of water is usually set by government agencies and local regulators. Water isn't traded on commodity exchanges, but many utilities stocks are publicly traded. Meanwhile, investments in companies that provide desalinization, and other processes and technologies that may increase the world’s supply of freshwater, are growing rapidly.

Companies Investing in Water
General Electric Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said the scarcity of clean water around the world will more than double GE’s revenue from water purification and treatment by 2010—to a total of $5 billion.

GE’s strategy is for its water division to invest in desalinization and purification in countries that have a shortage of freshwater. Saudi Arabia is expected to invest more than $80 billion in desalinization plants and sewer facilities by 2025 to meet the needs of its growing population. And while China is home to 20 percent of the world’s people, only 7 percent of the planet’s freshwater supply is located there.

Global warming could cause severe municipal water shortages, says Nobel Prize winner

2007-03-15T11:54:00.000-04:00

Water could be the first casualty of global warming.

The rising temperature of Earth is causing water sources such as glaciers and lakes to rapidly retreat, according to, among others, Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and one of the leading scientific figures trying to get more research funding for alternative energy.

Steven Chu The effects of declining water supplies will be noticeable and harsh, according to Chu, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Some effects can already be seen, he said.

"The Yellow River is now running dry in summertime," Chu said during a speech at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco this week.

The Yellow River is fed by glacier and snowmelt from the Himalayas, which is declining. A huge portion of the world's population gets water from the Himalayas, so this is not a good sign for other areas as well.

In the United States, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California and Nevada is expected to decline by 30 percent to 70 percent by 2100, he said.

If it declines by 20 percent, people will be told to stop watering their lawns or flushing toilets often. A decline of about 50 percent or greater could rewrite the demographics of California. And a massive decline in the snowpack could cause a collapse of the agriculture industry, prompting a migration out of the state, Chu said.

Snow may actually increase in some mountain ranges and parts of the world. Many expect that dry regions will become drier, while wet regions will become rainier. Warming, however, will prevent this extra rain and snow from getting stored in mountains, he said. Thus, a lot of it will run off before it can be used.

"(Water) is probably the first thing that will hit home," he said. "The water storage problem is becoming a mess."

Watering The World With Love

2007-02-20T09:10:00.000-05:00

Dedicated to Women and Daughters worldwide...

Even $1 Can Save a Child's life..How Many Will You Help Today?
Visit www.createthechange.com

Watering The World With Love…

2007-02-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

Watering The World With Love…

We at Vita Genesis, Inc. Are keenly aware of the clean water, sanitation and hygiene education needs of billions of people world wide. We understand that women and children must walk miles each day carrying heavy loads of water because they do not have a water source close to where they live, and that more often than not, the water they bring back home is unclean and unsafe. We are also aware of the agony of many families who have experienced the death of a child due to diseases related to water, sanitation, and hygiene issues.

We believe that NO child, NO fellow human being, should die from dehydration or diseases related to contaminated water and lack of sanitation. We can do something for these children and their families. We can give them a voice to make others aware of their plight while helping them to meet their basic need for clean water and sanitation. We can create the change and be the catalyst for a better tomorrow for these children and their families. We can, and will, help to restore their hope and dignity.

To do our part in saving lives, we extend our hands in assistance and love to the world. In honor of the United Nations International Decade of Water for Life (2005 - 2015), and World Water Day (March 22, 2007), we have developed a “Watering The World With Love” fundraiser to accomplish the following objectives:

Support WaterAid America and the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) “At Least 20” Program through financial contributions from our Vita Genesis, Inc. Fundraising program. Our “Watering The World With Love” fundraiser begins immediately and will run through March 22, 2007 (World Water Day). Funds from our World Water Day efforts will be sent to WaterAid America and the UNDP “At Least 20” Program on Monday, March 26, 2007.

Get involved

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

Whoever you are, and whatever your interests, we need you to get involved.
We rely on people like you to help us make a difference to the world's poorest people.

Every 15 seconds a child dies from disease related to drinking contaminated water. 5,000 children perish each and every day because they lack one of the most basic necessities of human existence -- clean, safe water. $1 from you will go a long way toward saving a child's life. Just $1 will help make the difference!

Give a gift of water and love now at:
www.createthechange.com or
call 877-401-7151 Monday - Friday 9AM to 5PM Eastern Time
to make a donation by phone.

Please help us “Water The World With Love”

Together, we can Create The Change

Feel Free To Share this with Your Friends!

More on Dangers of Fluoride

2007-02-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

Read more about the dangers of Fluoride at:

http://www.newstarget.com/water_supply.html

World Water Day 2007 - Get Involved

2007-01-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

Get Involved

Visit the Vita Genesis Website for Pure,

Hexagonal Aqua Di Vita Water

http://www.vitagenesis.com

Teflon in Drinking (Tap) Water

2006-12-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

Another reason to be very careful what you use
tap water for. Much of what the EPA regulates
and action taken to fix problems or adjust "safe"
levels of contamination in water is done after
people have been exposed to it or used the water
for many years.

---

November 21, 2006

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - DuPont Co. agreed Tuesday to a tougher, temporary standard for a chemical used to make Teflon and said it would test more drinking-water supplies for contamination near its Washington Works plant along the Ohio River.

If levels for ammonium perfluorooctaonate, also known as C8 or PFOA, exceed the new threshold - now 300 times stricter - DuPont would be required to filter the water or provide residents with an alternative supply, according to a consent agreement between the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The agreement replaces one signed in March 2002 that required DuPont to take similar actions if C8 levels exceeded 150 parts per billion. The new agreement cuts the level to 0.50 ppb.

EPA Region 3 Administrator Don Welsh said the new standard was motivated, in part, by preliminary results of a health screening that showed Ohio and West Virginia residents living near the plant, which is near Parkersburg, have 25 times more of the chemical in their blood than the average population.

The stricter standard will reduce exposure while EPA continues studies on whether the unregulated chemical is hazardous to human health. Studies indicate the chemical can cause developmental problems in animals, Welsh said.

C8 is used to produce the nonstick substance Teflon and a variety of other products, from flooring to clothing. Though used since World War II, its long-term health impact on humans is unknown. DuPont has long maintained there are no harmful effects.

DuPont is paying for the health screening of 70,000 residents as part of a 2004 settlement of a class-action lawsuit by residents of six Ohio and West Virginia water districts who claimed C8 contaminated their water supplies.

Attorney Harry Deitzler, who represented the residents, said the latest agreement vindicates their concerns but would have "zero impact for DuPont because it's what they are already doing."

Under the court-approved settlement, DuPont agreed to install carbon filtration systems in the six water districts, three of which have been installed at treatment plants in Ohio.

Work has yet to start at treatment plants in Lubeck and Mason County in West Virginia, or at the Little Hocking Water Association in Ohio.

Little Hocking customers, who have the highest concentrations of C8, are receiving bottled water from DuPont.

Company spokesman David Boothe said the new agreement requires DuPont to survey additional areas near the plant to determine C8 levels. The surveys will not include Parkersburg's water supply, where a separate lawsuit alleging contamination has been filed in Wood County Circuit Court.

Boothe said EPA will tell DuPont where to conduct the surveys, but he anticipates the targeting of private wells in Little Hocking and Belpre, Ohio.

An EPA spokeswoman said the 2002 agreement targeted water districts within a 2-mile radius of the Washington Works plant. The new agreement will look farther.

DuPont officials have said they will continue to use C8 in manufacturing, though the company has cut emissions at Washington Works and other U.S. plants by 97 percent since 2000.

EPA's Welsh said DuPont and other companies that use the chemical have agreed to cut emissions by 95 percent in 2010 and stop using C8 by 2015.

----

On the Web:

EPA-DuPont consent agreement: http://www.epa.gov/region03/enforcement/dupont-order.pdf

Article is at:

http://www.examiner.com/a-412700~EPA__DuPont_agree_to_lower_C8_level_in_drinking_water.html

5 Things You Didn't Know About Water

2006-10-15T20:28:00.000-04:00

Roughly 55% to 75% of the human body is composed of water, and considering we lose about eight cups a day through breathing, sweating and bathroom breaks, it is critical to continually replenish the ingredient that makes your body go.

read more | digg story

Water, Love, Gratitude, and Vibration

2006-10-05T09:43:00.000-04:00

"We must pay respect to water, and feel love and gratitude, and receive vibrations with a positive attitude. Then, water changes, you change, and I change. Because both you and I are water."

- Dr. Masaru Emoto

ADV Water - Structured Right For Your Body

More Bottled Water Recalled for Bromate

2006-08-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

Weis Markets Issues Voluntary Recall for One Gallon Containers of Weis Quality Spring Water

Weis Markets Inc. has voluntarily recalled its one gallon containers of Weis Quality Spring Water.

The Company said it decided to voluntarily recall its one gallon containers of Weis Quality Spring Water after it received test results on the level of bromate in this product. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows 10 parts per billion as
the maximum allowable level of bromate in bottled water.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause for our customers," said Dennis Curtin, Weis Markets' Director of Public Relations. "We will not resume production of this product until it meets FDA standards and our own internal quality control standards."

Weis Markets operates 158 stores in five states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and West Virginia.

Recall due to Bromate in Water - 5 States

2006-08-14T12:54:00.000-04:00

Wegmans Recalls Bottled Water, Due To Bromate
Saturday, August 12, 2006
WBAL Radio and The Associated Press

An upscale grocery-store chain recalled its own brand of bottled water in five eastern states Friday, saying it showed high levels of bromate.

Officials for Rochester-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc. said it was the first time in recent memory they've recalled a product so widely used.

The recall affects 71 stores including the store in Hunt Valley, the supermarket's only store in Maryland.

It also affects stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia.

The Environmental Protection Agency says years of drinking water with high bromate levels could lead to a higher risk of cancer. The bromate is created during the disinfection process.

----------

From the EPA site, http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/icr/gloss_dbp.html

Bromate is a chemical that is formed when ozone used to disinfect drinking water reacts with naturally occurring bromide found in source water. EPA has established the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate bromate at annual average of 10 parts per billion in drinking water. This standard will become effective for large public water systems by December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground public water systems in December 2003.

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Water is Essential For Life

2006-07-31T16:25:00.000-04:00

“Water is an urgent matter of human development, and human dignity. Together, we can provide safe, clean water to all the world’s people. The world’s water resources are our lifeline for survival, and for sustainable development in the 21st century. Together, we must manage them better.” - (International Decade on Water For Life 2005-2015)

WATER IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE. Water is crucial for sustainable development, including the preservation of our natural environment and the alleviation of poverty and hunger. Water is indispensable for human health and well-being.

More than 2.6 billion people – forty per cent of the world’s population – lack basic sanitation facilities, and over one billion people still use unsafe drinking water sources. As a result, thousands of children die every day from diarrhoea and other water-, sanitation- and hygiene-related diseases and many more suffer and are weakened by illness.

The lack of access to safe water and sanitation has many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because they are busy fetching water or are deterred by the lack of separate and decent sanitation facilities in schools. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, and national economies suffer. Without safe water and sanitation, sustainable development is impossible.

The United Nations General Assembly, in December 2003, proclaimed the years 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life'.

A decade of action! The primary goal of the 'Water for Life' Decade is to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015.

Vita Genesis donates a portion of every bottle of ADV Water to support the International Decade For Action, Water For Life 2005-2015 and to help bring clean drinking water, health and sanitation to the world.

Water is....

2006-07-17T13:50:00.000-04:00

Water is the solution of life.

Water is very sensitive to energy.

Water is fluid; its molecules are in constant motion.

Water is the driver of Nature.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Lead Pipes

2006-06-06T12:52:00.001-04:00

Lead and copper exposure have the potential to cause health problems ranging from brain damage to digestion and stomach problems.

The dangers of lead poisoning are well known, especially for children and pregnant women. Lead gets into water via plumbing: service lines, pipes, solder, and brass faucets, especially when they're new. Water supply pipes break almost 250,000 times a year. Such breaks can easily introduce bacteria into the pipes and ultimately into your drinking water.

Even lead-free copper pipes may be soldered with lead. Soft water (that is, with low mineral content) is more acidic than hard water and thus more likely to leach lead out of pipes. Lead was banned from plumbing pipes in 1986 (though the ban did not take effect in some states until 1988), but even the newest faucets may still contain some lead.

Copper pipes can also leach the mineral into your drinking water. Although not as serious as lead, excess copper can be a health problem. This may cause disturbances of mineral balance (zinc, iron, and manganese).

For more information on what the EPA has to say
about Lead and Copper visit:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lcrmr/implement.html

Ultra Pure Aqua Di Vita eliminates the worry and guesswork awhen it comes to knowing what is in your water.

Learn More

Fluoride – What's wrong with this Picture?

2006-04-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

Fluoride – What's wrong with this Picture? (book excerpts)

By Andreas Schuld - head of Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children (PFPC).

Fluoride, according to the 1984 issue of Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, 5th Edition (1984) is more poisonous than lead and just lightly less poisonous than arsenic. It is used as a rat poison. The EPA has set 0.015 ppm as the maximum "safe" level for lead in drinking water--yet the maximum "safe" level for fluoride is currently set at 4.0ppm, over 250 times the permissible level for lead.

Studies have shown that fluoride causes motor dysfunction, IQ deficits and/or learning disabilities in humans. Fluoride exposure impairs memory and concentration, and causes lethargy, headache, depression and confusion in humans. Interestingly, suicide occurs more frequently than
expected in populations of fluoride workers.

In 1957 it was found that even waters containing a mere 0.1ppm (0.1 mg/l) could cause dental fluorosis, the first visible sign of fluoride overdose. Moreover, there is not one single double-blind study to indicate that fluoridation is effective in reducing cavities.

Dental fluorosis is a condition caused by an excessive intake of fluorides, characterised mainly by mottling of the enamel (which starts as "white spots"). Dental fluorosis can only occur during the stage of enamel formation and is therefore a sign that an overdose of fluoride has occurred in a child during that period.

The dental profession describes the defect as merely "cosmetic."

What is now becoming apparent is that this "cosmetic" defect actually predisposes to tooth decay.

The world's largest study on dental caries, which looked at 400,000 students, revealed that decay increased 27 percent with a 1ppm fluoride increase in drinking water.

In Japan, fluoridation caused decay increases of 7 percent in 22,000 students, while in the US a decay increase of 43 percent occurred in 29,000 students when 1ppm fluoride was added to drinking water.

Currently up to 80 percent of US children suffer from some degree of dental fluorosis, while in Canada the figure is up to 71 percent.

Before the push for fluoridation began, the dental profession recognized that fluorides were not beneficial but detrimental to dental health. In 1944, the Journal of the American Dental Association reported: "With 1.6 to 4 ppm fluoride in the water, 50 percent or more people past age 24 have false teeth because of fluoride damage to their own teeth."

The fluoride compound in "naturally" fluoridated waters is calcium fluoride. However, this is NOT the compound used to fluoridate water! Sodium fluoride and hydrofluorosilicic acid are used in over 90 percent of fluoridation programs. Hydrofluorosilicic acid is a direct by-product of pollution scrubbers used in the phosphate fertilizer and aluminium industries.

Animal studies have revealed that hydrofluorosilicic acid and sodium fluoride are much more toxic than calcium fluoride.

Fluoride facts

The assertion that fluoride is good for teeth is a myth
Countries with the best dental health do not fluoridate drinking water
There is enough fluoride in a tube of toothpaste to kill a small child
European Fluoride facts

98% of Europe's drinking water is fluoridation-free
The fluoride added to Irish drinking water is toxic waste from the fertiliser industry
Less than 2% of Europe's population have fluoridated water.
Sweden banned fluoridation in 1971.
West Germany discontinued fluoridation in 1971.
Norway rejected fluoridation in 1975.
Holland banned fluoridation in 1976 and changed its constitution so that it could never again be introduced.
Denmark rejected fluoridation in 1977. The Minister for Environment stated, "no adequate studies had been carried out on the long term effect on human organ systems".
France rejected fluoridation in 1980. The Chief of Public Health declared it was too dangerous.
25 out of 26 Councils in Northern Ireland have recently rejected fluoridation.
USA Fluoride Facts
Since 1990 over 45 US cities have rejected fluoridation.

In 1990 forty US dentists brought a case against the American Dental Association contending that the Association purposefully shielded the public from data that links fluoride to genetic defects, cancer
and other health problems.

All US fluoride toothpaste must carry a poisons symbol, with a warning to contact the nearest poisons unit if more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste is swallowed.

In 1997 the Union of Government Scientists of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
voted unanimously to co-sponsor a Californian initiative to ban fluoridation, stating "Our members review of the body of evidence over the last 11 years, including animal and human epidemiology studies, indicates a causal link between fluoride/fluoridation and cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment and bone pathology"

Fluoride May Cause Cancer

2006-04-27T08:48:00.000-04:00

Fluoride May Cause Cancer

Dental Health student's study contradicts her adviser's findings

Published On Monday, April 10, 2006 1:29 AM

By DORIS A. HERNANDEZ
Crimson Staff Writer
Harvard

A study associating drinking fluoridated water with osteosarcoma, a rare malignant bone tumor, was published last Wednesday on “Cancer Causes and Control”, an online peer-review journal of Harvard University.

Elise B. Bassin, a clinical instructor in Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, who led the study, wrote in an e-mail that she found a significant relationship between fluoride and cancer—contradicting the findings of her dissertation adviser Chester Douglass, the chair of the Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology Department at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

“We found an association between fluoride levels in drinking water during childhood and osteosarcoma for males diagnosed before age 20 years,” she wrote.

Douglass’ $1.3 million dollar, 15 year study did not find a link between drinking fluoridated water and developing osteosarcoma. He said Bassin’s study is a subset of his study and that he had not been able to replicate her results.

The Environmental Working Group, a Washington D.C. based advocacy group, recently filed an ethics complaint against Douglass because he allegedly cited Bassin’s study in his report, despite the opposite conclusions reached by the two studies. Douglass said he just listed Bassin’s study as a related publication and not a reference.

Douglass has received widespread criticism for defending the use of fluoride while being editor of a publication funded by a fluoride toothpaste maker.

Douglass wrote a letter in “Cancer Causes and Control,” where Bassin’s work was published, warning readers to take the results of Bassin’s study with discretion.

“Readers are cautioned not to generalize and over-interpret results... before making conclusions, and before influencing any related policy decisions,” he wrote.

Fluoride-Cancer Link May Have Been Hidden

2006-04-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

Professor at Harvard Is Being Investigated
Fluoride-Cancer Link May Have Been Hidden

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Story from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071201277.html

Federal investigators and Harvard University officials are probing whether a Harvard professor buried research suggesting a link between fluoridated tap water and bone cancer in adolescent boys.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which funded Chester Douglass's $1.3 million study, and the university are investigating why the Harvard School of Dental Medicine epidemiologist told federal officials he found no significant correlation between fluoridated water and osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Douglass, who serves as editor in chief for the industry-funded Colgate Oral Care Report, supervised research for a 2001 doctoral thesis that concluded boys exposed to fluoridated water at a young age were more likely to get the cancer.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, urged federal officials late last month to explore whether Douglass had skewed his 2004 report to the institute to play down possible risks associated with fluoridation.

The practice of fluoridating tap water -- which more than 170 million Americans drink -- has inspired controversy for years, but the majority of federal and state officials back it as a highly effective way to prevent tooth decay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked fluoridation as one of the top 10 health achievements of the 20th century, and numerous studies have shown that fluoridation prevents tooth decay. The National Cancer Institute states on its Web site: "Many studies, in both humans and animals, have shown no association between fluoridated water and risk for cancer."

Douglass reported last year that the odds of having osteosarcoma after drinking fluoridated water was "not statistically different" from the risk after drinking non-fluoridated water. But in 2001, Douglass's doctoral student, Elise Bassin, published a thesis using his data that concluded: "Among males, exposure to fluoride at or above the target level was associated with an increased risk of developing osteosarcoma. The association was most apparent between ages 5-10, with a peak at six to eight years of age."

Bassin's thesis work is considered the most rigorous human study to date on a possible connection between fluoridation and osteosarcoma, a rare but lethal form of cancer that affects males nearly twice as often as females. Patients with the cancer live an average of three years after diagnosis. In 1990, an animal study by the National Toxicology Program found "equivocal evidence" of a link between fluoridated water and cancer in male rats. And more than a decade ago, a New Jersey Department of Health survey found that young males in fluoridated communities had a higher rate of osteosarcoma than those in non-fluoridated communities.

"Fluoride safety is a major public health issue, and a Harvard professor potentially falsifying public research results has huge public health implications," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group. He added that Douglass's role in editing a newsletter funded by Colgate-Palmolive Co. "creates the appearance of a conflict of interest."

Douglass, who has taught at Harvard since 1978 and has edited the Colgate quarterly since 1997, referred inquires to the university's press office. Harvard Medical School spokesman John Lacey said the school "takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and has a standard system for reviewing allegations of research impropriety. The school is assembling an inquiry committee to review the questions raised concerning the reporting of this work."

Douglass has not edited for the newsletter articles on the possible connection between fluoridation and cancer and has not testified publicly on the issue, Lacey added.

The institute issued a statement similar to Harvard's, saying the NIEHS "takes allegations of misconduct very seriously" and is reviewing the matter.

Bassin could not be reached.

Some public health experts, including Richard Clapp, an expert in the environmental causes of cancer at Boston University's School of Public Health, think Bassin's study should prompt additional research. Researchers suspect a possible connection because half of ingested fluoride is deposited in bones, and fluoride stimulates growth in the end of bones, where osteosarcoma occurs. The Environmental Protection Agency has commissioned a National Academy of Sciences study to examine the safety of fluoridation. A report is due next year.

"It's important, and it needs to be followed up," Clapp said of Bassin's work. "There's a legitimate biological rationale for focusing on young boys."

More on Benzene in Soft Drinks

2006-04-12T13:59:00.000-04:00

Parents Sue Soft Drink Cos. Over Benzene

Apr 11 10:29 PM US/Eastern
By LIBBY QUAID
AP Food and Farm Writer
WASHINGTON

Two soft-drink companies were sued Tuesday by parents complaining that there might be cancer-causing benzene in kids' drinks.

Attorneys filed class-action lawsuits against the companies in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston and Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, Fla. They accused Polar Beverages Inc. and In Zone Brands Inc. of not taking steps to keep benzene from forming in their beverages.

Benzene, a chemical linked to leukemia, can form in soft drinks containing two ingredients: Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate.

The presence of those ingredients doesn't mean benzene is present. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.

"It's impossible for parents to know which soft drinks are safe and which contain cancer-causing benzene," said Timothy Newell, one of the plaintiffs.

Atlanta-based In Zone makes BellyWashers, juice drinks that come in reusable bottles featuring Spiderman, Hello Kitty, Scooby Doo and dozens of other well-known characters. Worcester, Mass.-based Polar Beverages makes fruit-flavored sodas and seltzers as well as mixers.

The lawsuits allege that independent laboratory tests found benzene in the companies' drinks at levels above the federal drinking-water limit, which is 5 parts per billion.

Food and Drug Administration sampling from 1995 through 2001 found similar results in unidentified brands, and FDA is currently doing more tests. FDA officials maintain there is no safety concern and that levels are still relatively low compared with other sources of exposure to benzene.

Likewise, a soft drink industry group argues that the amount of soft drinks people consume is much less than the amount of tap water they are exposed to.

"Benzene is ubiquitous to the environment. It's in the air. It's in dozens of foods, including bananas, meat and eggs," said Kevin Keane, spokesman for the American Beverage Association, the industry group.

Keane called the lawsuit an attempt by trial lawyers to make money.

In a statement, Polar Beverages president and CEO Ralph D. Crowley Jr. said all of his company's products are safe.

"Polar is committed to ensuring the safety of our products through in- depth research and testing," Crowley said. Polar Beverages had an independent laboratory test its products as recently as February and no trace of benzene was found, he said.

The plaintiffs ask that companies be prohibited from selling drinks that may contain benzene in Massachusetts and Florida. They note that other companies have either removed one of the ingredients or added ingredients to keep benzene from forming.

Benzene forms naturally in forest fires, gasoline and cigarette smoke, among other things, and it's widely used industrially to make plastics, rubber, detergents, drugs and pesticides.

Beryllium

2006-03-26T12:15:00.000-05:00

Take a look at the contaminant Beryllium.

Beryllium is a metal that is found in soil, rocks, coal and oil.

Beryllium is used in multiple ways....some examples
are:

Air bags
Auto ignition
Power steering systems
FM radios
Cell phone (electronic connectors)
Batteries (contacts)
High-definition cable television
Underwater fiberoptic cable systems.
Fire extinguishers
Sprinkler heads
Applications in pacemakers,
Lasers used to analyze blood
X-ray imaging equipment
Military weapons guidance and radar navigation systems
Helicopters, fighter aircraft and tanks,
Surveillance satellites
Aircraft landing gear components

You are probably using it now as you read this..
It is in personal computers to connect the various
microprocessors they contain.

What does this have to do with Water?

Beryllium and other toxins typically get into
the water supply as a result of industries dumping
contaminants directly into streams, rivers and lakes,
pumping them into the air supply or burying them in
the ground. Then, rainwater eventually washes these
toxins into our water supply.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported
over 1 million pounds of beryllium and beryllium
compounds were disposed of in the environment.

According to the EPA report, these states released
the highest levels of beryllium into the environment:

Idaho
Indiana
Alabama
West Virginia
Ohio
Georgia
Texas
Utah
Michigan
New Mexico

So, how can Beryllium affect you?

Beryllium is a known carcinogen.

In addition it is a suspected cardiovascular, bastronintestinal,
kidney, respiratory, skin, and liver toxicant.

Simply put...Beryllium is bad for you.

How Does Beryllium in the Water Supply Enter Your Body?

It's believed beryllium will not enter your body from
skin contact, unless your skin is scraped or cut,
in which case beryllium can enter the wound.

But...

When you ingest water containing beryllium it can pass
from your stomach and intestines into the bloodstream.

From there, it's carried by the blood into the kidneys.
Beryllium leaves the kidneys through the urine. Some
beryllium can also be carried by the blood to the liver
and bones where it may remain for long periods of time.

Protect Yourself and Your Family

Don't assume that you can judge your water's purity by
the way it looks, tastes or smells. Be sure what you
are drinking...and what is in it. Even your local water
supply may contain beryllium...though you may not even
be notified because it is considered within the "safe limits"
as set by the EPA.

Too much fluoride can damage bones, teeth

2006-03-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

Too much fluoride can damage bones, teeth

Federal standards may put children at risk, report warns

Updated: 4:12 p.m. ET March 22, 2006

WASHINGTON - Fluoride in drinking water — long controversial in the United States when it is deliberately added to strengthen teeth — can damage bones and teeth, and federal standards fail to guard against this, the National Academy of Sciences reported Wednesday.

The vast majority of Americans — including those whose water supply has fluoride added — drink water that is well below the limit for fluoride levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

But the academy's expert panel said some 200,000 people in the United States may consume water that is at or above the government's standard because of naturally occurring fluoride.

Children exposed to the government's current maximum fluoride limit "risk developing severe tooth enamel fluorosis, a condition characterized by discoloration, enamel loss and pitting of the teeth," the academy said in a statement.

Children are at particular risk in communities with water at or near the federal limit, where about 10 percent of young people develop severe tooth enamel fluorosis, the report said.

The report does not examine risks or benefits from the purposely fluoridated water that millions of Americans drink, which contains about one-fourth the government's limit, or less.

But its findings were bound to boost the arguments of those who have long opposed addition of the chemical to public water systems for a variety of reasons. Half a century ago, some groups charged that putting fluoride in the water was a communist plot to poison Americans or make them ill. Government officials consistently denied the allegations.

Earlier reviews of health issues associated with fluoride have considered enamel fluorosis to be ugly but not a health hazard. But the new assessment considers it a health hazard as one function of tooth enamel is to protect the teeth and underlying dental tissue from decay and infection.

Over a lifetime, people who drink water with the level near the federal limit of fluoride probably have a higher risk for bone fractures, a majority of the panel concluded.

The EPA allows up to 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of drinking water — .000534 ounces per gallon — but the report found this level did not protect against known risks from chemical.

The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit watchdog organization, applauded the academy's report for raising health concerns about excessive fluoride in drinking water.

"The bottom line from the nation's top voice on science is that you can protect your children's teeth by brushing them and you can protect their bones by getting rid of fluoride in tap water," Tim Kropp, the group's senior scientist, said in an e-mail.

Well Water a Danger to Infants

2006-03-23T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well Water a Danger to Infants

Formula can be tainted with nitrates,
linked to blood illness, experts say.

TUESDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Formula and food prepared with well water can cause nitrate poisoning in infants, leading the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to issue a warning for families using wells for their drinking water.

These families should have their water tested regularly, and breastfeed their infants if possible, the AAP said in a report in the September issue of Pediatrics .

The report also recommends that pediatricians ask new parents about well water use during prenatal and check-up visits.

Nitrates are a natural component of plants and some fertilizers, and they often seep into well water. Adults naturally pass nitrates through urine, but they can cause a dangerous blood condition in children that limits oxygen in the circulation.

An estimated 15 million families drink water from private, unregulated wells, and 2 million families drink from wells that fail to meet federal drinking-water standards for nitrate, accorin g to the AAP.

Academy experts added that because vegetables can have nitrate levels as high or higher than well water, infants should not eat those foods until after three months of age.

06-SEP-2005
http://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/527781.html

911 Alert - More on Benzene in Soft Drinks

2006-03-08T12:44:00.002-05:00

ABC News Story

A few years ago this was the same problem
that the water Perrier had.

The story (link above) has some disturbing
statments such as the FDA not wanting to
alert the public "yet" and that if these
levels of Benzene were found in city water,
the public would have had to be alerted due
to public health risks.

Benzene in Soft Drinks

2006-03-07T17:35:00.000-05:00

The Benzene Trail
By Chris Mercer

03/6/2006 - The gamble by US authorities 15 years ago to let the industry deal with benzene residues in soft drinks has failed, and instead only kept those who needed to know in the dark.

Chemists from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said they were surprised that recent tests showed benzene levels in some soft drinks above the country's legal limit for drinking water.
They were not surprised, however, to hear the suspected source of the problem was two common ingredients regularly used in soft drink formulas – sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

That is because both the FDA and US soft drinks association have known about this for 15 years, as testified by an internal FDA memo, dated January 1991.

One FDA chemist, who was also at the meetings with industry back then, told BeverageDaily.com the industry had agreed to “get the word out and reformulate”. No public announcement was, therefore, ever made.

Yet, the FDA's discovery that some soft drinks still contain benzene above the US water limit, broken in February by a BeverageDaily.com investigation, shows how the decision to keep the issue private has gone badly wrong.

Both an FDA chemist and the US soft drinks association have admitted it was entirely possible that some soft drinks firms might not know of the potential for sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid to cause benzene formation in drinks.

Benzene is listed as a known carcinogen by the FDA itself. Yet, the agency has set no maximum limit for benzene in soft drinks and only re-opened its investigation of the issue after a concerned industry whistleblower had paid for independent testing.

Industry and regulatory authorities have assured there is no immediate risk to consumers' health from drinks containing benzene at the levels found to date.

But, BeverageDaily has discovered the reaction between ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate was causing enough benzene in drinks in 1990 for companies to change their formulas. And, there is uncertainty over how much a drink's exposure to heat can exacerbate the problem.

The communication breakdown broadens outside the US.

The FDA's new investigation has led to Britain's Food Standards Agency discovering soft drinks containing benzene above the UK's strict one part per billion limit for drinking water. It is unclear how long this situation has existed for.

In fact, few food safety authorities in Europe appear to have been officially aware that benzene could form in drinks containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid.

In Europe alone this, until a couple of weeks ago, at least included authorities in Germany, UK, Belgium and Denmark. The UK's FSA actually checked foods to monitor sodium benzoate content last autumn, but no check was made for benzene.

The European Commission was in the dark too. A letter from the Commission in December, seen by BeverageDaily.com, states it “is not aware of any scientific evidence relating to the formation of benzene as a result of the use of benzoic acid”.

In itself this is curious. Glen Lawrence, a scientist who helped the FDA with testing back in 1990, published a journal article in 1993 detailing how sodium benzoate could break down to form benzene in drinks also containing ascorbic acid.

Yet, authorities' lack of ‘official' knowledge has spun a web of complications.

It means there is no regulatory framework in place for monitoring benzene levels in soft drinks, which means those charged with protecting consumer safety and regulating product quality cannot do their jobs.

Product lists obtained by BeverageDaily.com show more than 1,500 soft drinks containing sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid or citric acid have been launched across Europe, North America and Latin America since January 2002.

In Britain, the Soft Drinks Association says the industry has tests to check for benzene. That is fine and commendable, but the FSA's job is not to test drinks for the industry; it is to make sure tests are being done and levels are acceptable.

The fact that no national guidelines exist on the acceptable level of benzene in soft drinks compounds the problem.

Both the American and British soft drinks associations have said the limit for drinking water – five and one parts per billion in US and UK respectively – is not applicable to soft drinks.

But, their stance may be hard to justify to consumers, notably because water is a main ingredient of nearly every soft drink. One food legislation expert in the UK told BeverageDaily.com any court investigating the issue would likely look to the water limit in the absence of a specific limit for soft drinks.

If there is one lesson to learn from all this, it is that a lack of openness over benzene in soft drinks in the US in 1990, means a problem that could have been dealt with has never properly gone away.

Now, as food safety bodies in several countries around the world scramble to find out what has been known by some for 15 years, benzene threatens to become another public relations nightmare for the soft drinks industry.

Ironically, that is exactly what the private deal in 1991 attempted to avoid. An internal FDA memo from December 1990 tells of how soft drinks firms “expressed concern about the presence of benzene traces in their products and the potential for adverse publicity associated with this problem”.

Road Salt and Your Drinking Water

2006-02-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

Road Salt may be Contaminating Your Drinking Water

Those living in areas with bad winter weather are familiar with the large plows and salt spreaders used to help keep the roads safe for travel.

One unexpected and serious side effect of heavy use of road salts and de-icing chemicals in the winter months may be found in your drinking water.

Damage to the nearby soil, vegetation, birds and to other wildlife is well documented. Even worse, the chemicals in road salts are finding their way into our water sources.

Road salt compounds can contaminate lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and water reservoirs by direct runoff or by moving through the soil and into groundwater. As sodium and chloride levels increase in the winter months, they can affect quality of roadside water sources and render the water undrinkable.

Other substances in road salts and de-icers include chemicals such as ferrocyanide, chloride and other metals that are measured in parts-per-billion.

Your Water May be at Risk

In the Northern U.S., bad winter weather is a fact of life. But today, even some southern regions of the country are increasingly hammered by snow and ice storms ever year. And road salts are just one potential problem that can affect the quality of your water supply.

Contamination in Ice Cubes

2006-02-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

Girl's Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order

By MICHELE SAGER , The Tampa Tribune Tampa Bay Online

TAMPA - Those ice-cold drinks from favorite fast food restaurants may not seem as refreshing after a seventh-grader's science project reveals what may lurk inside the cup.

Benito Middle School student Jasmine Roberts examined the amount of bacteria in ice served at fast food restaurants.

Her project won the science fair at the New Tampa school, and she hopes to win a top prize at the Hillsborough County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which starts Tuesday.

The 12-year-old compared the ice used in the drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same restaurants. Jasmine said she found the results startling.

"I thought there might be a little bacteria in the ice, but I never expected it to be this much," she said. "And I never thought the toilet water would be cleaner."

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Geoff Luebkemann, director of the division for hotels and restaurants at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said people shouldn't swear off fast food ice just yet. His state agency regulates Florida businesses, including coordinating health inspections.

"Ice machines are part of the health inspections," Luebkemann said. "There are a lot of factors that have to be considered, like how accurately did she gather and test her specimens. Plus, comparing the ice to toilet water can be misleading because there are acceptable levels of bacteria for water."

Jasmine said she has always been interested in water quality and its link to health issues. Last year, she compared hotel ice to toilet water. She decided to branch out to restaurants this year.

She is a previous county winner, and her brother won a top prize last year for his project.

For this project, Jasmine visited five fast food restaurants near the University of South Florida. She collected ice samples from self-service dispensers inside the restaurants, as well as ice from drinks served through drive-through windows. She also collected samples of toilet water from those restaurants.

She placed the samples into sterile containers and tested them at a lab at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where she volunteers with a USF professor.

Jasmine found that in four of the five restaurants, the ice that came from the self-serve machines had more bacteria than the toilet water. Three of the five cups of ice from the drive-through windows had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Of the bacteria found in the ice, three out of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, organisms that come from the feces of warm-blooded animals.

Health symptoms related to the presence of coliform include cramps and diarrhea. E. coli can cause intestinal illness and, in rare cases, hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious kidney condition.

Jasmine offers several theories for the contamination.

"The machine may not be cleaned properly, or it comes from someone touching the ice with their hands," she said.

Galina Tuninskaya, vice president of Applied Consumer Services, a private lab that tests drinking water, said the standard for drinking water is usually 100 colony-forming units of bacteria per milliliter. The highest amount Jasmine found was 54 units in ice from a self-serve machine.

Tuninskaya said the acceptable level varies for each type of bacteria.

"No levels of fecal coliform or E. coli are acceptable," she said. "If you find that, you've got a problem."

Jasmine won't reveal the locations she tested, for legal reasons, but she did present her findings to the restaurants and various government agencies.

"I think this is important because these bacteria can seriously affect people with weak immune systems," she said.

She said the restaurant managers or owners she spoke with were surprised by the results because, they said, they clean the machines regularly.

Several managers said they plan to use the information to change procedures, Jasmine said. One manager even asked her to come back and test the temperature of the food.

As for Jasmine, she has changed her ordering habits.

"No way," she said. "After this, I definitely don't get ice."

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11318353/

FAQ: Minerals in my Water?

2006-02-12T18:32:00.000-05:00

We often get a question about whether it is important to have minerals in the water we drink. You may see other "waters" which add various minerals and make claims about the benefit of them.

The fact is pure water, like Aqua Di Vita, is the best way to provide your body it's most effective hydration.

A myth many people believe is that certain spring or mineral waters provide them with a good source for minerals.

Consider this two quotes from world-renowned sources.

The minerals which the human body needs that are in the water are insignificant to those in food… and anyone simply eating a varied diet, not even a balanced diet, could hardly suffer a mineral deficiency.
- American Medical Journal,

The only minerals that the body can utilize are the organic minerals. All other types of minerals are foreign substances to the body and must be eliminated.
-Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic.

The only thing that belongs in your water is water!

Get your minerals from your food by eating a proper diet, or if necessary you can supplement with a qualify mineral supplement. Minerals in water are insignificant is because they are in an inorganic state, whereas minerals in food are in an organic state.

Top 10 Reasons to Drink Aqua Di Vita Water

2006-02-06T12:59:00.000-05:00

Every system in your body depends on water.

Top 10 reasons why you should make drinking 8-10 glasses of water part of your daily routine.

1. Get healthy skin. Drinking water moisturizes your skin from the inside out. Water is essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness.

2. Lose weight. Don't confuse thirst with hunger. Increased water consumption can help you control your weight. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the proper hydration and energy needed during exercise.

3. Flush toxins. Water helps flush toxins--proper water intake lessens the burden on your kidneys and liver.

4. Reduce your risk of a heart attack. Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

5. Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. Drinking water before, during, and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.

6. Water helps prevent constipation by adding fluid to the colon and bulk to stools, making bowel movements softer and easier to pass.

7. Stay hydrated, get energized, and be alert. On average, most adults lose about ten cups of fluid a day through sweating, waste elimination. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, fatigue, headaches, and irritability.

8. Regulate your body temperature. Perspiration is your body's natural mechanism to control body temperature. In order to perspire you need plenty of water.

9. Reduce your risk of disease and infection. Water can help prevent kidney stones and reduce your chances of getting bladder, kidney, and urinary tract infections. One study found that women who drank more than five glasses of water a day had a risk of colon cancer that was 45 percent less than those who drank two or fewer glasses a day.

10. Get well. The traditional prescription to "drink plenty of fluids" when you're sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus.

Sources: www.WebMD.com, www.mayoclinic.com

Pharmaceuticals passing unaltered from humans into nation's waterways

2006-01-22T21:23:00.000-05:00

Pharmaceuticals passing unaltered from humans into nation's waterways

October 2005

U.S. Water News Online

WASHINGTON -- Over the last two years, scientists working on the Potomac River have netted 111 smallmouth bass with bizarre sexual traits. The fish were males but had eggs growing inside their testes.

Researchers found many of these gender-bending bass downstream from sewage treatment plants in water tinged with a chemical called ethinylestradiol -- the active ingredient in birth control pills.

More studies are necessary, biologists say, but evidence is mounting that trace levels of prescription drugs in rivers and streams may be harming fish, tadpoles, frogs, mussels and oysters. The pharmaceuticals are passing unaltered through people's bodies and sewage plants into waterways.

In Georgia and Mississippi, scientists recently discovered that the antidepressant Prozac, in water downstream from sewage plants, can kill tadpoles, stunt the growth of others and befuddle the survivors so they swim in circles and can't flee from predators.

In Pennsylvania, a biologist reported that small amounts of Prozac may cause mussels and clams to discharge their sperm and eggs prematurely, dooming their offspring. And in Texas, a researcher found that the sexual organs of male minnows shrank when they were lowered into a river tainted with birth control drugs.

"We might just be seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cumulative impact of all this," said Dr. Thomas Burke, associate chairman of health policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

He said concerns about pharmaceutical pollution are likely to become more urgent as a growing human population consumes a multiplying number of medications.

"This is an important area we have to study more," Burke said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working with other federal offices to investigate whether the government should require better sewage filtration systems to remove drugs before water is discharged, according to the agency.

Pharmaceuticals are not regulated as pollutants, and most sewage plants are not designed to break them all down.

One stumbling block to adding better filtration systems is the cost, which could reach $100 million to install advanced technology on each large sewage treatment plant, said Shane Snyder, research manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

"The water industry has no problem spending the public's money to put in new [filter] technology," Snyder said. "But the cost might mean that fewer schools can be built or fewer hospitals."

Vicki Blazer, a fish pathologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, began investigating smallmouth bass in the Potomac River a few years ago when fishermen reported their catch was falling.

She worked with natural resources officials in Maryland and West Virginia, who used devices that fired electric shocks into the Potomac River to stun hundreds of fish in 2003 and 2004.

Blazer said she dissected 184 male bass, and found that 111 of them -- or about 60 percent -- had eggs growing inside their sexual organs. All nine male bass netted downstream from the Hagerstown sewage plant had this sexual abnormality. Fish like these almost never show up in clean rivers, she said.

Blazer is looking into the possibility that the birth control drugs caused the sexual confusion. She also found several other pollutants in the river, including triclosan, a disinfectant used in soap, and trifluralin, a farm pesticide. Any of these chemicals could be disrupting fish hormonal systems, she said.

In an effort to pin down which is causing the mutations, Blazer's colleagues have shocked an additional 100 fish during the last month at five places along the lower Potomac River in Maryland, including downstream from the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant near Washington.

The study is important, Blazer said, because fish with deformed sex organs might not reproduce as well. People also draw drinking water from the Potomac, and the same chemicals that could be harming fish populations might also be affecting humans, she said.

26 Nebraska towns have high levels of uranium in water

2006-01-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

26 Nebraska towns have high levels of uranium in water

December 2005

U.S. Water News Online

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- As many as 26 cities, towns and villages in the state have drinking water with high levels of uranium, according to Nebraska Health and Human Services.

"It's been a stealth problem, and it's hitting small communities hard," said Anne Pamperl, NHHS radionuclides rule manager.

The Environmental Protection Agency standard for uranium is 30 parts per billion, based on consuming two liters of contaminated water each day.

Higher levels increase the risk of kidney failure and cancer, the EPA said.

It's considered safe to drink contaminated water for one to two years as long as test readings are 60 parts per billion or lower, said NHHS health risk assessor Sue Dempsey. If the concentration is higher than 60, people should drink treated or bottled water, she said.

Deposits from glaciers and volcanic ash make uranium a naturally occurring mineral statewide. Its highest concentrations are found in current or past river valleys where water carried the mineral, Pamperl said.

The state last year identified 43 municipalities that were likely to have uranium issues, and tests revealed that 26 of those cities and towns had elevated levels. Thirteen municipalities repeatedly tested high for uranium and have been ordered to find new water sources or develop a treatment plan.

A filtration technique known as reverse osmosis is considered the most effective way to remove uranium from private and public water supplies.

However, uranium removal can be costly.

McCook, one of the largest cities facing the problem, may have to spend $1 million for water treatment.

Shelton recently replaced its contaminated well with a deeper one that is uranium-free, and Alda plans to do the same next year.

Phillips shut down a contaminated well and is using one uranium-free well to serve its 330 residents.

Grocery and convenience stores and bars and restaurants are using a reverse-osmosis system in Bridgeport, but the city still is studying solutions for private residences.

Colon is considering a plan where it would buy water from Wahoo, and Bruno may buy water from David City. Cambridge, Indianola and Bartley are talking about sharing a new wellfield.

"We're encouraging cooperation," Pamperl said.

-----------

Nation's Drinking Water Contains 140 Different Contaminants with EPA Asleep at the Wheel

2006-01-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

Nation's Drinking Water Contains 140 Different Contaminants with EPA Asleep at the Wheel

RELEASE DECEMBER 20, 2005 CONTACT: Environmental Working Group (202) 667-6982More Than 140 Contaminants With no Enforceable Safety Limits Found in the Nation's Drinking Water Utilities Need More Money to Monitor for Contaminants and Protect Source Waters

WASHINGTON - December 20 - The first ever nationwide compilation of tap water testing results from drinking water utilities shows widespread contamination of drinking water with scores of contaminants for which there are no enforceable health standards. Examples include the gasoline additive MTBE, the rocket fuel component perchlorate, and a variety of industrial solvents. The pollution affects more than one hundred million people in 42 states. The findings are derived from the largest compilation of tap water data ever assembled. Over a two-year period, analysts at Environmental Working Group (EWG) gathered tap water testing data from 42 states to produce the most comprehensive picture of tap water quality ever created. States collect water quality testing data from drinking water utilities to fulfill their role as primary enforcement agents, but federal law fails to give EPA authority to do the same. EWG will be making its data available to the EPA, state authorities and water utilities. Individuals can find their own community water system at www.ewg.org/sites/tapwater/yourwater/. The EWG analysis also found almost 100 percent compliance with enforceable health standards on the part of the nation's water utilities, showing a clear commitment to comply with safety standards once they are developed. The problem, however, is EPA's failure to establish enforceable health standards and monitoring requirements for scores of widespread tap water contaminants. "Our analysis clearly demonstrates the need greater for protection of the nation's tap water supplies, and for increased health protections from a number of pollutants that are commonly found but currently unregulated." said Jane Houlihan, Vice President for Science at EWG. "Utilities routinely go beyond what is required to protect consumers from these contaminants, but they need more money for testing, and for protection of vital source waters." The National Tap Water Testing database is available at www.ewg.org/sites/tapwater/. Tap water contaminants that have been found by water utilities and that lack enforceable health standards are available at www.ewg.org/sites/tapwater/national/unregcontams.php/.

Provided by Organic Consumers Association on 12/20/2005

Arsenic: How much is too much?

2006-01-08T19:20:00.000-05:00

Arsenic: How much is too much?

Stiff penalties are about to kick in as the EPA begins enforcing tougher guidelines on contaminants in drinking water

Published January 8, 2006 in the Lansing State Journal
By Susan Vela

Across the state, hundreds of schools, cities, businesses, restaurants and mobile home parks are scrambling to make sure their drinking water is considered free of dangerous arsenic levels.

In Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties, 13 of these regulated water system owners, including the City of St. Johns and the Village of Fowler, are retiring their wells, buying filtration systems, investing in improvements and considering hook-ups to municipal water systems to avoid costly fines taking effect Jan. 23.

The penalty will be steep - up to $5,000 a day - if they cannot provide drinking water with arsenic levels at or below 10 parts per billion, the standard instituted in 2002.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stiffened the standard from 50 parts per billion because a growing number of studies linked arsenic to cancer.

"It's a serious issue in that it's dealing with a drinking water standard," said Rich Overmyer of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the state's enforcement agency. Plus, "we have a lot of systems that look like they are not going to comply."

The cancer-causing toxin arsenic can be a health hazard even at lower levels, especially for young children, the elderly, unborn babies and the chronically ill.

Regulated water systems that must comply with the federal arsenic standard are community water systems and other public water systems that regularly serve more than 25 of the same people for more than six months a year.

According to the DEQ, 450 of the state's 3,000 regulated systems lag in meeting the federal standard. That means in 2005 their arsenic levels exceeded or hovered around the contaminant threshold of 10 parts per billion.

"I was as close to the borderline as you can be," said Danny Millisor, who manages the Windmill Truck Stop, a Dimondale establishment where every diner gets a clean glass of well water.

Windmill's arsenic levels ranged from 8 parts per billion in September, when the most recent test was taken, to 10 parts per billion last January.

"I never had a customer complain," said Millisor, who's hoping a recent tuneup of his water softeners will keep arsenic levels low.

Federal health officials, though, say water softeners do not remove arsenic.

Still, "there was no need to change (the standard). Arsenic is something that's God-given to the ground," Millisor added.

He's right about arsenic being a natural component of underground rock and soil formations. It leaches into groundwater.

Costly improvements

The DEQ reports about 115 Michigan schools, including Lansing's Gunnisonville Elementary School, own water systems - such as wells - that are likely arsenic exceeders, testing above or near the 2002 standard for arsenic.

According to DEQ records, Oakland County will require the most watching. It has 110 likely arsenic exceeders.

The city of St. Johns is retiring wells that were exceeding the guidelines, improving others and pursuing plans to buy land to drop a new well.

City Manager Dennis LaForest said about $600,000 in improvements were planned. That caused water bills to jump 22 to 30 percent since 2004.

"We fully expect ourselves to be in compliance," St. Johns' public services director Jeffrey Stephens said.

Compliance stressed

Overmyer said the state's main goal is compliance, which is why fines may be delayed for those who demonstrate a commitment to providing cleaner water.

The DEQ gave East Lansing-based Northstar Co-Op Inc., a dairy business registering double the permitted level of arsenic in its well water, the OK to use bottled water.

With the state's permission, students at Gunnisonville Elementary and Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency, which provides support services to local school districts, also are drinking bottled water. The EPA doesn't consider that a long-term solution.

And Fowler Clerk Rhonda Feldpausch said the state approved the village's request to keep providing its 1,100 municipal water customers well water that registers about 20 parts per billion until May 2008.

A new arsenic and iron filtration system will be installed.

There are no filters or softeners associated with Cindy Kolp's water pipes. She has been drinking Fowler's water for most of her life and doesn't mind waiting until the new filtration system kicks in.

"It's not the water that has changed. It's the guidelines," she said. "People who live around here in their eighties seem to be doing just fine."

Tests determining compliance to the new guidelines began in 2005. Quarterly testing was required of those with significant levels of arsenic.

Those with four consecutive quarters averaging more than the standard could face serious fines after Jan. 23, unless they have an agreement with state officials.

While some doubt the DEQ's ability to enforce the tougher standard, arsenic experts are pleased to see the change.

Epidemiologist Allan Smith, a University of California-Berkeley professor and director of the school's Arsenic Research Program, said one person in 100 had the potential to develop cancer with the old standard.

Now only an adult drinking two liters of water a day registering arsenic levels of 10 parts per billion for 70 years might be in danger of health risks, according to the EPA.

"Better late than never," said Richard Wilson, a Harvard University physics professor and president of the Harvard-based Arsenic Foundation.

---
Link: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006601080638

What Are Genetically Engineered Drugs Doing to Our Water Supply?

2005-12-30T17:21:00.000-05:00

What Are Genetically Engineered Drugs Doing to Our Water Supply?
By Sally Deneen

Glen Boyd's students didn't know what they might find as they dipped containers into the water and took them back for tests. What turned up? Medicine.

There was cholesterol medication. There was the hormone estrone, a form of the estrogen prescribed to help menopausal women. And there was a strong pain reliever called naproxin. Low levels of these medications have also shown up in surface waters in other parts of the world.

While no one claims this mildly revved-up water hurts humans--it is further diluted before it reaches home faucets--some scientists are concerned about negative effects on the environment. And with a flood of new drugs as findings from the Human Genome Project are released, researchers wonder: How many more medications will end up in rivers and lakes?

After all, drug companies now target about 500 known biochemical receptors in the human body. That number is soon expected to jump as much as 20-fold--to 10,000 targets, says Environmental Protection Agency scientist Christian Daughton.

"The enormous array of pharmaceuticals will continue to diversify and grow as the human genome is mapped," says Daughton, whose research on the topic appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives. He says the large number of drugs being introduced "is adding exponentially to the already large array of chemical classes, each with distinct modes of biochemical action, many of which are poorly understood."

Researchers say drugs reach rivers and streams the old-fashioned way: With each flush of the toilet, body wastes containing traces of pharmaceuticals leave for septic tanks, which too often leak. Or they flow through wastewater treatment facilities that don't scrub pharmaceuticals from water. From there, the water that once sat in toilets and bathtubs eventually rejoins rivers and lakes, especially when storms rush in, overwhelming storm and sanitary sewers.

What does this mean for the environment? Many chemicals are designed to profoundly affect humans' physiology. Therefore, Daughton says, it wouldn't be surprising if they affected fish, birds, frogs and insects, as well. Yet, unlike pesticides, these drugs--as well as shampoos, sunscreens and other personal care products rushing down the drain--aren't examined for their effect on the environment before they're placed on the market. "This is surprising," Daughton says, "especially since certain pharmaceuticals are designed to modulate endocrine and immune systems." Hence, they "have obvious potential as endocrine disruptors in the environment."

Some products, meanwhile, have "very high acute aquatic toxicity," Daughton reports. It's impossible to predict how many of the pharmaceuticals would affect nature. After all, scientists don't even understand the process by which some drugs affect humans. After Canada's federal environmental agency, Environment Canada, found high levels of estrogen and birth control compounds in the effluent of sewage treatment plants in 1998, a Trent University researcher replicated these conditions in a laboratory, reports Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly. Some fish developed characteristics of both sexes.

Lots of water sources are apparently affected. Field studies conducted at wastewater treatment plants in California, Arizona and Texas found in their recycled sewer water a substance called organic iodine--a chemical used in medicinal

X-ray examinations, says Joerg E. Drewes, associate director of Arizona State University's National Center for Sustainable Water Supply. These seem to be slow to break down in the environment; they were still found at high concentrations in groundwater six to 12 months later.

Drewes has found plenty of chemicals in treated wastewater--an antibiotic, a chemical used in perfume production, the muscle relaxant drug carisoprodol, and its metabolite meprobamate, among others. Meanwhile, in metropolitan Kansas City, more than 40 percent of stream samples analyzed by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Donald Wilkison had detectable concentrations of common over-the-counter drugs--notably ibuprofen and acetaminophen--as well as prescription medicines for high-blood pressure (diltiazem) and antibiotics (trimethiprim-sulfamethoxazole). Even more stream samples--60 percent--had detectable levels of an anti-bacterial agent found in newfangled soaps (triclosan). "Deleterious environmental impacts are likely, either as agents of endocrine disruption, or through direct harm to bacterial and aquatic health," Wilkison reports.

While this rash of new drugs portends bad news for the environment, there could just as easily be good news, some scientists say.

The genomics revolution may make it possible for doctors to more finely target drugs to particular types of people. How many times have you tried a variety of medications to knock out a cold before finally landing on one that works? "It seems to me that we are entering a phase where we will understand more about individual's drug metabolism," says Dr. Paul R. Billings, co-founder of GeneSage, an Internet-based health company that provides genetic information, services and products. "That might reduce overall drug use. It will also allow us to subtype humans and ask if environmental influences affect all the same or differ."

"I think it's a pretty far stretch to draw a conclusion one way or another," says Taylor Crouch, CEO of Variagenics, a leading Boston-area company that applies genetic-variance information to the drug development process. "You could argue that if we get patients on more appropriate medications, they'll metabolize them better, more efficiently and, therefore, we would see less drug waste. But that's not necessarily provable." Yet, he adds, "to the extent that we can get less trial-and-error medications into patients," he does predict "a slight decrease in the overall excreted medications."

So, what does the future hold? It depends. If manufacturers are aware that some personal-care products "survive and potentially accumulate in the environment, they might design more biodegradable agents," says Drewes, adding, "We have to change something, that's for sure."

Water and Gout

2005-12-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

WATER AND GOUT

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, in excruciating pain from a throbbing big toe.

You have just had a gout attack.

What is Gout?

Gout is a painful disease that is caused by deposits of uric acid crystals in the bloodstream, ending up in the joints of the body. It is characterized by pain, swelling, redness, and heat/inflammation as well as stiffness in a joint or joints. Gout is also a form of arthritis, or inflammation of the joints, and is most common in men.

How do you get Gout?

he body produces too much uric acid, or does not excrete it with the urine. The excess uric acid may not be able to be removed by the kidneys, which then builds up and may form crystals in bloodstream, which find their way to their final destination- the joints. Causes of crystal formation include drinking too much alcohol, taking medications that may increase the uric acid concentration, eating foods that are high in purines (liver, peas, beans) and being overweight. Experts say that while alcohol is a key factor, metabolism has more to do with it, so weight is important to take into consideration.

Gout begins with an attack, usually in the middle of the night, with extreme swelling and throbbing in the joints, and most commonly in the big toe. Gout is in fact a recurring disease. People who have gout may have a few very painful attacks in one or two joints, usually the big toe, foot, ankle, or knee joints. The attack can last a few days or as long as several weeks, and then the symptoms can totally disappear, not to return for months or years. If left untreated, it can lead to more serious forms of arthritis.

How can Water Help?

Since water can serve as a joint lubricant, one who is at risk for gout should be sure to drink plenty of pure water. Since gout can be caused by frequent use of alcohol, it can leave people dehydrated. Beer is the worst type of alcohol to drink in terms of getting gout, as in contains more purines than any other alcoholic beverage. Dehydration can also lead to kidney infections, stones and even failure. All this can create that excess uric acid that causes gout in the first place. In addition, people on high protein diets are actually consuming more meat, which means they are at risk for consuming uric acid found in their food source. Drinking more water can flush the body of these harmful toxins. Drinking more water can also help someone overweight lose excess weight, or maintain weight.

On a final note, lead poising can also be attributed to causing gout.

Make sure your water source is pure and free of all unsafe levels of lead and other toxic metals.

-----

For more information on ultra-pure Aqua Di Vita Water visit
Vita Genesis

Arsenic A Problem In Many N.C. Wells

2005-12-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

More news on problems with drinking water...

From WRAL.com - News - Arsenic A Problem In Many N.C. Wells"

See the Video and Story

Thank you to Executive Founder, Teresa Sevier for this contribution.

Cancer Causing Agents Found In Texas Water

2005-12-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

Breaking News...

Cancer Causing Agents Found In Texas Water

This is another example of the false sense
of security people have about their drinking
water and how long it sometimes takes before
details of unsafe water are made public.

See the full story and video Here

We want to thank Presidential Founder, Linda Plunk
for the awareness she provided by sharing this story.

Antibiotics--Are You Drinking Them in Your Tap Water?

2005-11-12T21:31:00.000-05:00

Bacteria that cause everything from ear infections to pneumonia are becoming immune to antibiotics. The primary cause is over-use and misuse by doctors and patients, but significant levels of antibiotics in water supplies could compound the problem.--CBS Evening News.

Tackle Germs Better by Drinking Lots of Water

2005-10-15T14:39:00.000-04:00

Tackle Germs Better by Keeping Your Teeth Flossed and Drinking Lots of Water

Experts say flossing and drinking water are good ways to fight bad breath. (ABC NEWS)

Dr. Phillip Tierno, a professor at New York University points to the fact that babies have sweet breath because they manufacture lots of saliva.

Tierno offers this as one of his top suggestions to manage bad breath:

-Keep your mouth moist by drinking lots of water.

See complete article as featured on ABC's 20/20 Here

Water and Your Heart

2005-10-13T23:11:00.001-04:00

A new study shows people who drank more than five glasses of water each day were less likely to die from a heart attack than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women aged 38 to 100 for six years. The study appears in the May 1 American Journal of Epidemiology.

They found women who drank more than five glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses. The protective effect of water was even greater in men. Men who drank more water had a 54% lower risk of a fatal heart attack.

But not all liquids were equal. When researchers included the consumption of other liquids such as coffee, tea, juice, milk, and alcohol, the risk of heart attack increased. Women who drank large amounts of liquids other than water were more than twice as likely to die of a heart attack, and non-water drinking men had a 46% increase in risk.

Researchers say when people drink water it is absorbed quickly and easily into the bloodstream and thins the blood -- helping to prevent artery-clogging clots. But other liquids require digestion, which may require fluids to move from the blood into the gut -- creating a blood-thickening effect.

Excerpts from WebMD article
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/16/1685_53179

Did You Know?

2005-10-13T16:35:00.000-04:00

Did You Know?
• Your body consists of 70% water.
• In the year 2000, U.S. per capita consumption of bottled water
was 18.2 gallons. (Source: Beverage Marketing Corp.)
• Bottled water consumption in the U.S. is six times as large
as ready-to-drink teas and sports drinks.
• 75% of Americans are chronically
dehydrated.
• A mere 2% drop in body water can
trigger short-term memory loss.
• Drinking at least the daily requirement of pure
water will help curb your appetite. 37% of Americans,
the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often
mistaken for hunger.
• Lack of water is the #1 trigger of
daytime fatigue.
• That your body loses hydration faster than you
might think. By the time you feel thirsty, you have
probably already lost two or more cups of your body’s
total water composition.
• Preliminary research indicates that
drinking 8-10 glasses of pure water a
day may significantly ease back and
joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
• Drinking five glasses of pure
water daily…
- may decrease the risk of colon
cancer by 45%
- may reduce the risk of breast
cancer by 79%
- may make you 50% less likely
to develop bladder cancer

No matter how you look at it--drinking
a high quality, pure water like Aqua Di Vita
is a great way to boost your hydration and
it is good for you too!

Learn more - view our FREE Movie Presentation
at www.realitywater.com

Are Sports Drinks Fit To Drink?

2005-09-14T13:06:00.000-04:00

Excerpts from

Are sports drinks fit to drink?

By LIZ GREEN see entire article at
http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/7/046501-1537-007.html

MUNCIE - Gatorade, Powerade, Propel, vitamin waters, bottled spring water. When you're thirsty and you can't decide between a sports drink and water, how do you decide what to buy?

That depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

"It's really a matter of timing more than one versus the other," said David Pearson, director of the Strength Research Laboratory at Ball State University. "If you are looking to rehydrate quickly ... then water is going to enter the system quicker. Generally ... the sweeter the drink, the slower the absorption of the fluid.

"If our goal is for rehydration, then water wins out over any other drink regardless of what's in it," he said.

But sports drinks, sometimes called electrolyte solutions because of their high sodium and potassium content, can benefit athletes and active individuals because they are a source of carbohydrates.

"If the length of the activity is over an hour, then we generally start concerning ourselves with having some sugar or carbohydrate added to the fluid," said Pearson, who has 20 years of sports nutrition research experience. "Also, if our goal is to replenish the carbohydrate quickly, as in maybe after an event, then we want (a) carbohydrate drink."

Generally, for activities lasting under an hour, the liquid that is consumed during that activity should primarily be water, said Pearson. If the event is going to last longer, or if there are multiple events in a day or over two days, athletes - including children - need to replenish some carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are the body's primary source of fuel for all activities, Pearson said. During activity, the body uses carbohydrates already stored in the muscle from foods and drinks consumed during the 24-48 hours prior to the activity. So for a Saturday event, athletes should begin eating enough carbohydrates Thursday evening, he said.

Drinking a carbohydrate drink right before an activity might adversely affect performance because too many carbohydrates in the system prevents adequate hydration, Pearson said. He said it is best to drink something with carbohydrates immediately after or within an hour after the activity, when muscle is very sensitive to storing more carbohydrates.

Kool-Aid made with sugar, not an artificial sweetener, offers more carbohydrates per serving than Gatorade for less cost and can be an effective carbohydrate replacement drink, Pearson said. Gatorade and Powerade cost about $1.49 for a 20-ounce bottle.

Powerade offers more carbohydrates per serving than Gatorade, Pearson said, but good advertising by Gatorade has consumers convinced it is the optimum sports drink.

"In fairness to the drinks, a lot of people have placebo effect, meaning that if they feel that they're going to get an advantage from a drink that Michael Jordan drinks or another superstar athlete drinks then there is evidence that they do perform better. And we can't discount that.

"So, I want to be careful ... There's really no disadvantage to using (electrolyte replacement drinks). There is no harm, but there is little need," said Pearson. He said drinking Gatorade after exercise is better than having a drink with no sugar. Electrolyte solutions still provide hydration benefits.

John Everhart, director of community services at Muncie's Cardinal Health Systems, said he encouraged clients to dilute sports drinks or electrolyte solutions with water or suggested alternating drinking water and sports drinks to encourage better hydration. He said most of his clients preferred water.

Everhart often works with employees he calls "worker athletes" who exert themselves on the job or work outdoors and who are at risk of heat exposure or dehydration. "Backyard athletes," people who spend a lot of time gardening or mowing, also are at risk and should remember to stay hydrated, he said.

Tabitha Bontrager, a dietetics intern at Ball Memorial Hospital who has her bachelor's degree in dietetics from Olivet Nazarene University, compared sports drinks for a sports nutrition presentation.

The average consumer who exercises for 30 minutes at a time doesn't need the glucose or electrolytes present in sports drinks, said Bontrager. The drinks can benefit athletes who are active two hours or more daily, she said.

"Most people don't need the sports drinks. They just need the water," said Bontrager. "They're going to be getting glucose and vitamins from their diet."

There's not much benefit in vitamin water if you're eating a well-balanced diet, Bontrager said.

"Really, when it comes to fluid needs, people just need to stay hydrated," said Bontrager. Signs of dehydration include a dry mouth, feeling light-headed or feeling a drain of energy, she said.

Bontrager said athletes should drink fluids every 15 minutes during exercise. Experts say every adult should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluids daily.

-- end of excerpt ---

For the average person or athlete pure, healthy water is the best choice they can make.

The amount of water required when not exercising is about 2.5 liters per day. Approximately 1.5 liters of this is taken in the form of drinks, the rest comes from food.

During intense physical activity water loss can reach about 2 to 3 liters per hour. Your daily requirement therefore is doubled or tripled.

For athletes the best drink is water, pure and simple. It fulfills the essential role of re-hydrating the body. Even though salts and other carbohydrates can also be beneficial (in excessive heat for example), they are still just extra's. Water is what the body needs.

Doctors, dieticians and other nutritional experts are skeptical about the effectiveness of most other drinks. Those that contain caffeine are diuretics. Drinks with added sulphates are purgatives and needless to say alcohol is the last thing to drink to maintain hydration.

Scientists are all in agreement that pure water is the one and only drink that can be consumed in whatever quantity one desires with positive benefits on the body.

The Miracle Molecular Structure of Water

2005-08-22T10:13:00.000-04:00

The Miracle Molecular Structure of Water

Water – for us it is the most important substance on the planet. It sustains life and enhances wellbeing. But according to Dr. Yang Oh and Gil-Ho Kim, water possesses differing molecular structures, and the kind of water you drink may relate to bodily dysfunction and disease. Basing their work on the research of Dr. Mu Shik Jhon, the authors conclude that the three different molecular structures of water identified in this book have varied affects on the body. They even point to evidence that seems to indicate abnormal water structure could be related to the abnormal cellular activity that results in cancer and diabetes. Their conclusion: The hexagonal structure of water is the one that promotes health and increases longevity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A native of Korea, Dr. Yang H. Oh holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard Medical School. He is retired from a professorship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is currently Director General of his own YHO Bio-Science R/D Center in Houston and also in Korea.

A businessman and researched who was educated at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Gil Ho Kim has served as vice chairman of the Korea Water Purifier Industrial Association. Also a native of Korea, he has worked with the National Association for Scientists and Engineers of Korea and the Korean Association for the advancement of sciences.

Order this book on the Vita Genesis Website or if you are an Associate please order from your back office or your own Website.

Do people know what they are drinking?

2005-08-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Does the general public really know what is in their drinking water?

Even if contamination of the local water supply is published,
how many people do not hear about it or pay attention?

Sometimes what you don't know can hurt you.

Recently in Helena, Montana an article was published in the
local paper. Helena and the surrounding area has many old
mines. What most people may not realize is the environmental
impact these old mines can have on what comes out of their tap
or shower. They may not know what they are giving their kids,
their family, their pets..or know what they are cooking with.

Here is an excerpt from the article from the Independent
Record. This is referring to a mine called the Susie mine.

~

The mine was collapsed back in the 1950s for safety reasons,
and at that point the drain was installed to keep the water flowing.

"They didn't want the pressure to back up behind the plug and
lead to a blowout," said Mike Bishop, project manager for
the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Susie's drainage capabilities continue to this day, with
about 5 gallons per minute being discharged
from it. But the water is contaminated with heavy metals
including arsenic, cadmium, zinc and iron, which gives
it the bright orange tint as it flows into Tenmile
Creek —the main source of the city of Helena's
drinking water. Dozens of other former mines also drain
into the creek.

About four years ago, the EPA came up with a plan to clean up
about 70 of the 150 mines in the Tenmile drainage, with the
Susie being targeted as one of the top priorities.

See entire story here...
~~

The EPA moves slow and once they act it is often after
the fact...already people or water is affected by the
new regulations or clean up.

Across the United States there are many other examples like
this going on. This reinforces the need for a pure, safe
alternative to the water provided by municipalities. Part of
our vision has to be to educate about water and what people
are drinking. Educate about how the type of water they drink
can affect their health and wellness.

Vita Genesis Home Page

Thoughts and Quotes

2005-08-16T09:12:00.000-04:00

"If the medical profession is ever called upon to answer in a High Court for its Sins of Omission, one of the first questions it will have to meet will be, "Why have you, for almost twenty centuries, neglected to use water as a therapeutic agent?"
- R. Lincoln Graham, M.D.

No matter what the specific health or fitness goal, one cannot achieve the maximum benefit from any health program without drinking the right kind of water in the proper amount. All experts agree, that next to the air we breathe, water is the most important thing we will ever put in our bodies.

It is surprising that so much time and money is being spent on supplements, organic foods and natural remedies (some of which are very subtle and delicate) but little attention is given to the quality and effect of the water with which those items are taken.

"Most of us do not naturally drink the amount of water necessary for improvement, so we function with low level dehydration and suffer a variety of diseases as a result."
- Julian Whitaker, MD

Two other quotes to consider...

Joseph M. Price, MD -
"Chlorine is the greatest crippler and killer of modern times. It is an insidious poison."

Professor Albert Schatz, Ph.D. (Microbiology), Discoverer of streptomycin & Nobel Prize Winner -
"Fluoridation is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has."

What are we Drinking?

2005-08-14T09:40:00.000-04:00

What are we Drinking?

As many people were growing up they would drink juice, milk or soft drinks. Now with a more health and wellness consciousness they often insist on a healthier choice--bottled water. Bottled water also contains no caffeine, no calories and no sugar.

Once, most Americans got their water only from the tap. Now, they are buying their water in a bottle in record numbers. In 2001, Americans drank a whopping 5 billion gallons, according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), an industry trade group. That's about the same amount of water that falls from the American Falls at Niagara Falls in two hours.

Explosive growth in the industry makes industry experts predict that bottled water will be second only to soft drinks as America's beverage of choice.

Before grabbing the next bottle of water consumers should take a bit of time to find out what is in the bottle they are about to drink.

Generally, over the years, the FDA has adopted EPA standards for tap water as standards for bottled water. As a result, standards for contaminants in tap water and bottled water are very similar. Some bottled water also comes from municipal sources--in other words--the tap. Municipal water is usually treated before it is bottled.

Good advice -- look (and check out the source of your water) before you drink!

~~~~

Vita Genesis, Inc. offers a pure, hexagonal, structured water in a Billion dollars industry. The market for Aqua Di Vita is untapped. Join this explosive growth by being a part of www.vitageneis.com

Water and Protecting Your Child

2005-07-18T14:24:00.000-04:00

Dehydration and Heat Illness: Protecting Your Child

With the hot days of summer come summer sports: baseball, tennis, football, both in the neighborhood and at camp. Before you send the kids out to practice -- or just for a long day of play in the sun -- learn to protect your child against the dangers of dehydration and heat illness.

1. What puts my child at risk for dehydration?

The same things that put you at risk for dehydration: prolonged exposure to high temperatures, direct sun, and high humidity, without sufficient rest and fluids. The difference is that a child's body surface area makes up a much greater proportion of his overall weight than an adult's, which means children face a much greater risk of dehydration and heat-related illness.

2. What signs of dehydration should we watch for?

Early signs of dehydration include fatigue, thirst, dry lips and tongue, lack of energy, and feeling overheated. But if kids wait to drink until they feel thirsty, they're already dehydrated. Thirst doesn't really kick in until a child has lost 2% of his or her body weight as sweat.

Untreated dehydration can lead to three worse types of heat illness:

Heat cramps: Painful cramps of the abdominal muscles, arms, or legs.
Heat exhaustion: Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, weakness, muscle pain, and sometimes unconsciousness.
Heat stroke: A temperature of 104 or higher and severe symptoms, including nausea and vomiting, seizures, disorientation or delirium, lack of sweating, shortness of breath, unconsciousness, and coma.

Both heat exhaustion and heat stroke require immediate care. Heat stroke is a medical emergency that, when untreated, can be deadly. Any child with heat stroke should be rushed to the nearest hospital.

3. What can I do to prevent dehydration in my child?

Make sure they drink cool water and sports drinks early and often. Send your child out to practice or play fully hydrated. Then, during play, make sure your child takes regular breaks to drink fluid, even if your child isn't thirsty. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends five ounces of cold tap water or sports drink for a child weighing 88 pounds, and nine ounces for a teen weighing 132 pounds. One ounce is about two kid-size gulps.

Get them acclimatized before summer practice. "If you're going to send your kid off to tennis camp, they shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing in May and then going out to play tennis eight hours a day in June," says Hergenroeder. "They should be outdoors jogging, riding a bike, and otherwise slowly building up their fitness and ability to handle the heat." The fitter children are, the sooner their bodies will start to sweat after beginning to exercise -- and that's a good thing!

Know that dehydration is cumulative. If your child is 1% or 2% dehydrated on Monday and doesn't drink enough fluids that night, then gets 1% or 2% dehydrated again on Tuesday, that means your child is 3% or 4% dehydrated at the end of the day. "They may be gradually developing a problem, but it won't show up for several days," says Hergenroeder. "You should always monitor your child's hydration." One way to do this: weigh your child before and after practice. If his weight drops, he's not drinking enough during his workout.

A simple rule of thumb: if your child's urine is dark in color, rather than clear or light yellow, he or she may be becoming dehydrated.

4. If my child develops heat illness, what can I do to treat it?

The first thing you should do with any heat illness is get the child out of the sun into a cool, comfortable place. Have the child start drinking plenty of cool fluids. The child should also take off any excess layers of clothing or bulky equipment. You can put cool, wet cloths on overheated skin. In cases of heat cramps, gentle stretches to the affected muscle should relieve the pain.

Kids with heat exhaustion should be treated in the same way but should not be allowed back on the field the same day. Monitor your child even more carefully, Hergenroeder says. If your child doesn't improve, or can't take fluids, see a doctor.

Heat stroke is always an emergency and requires immediate medical attention.

5. Are some children more prone to dehydration or heat illness than others?

Yes, says Hergenroeder. One of the biggest risk factors: a previous episode of dehydration or heat illness. Other factors that can put your child at greater risk for heat illness include obesity, recent illness (especially if the child has been vomiting or has had diarrhea), and use of antihistamines or diuretics.

Lack of acclimatization to hot weather and exercising beyond their level of fitness can also lead to heat illness in young athletes. "If a young player isn't in shape and tries to go out and do things quickly to 'make the team,' -- or goes to summer practice or summer camp and hasn't been used to that kind of heat and humidity and duration of exercise -- that sets them up for dehydration and heat illness," Hergenroeder says.

6. Is it ever too hot for my child to practice or play sports?

A growing number of athletic programs suggest that it is sometimes too hot to practice. In fact, many are restricting outdoor practice when the National Weather Service's heat index rises above a certain temperature. The heat index, measured in degrees Fahrenheit, is an accurate measure of how hot it really feels when the relative humidity is added to the actual temperature.

SOURCE: Albert C. Hergenroeder, professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine; chief, the sports medicine clinic, Texas Children's Hospital.

Dangers of Nitrates in Your Water

2005-07-08T11:54:00.000-04:00

Definition:
Nitrates: Inorganic compounds that can enter water supplies from fertilizer runoff and sanitary wastewater discharges. Nitrates in drinking water are associated with methemoglobinemia, or blue baby syndrome, which results from interferences in the bloods ability to carry oxygen.

Definintion:
Blue baby syndrome: a pathological condition, called methemoglobinemia, in which blood's capacity for oxygen transport is reduced, resulting in bluish skin discoloration in infants; ingestion of water contaminated with nitrates or certain other substances is a cause.

Nitrate in drinking water at levels above the national standard poses an immediate threat to young children. Excessive levels can result in a condition known as "blue baby syndrome." If untreated, the condition could be fatal.

Current EPA safe drinking water standards call for nitrate levels below 10ppm for Nitrates (measured as Nitrogen).

From the EPA (government site)

Nitrate (measured as Nitrogen)
Infants below the age of six months who drink water
containing nitrate in excess of the 10ppmCL could
become seriously ill and, if untreated, may die.
Symptoms include shortness of breath and blue-baby
syndrome.

Causes:
Runoff from fertilizer use; leaching from septic
tanks, sewage; erosion of natural deposits

Excerpt from the EPA guide titled:
Water On Tap: What You Need To Know

The United States enjoys one of the best supplies of
drinking water in the world. Nevertheless, many of
us who once gave little or no thought to the water
that comes from our taps are now asking the question:
“Is my water safe to drink?” While tap water
that meets federal and state standards is generally
safe to drink, threats to drinking water are increasing.
Short-term disease outbreaks and water restrictions
during droughts have demonstrated that we can no
longer take our drinking water for granted.

Nitrate in drinking water at levels above 10 ppm is a health risk for infants less than six months old. High nitrate levels in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome. Nitrate levels may rise quickly for short periods of time because of rainfall or agricultural activity.

Excessive levels of nitrates can cause “blue baby syndrome,”
which can be fatal without immediate medical attention.

Nitrate, a chemical most commonly used as a fertilizer,
poses an immediate threat to infants when it is
found in drinking water at levels above the national
standard. Nitrates are converted to nitrites in the
intestines. Once absorbed into the bloodstream,
nitrites prevent hemoglobin from transporting oxygen.
(Older children have an enzyme that restores
hemoglobin.) Excessive levels can cause “blue baby
syndrome,” which can be fatal without immediate
medical attention. Infants most at risk for blue baby
syndrome are those who are already sick, and while
they are sick, consume food that is high in nitrates
or drink water or formula mixed with water that is
high in nitrates. Avoid using water with high nitrate
levels for drinking. This is especially important for
infants and young children, nursing mothers, pregnant
women and certain elderly people.

Boil Water Notice
Do NOT boil water to attempt to reduce nitrates.
Boiling water contaminated with nitrates
increases its concentration and potential risk.

If you are concerned about nitrates, talk to
your health care provider about alternatives to
boiling water for baby formula.

more about Nitrates...

From Colorado State University

Nitrates in Drinking Water
by J.R. Self and R.M. Waskom

Quick Facts...
-Nitrate is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless compound that is present in some groundwater in Colorado.
-Nitrate can be expressed as either NO3 (nitrate) or NO3-N (nitrate-nitrogen).
-Nitrate levels above the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level of 10mg/l NO3- N or 45 mg/l NO3 may cause methemoglobinemia in infants.
-Proper management of fertilizers, manures, and other nitrogen sources can minimize contamination of drinking water supplies.
-Nitrate (NO3) is a naturally occurring form of nitrogen found in soil. Nitrogen is essential to all life. Most crop plants require large quantities to sustain high yields.

The formation of nitrates is an integral part of the nitrogen cycle in our environment. In moderate amounts, nitrate is a harmless constituent of food and water. Plants use nitrates from the soil to satisfy nutrient requirements and may accumulate nitrate in their leaves and stems. Due to its high mobility, nitrate also can leach into groundwater. If people or animals drink water high in nitrate, it may cause methemoglobinemia, an illness found especially in infants.

Nitrates form when microorganisms break down fertilizers, decaying plants, manures or other organic residues. Usually plants take up these nitrates, but sometimes rain or irrigation water can leach them into groundwater. Although nitrate occurs naturally in some groundwater, in most cases higher levels are thought to result from human activities.

Common sources of nitrate include:
fertilizers and manure,
animal feedlots,
municipal wastewater and sludge,
septic systems, and
N-fixation from atmosphere by legumes, bacteria and lightning.

Health Effect of Nitrates

People
High nitrate levels in water can cause methemoglobinemia or blue baby syndrome, a condition found especially in infants under six months. The stomach acid of an infant is not as strong as in older children and adults. This causes an increase in bacteria that can readily convert nitrate to nitrite (NO2). Do not let infants drink water that exceeds 10 mg/l NO3-N. This includes formula preparation.

Nitrite is absorbed in the blood, and hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying component of blood) is converted to methemoglobin. Methemoglobin does not carry oxygen efficiently. This results in a reduced oxygen supply to vital tissues such as the brain. Methemoglobin in infant blood cannot change back to hemoglobin, which normally occurs in adults. Severe methemoglobinemia can result in brain damage and death.

Pregnant women, adults with reduced stomach acidity, and people deficient in the enzyme that changes methemoglobin back to normal hemoglobin are all susceptible to nitrite-induced methemoglobinemia. The most obvious symptom of methemoglobinemia is a bluish color of the skin, particularly around the eyes and mouth. Other symptoms include headache, dizziness, weakness or difficulty in breathing. Take babies with the above symptoms to the hospital emergency room immediately. If recognized in time, methemoglobinemia is treated easily with an injection of methylene blue.

Healthy adults can consume fairly large amounts of nitrate with few known health effects. In fact, most of the nitrate we consume is from our diets, particularly from raw or cooked vegetables. This nitrate is readily absorbed and excreted in the urine. However, prolonged intake of high levels of nitrate are linked to gastric problems due to the formations of nitrosamines. N-nitrosamine compounds have been shown to cause cancer in test animals. Studies of people exposed to high levels of nitrate or nitrite have not provided convincing evidence of an increased risk of cancer.

Distillation boils the water, catches the resulting steam, and condenses the steam on a cold surface (a condenser). Nitrates and other minerals remain behind in the boiling tank.

Boiling nitrate-contaminated water does not make it safe to drink and actually increases the concentration of nitrates.

Aqua Di Vita Water is made using pure distilled water as the base and is considered to be nitrate free. In addition, no additives of any kind are used.

Read more about Aqua Di Vita Here

Distributer Rights Association

2005-06-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

MLM-DRA Introduces the Largest MLM Forum on the planet. Published:6/21/2005

The Distributor Rights Association is proud to announce the largest MLM open forums on the planet.

http://www.mlm-dra.com/Forum/

Vita Genesis is proud to be a Corporate Advocate of the MLM-DRA.

No Water, No Life

2005-06-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

Aqua Di Vita™ Water of Life.
Water is life itself. It supports and feeds all biological processes of the human body, which is nearly 70% water. Water supports and nourishes the ecosystem of the planet.

Sir Peter Blake was the outstanding sailor/adventurer from New Zealand. During his 30-year sailing career, he won every significant blue-water race on the planet, including the America's Cup and the Whitbread Round the World Race. He was knighted for his achievements and achieved celebrity status in many countries. Later in life he transitioned from competion to pursue his passion to help protect the environment. He is quoted as saying:

Earth is a water planet on which the quality of water defines the quality of life. Good water, good life. Poor Water, poor life. No water, no life.”

The body can survive up to 5 weeks without food but only a few days without water. Without constant hydration from pure water, the bodies natural purification systems (blood, heart, blood, liver and kidneys) would breakdown from with toxic waste. Clinically, the risk of disease is dramatically increased for a person with poor hydration. Yet despite this alarming fact, three out of four Americans are chronically dehydrated.

Studies have shown that proper hydration from a pure water source
can:

Decrease the risk of Bladder Cancer by 50%
Decrease the risk of Colon Cancer by 45%
Decrease the risk of Breast Cancer by 79%

Drink Water for Good Health!

Sewage Blending

2005-05-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

I would like to present another immediate reason for Aqua di Vita waters!

Two phrases you never want to see in the same sentence: drinking water and "sewage blending." What's worse, that's the new plan for your water supply! Read on, if you dare.

It's hard to believe, but it's true: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to relax restrictions on dumping sewage into our waterways.

"Sewage blending" is a threat to our health and our communities. The EPA has proposed a new Clean Water Act policy, which would allow more "blending," or discharging, of inadequately treated sewage into our waterways.

This one is so outrageous, we've got to get EVERYONE to take action. We are a new special interest group: People who drink water!

The new policy would allow sewage with no biological treatment into our lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters. This kind of treatment is intended to kill pathogens and remove toxic chemicals. But exposure to the bacteria and viruses in such polluted waterways can be life-threatening in any amount as we all are aware.

We must prevent millions of Americans from getting sick because of exposure to these polluted waters. Is this a way to get more people visiting doctors and taking potent drugs to combat parasites, etc? There are other concerns that many other groups against this bill have expressed: The risks to people, wild life and domestic animals and the clean up which will cost us much more in the long run in our future and in our children's future. Is it worth the risk?

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for YOUR representative's office. The House is expected to vote on this next week!! Let your representative know your views--TODAY, now! It takes less than 2 minutes!

For a safer alternative to municipal drinking water visit: www.vitagenesis.com/perfectwater

Melanie Fisher
Founding Member & Associate Advisory Council
mfisher@livingbetter.org

Dirty Little Secret

2005-04-20T12:04:00.000-04:00

The Dirty Little Secret Behind the Chlorine in Your Water

If you are on a public water system -- meaning a utility company supplies your water -- it's extremely likely it contains chlorine and disinfection-byproducts.

Water companies have used chlorine as their main disinfecting strategy for almost a century. In the early years of the 20th century, chlorination of water was used in Great Britain in an attempt to stop typhoid fever. Due to some success in Great Britain -- and because chlorine was so inexpensive -- the chlorination of water began in the United States in Jersey City, N.J., in 1908, and hasn't stopped since!

Chlorination virtually eliminated waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and hepatitis. Today, utility companies still use chlorine to prevent and kill bacteria that might otherwise be present in water supplies. Over the last 30 years, however, a growing body of research has shown chlorine and its assorted byproducts are very harmful to your health.

For example, when chlorine interacts with organic matter in water, it forms disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Two primary DBP categories are trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic acids (HAA5s).

These DBPs have been linked to damaging effects to heart, lung, kidney and central nervous system as well as cancer. Even worse, the Environmental Protection Agency recent lowered the level of TTHMs they will permit in the water supply to 80 ppb (parts per billion).

All About the Money

As always, cost is one reason -- and probably the sole reason -- water companies prevented this standard from being reduced even further. Water companies felt it would cost too much to remove a greater amount of these DBPs from their water, so they pushed for an elevated standard. Nevertheless, it's telling the EPA sets the goal for some of these byproducts at 0 because they are so dangerous (unfortunately the EPA goal is not enforceable).

Water companies do conduct some testing for DBPs in their water supply and provide the results to their customers. But, for the sake of your family's health, here's what they aren't telling you:

Levels of these DBPs vary depending on where you are located on their network. Hence some customers are exposed to much higher levels.

Each individual reacts differently to DBPs. Some people are affected more than others.

There are times during the year when levels of DBPs increase dramatically due to the increase of organic matter in the water supply. But if the average of all the tests a water company conducted in a year is below the EPA standard, utilities can claim their water is safe.

More Distortions

What's more, here are some recent distortions we've discovered water companies all over the country are telling their customers:

One water company in New York actually had TTHM levels of 89 ppb. But because the average level for the year was below 80 ppb, they could legally claim their water meets all safe drinking water standards.

Similarly, a water company in Pennsylvania recorded TTHM levels of 94 ppb. But because the average was lower than 80 ppb, they told their customers their water was safe.

Another water company in California logged average TTHM levels of 78 ppb. Since 78 ppb is just below the standard of 80 ppb, they can legally claim their water is safe.

A Florida water company made the same claims because their TTHM average was 73 ppb.

I'd like to tell you these are isolated examples, but they're not. They are the norm.

If DBPs are in your water, you will be exposed to them primarily by inhaling steam vapor when you shower (DBPs easily escape into the air). If DBPs are in your water, I urge you to have them removed to protect your family's health.

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.

Arsenic: The Hidden Poison

2005-04-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

Arsenic: The Hidden Poison in Your Drinking Water

A one-time oral dose of 60,000 ppb of arsenic will kill you. That's no more than 1/50 the weight of a penny, which shows how dangerous arsenic really is.

It's unlikely you won't be exposed to that much arsenic at one time. However, there's a very good chance you will be exposed to much higher levels over just a few years, merely through the water you drink, food you eat and air you breathe. Why? Unfortunately, the arsenic to which you are exposed is typically colorless, odorless and tasteless. So if arsenic is in your water, you won't notice it by sight, smell or taste.

How does arsenic get into your drinking water?

Arsenic occurs naturally in some soil and rock. When water comes in contact with arsenic in soil or rocks, it's absorbed naturally.

Industrial processes such as mining, smelting and coal-fired electric power plants contribute to the presence of arsenic in your water. Arsenic can either be discharged directly into rivers and streams or pumped into the air.

When arsenic is pumped into the air, it travels with the wind before settling back into lakes and rivers. Or if arsenic settles on the ground, it's carried into the underground water supply by rain or melting snow.

Arsenic is also used in agricultural pesticides and chemicals used to preserve wood. The residue from these applications can be washed into rivers, lakes and underground water supplies.

So, it shouldn't be surprising to you that arsenic is very common in ground water across the United States.

What are the possible health effects of ingesting even low levels of arsenic? The likely links to disease:

Skin cancer
Nervous system damage
Diabetes
Circulatory diseases
High blood pressure
Reduced intelligence in children

Studies have also linked long-term arsenic exposure to an increased risk of cancer of the bladder, lungs, liver and other organs. Arsenic can also damage chromosomes, which house the genetic material inside the cells of the body.

It's believed the side effects from arsenic exposure in drinking water typically take years to develop. Much of it depends on the concentration of arsenic to which you are exposed. Most arsenic leaves your body within three days of exposure. But the arsenic that remains is stored in the brain, bones and tissue and continues to do serious damage.

How much arsenic in my water is considered safe?

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has reduced the safe drinking water standard for arsenic in your water to 10 parts per billion (ppb). That standard -- a dramatic decrease from the current standard of 50 ppb -- goes into effect in January 2006. The agency reduced the level it currently allows in water because newer scientific studies found the old standard did not protect people exposed to arsenic for many years.

While the new standard is lower, it's certainly not enough to eliminate all the risk of cancer and other side effects. Your exposure to arsenic in past years could cause problems to your health later in life. That's why the EPA set a goal of zero as to the amount of arsenic that should be in your water.

But their goal is not enforceable.

You might feel a little safer knowing arsenic is not easily absorbed through the skin and doesn't evaporate from water. But don't get too comfortable... If arsenic is in your water, you will primarily be exposed to it from the water you drink, and not to bathe, wash dishes or clean your clothes.

Find out if arsenic or other harmful contaminants are in your water supply. If they are, get the appropriate water purification system to treat your specific problem. Then, see your health practitioner about removing the contaminants that are already in your body.

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)

New Vita Genesis Forum!

2005-02-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

February 27, 2004

Vita Genesis is pleased to announce the opening
of the new Vita Genesis, Inc. - Aqua Di Vita forum.

Visit it at this link.

This forum can be used a resource to help build your
Vita Genesis business and get to know other Associates
in the company.

Company news and announcements will be also be available there.

Go now and register (Free) to be a Forum Member.

Visit daily and join the discussions!

Drink Up! For the well-being of your brain

2005-02-24T15:54:00.000-05:00

DRINK UP!! FOR THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR BRAIN

Did you know? In the United States, close to 19 million people have depression, reports the National Institute of Mental Health.

Below is an excerpt from the book, “20/20 Thinking – 1,000 Powerful Strategies to Sharpen Your Mind, Brighten Your Mood, and Boost Your Memory. (Author: Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, Ph.D.)

Water may very well be the ultimate “neuronutrient” when it comes to the health of your brain. We need water to think, learn, stay alert, and feel good mentally. In fact, drinking enough water each day is one of the easiest, smartest moves you can make for preserving the health of your brain.

For one thing, water peps up your mental performance. Ever wonder why you feel mentally sluggish during the day? It could be that you’re dehydrated, which technically means you’re running low on water. In a study of subject’s abilities to perform mental exercises after experimentally induced dehydration, a fluid loss of only 2 percent of body weight caused a whopping 20-percent reduction in arithmetic skills, short-term memory, and the ability to visually track an object. Also, severe dehydration results in mental confusion and disorientation.

For another, water is an unsung hero when it comes to mental well-being. That’s because water hikes up serotonin – the brain chemical involved in regulating mood, anxiety, stress, depression, pain, and memory. Serotonin known as the “happiness neurotransmitter,” is associated with tranquility, calm, and emotional well-being. Serotonin is produced in the body from the amino acid tryptophan found in protein foods. At night, the pineal gland in the brain converts serotonin to the sleep hormone melatonin. Low levels of serotonin may increase the risk for depression or suicide. Brains of women produce two-thirds as much serotonin as those of men. This may explain why women are more prone to depression than men are.

Some cutting-edge research with lab rats suggests that dehydration reduces levels of this feel-good chemical in the brain. By contrast, when animals were given sufficient water, serotonin levels rose. The lesson here:

Water may turn out to be one of our best all-natural uppers yet!

To maintain peak mental capacity, drink eight to ten glasses of pure water every day!!

Sodas don’t count, either. Consider this: More than 70 percent of an 8-ounce glass of water is absorbed by the stomach, and only 6 percent of the same amount of soda is absorbed. Plus, diet soft drinks contain artificial sweeteners and other chemicals. How these additives affect the brain is unclear. For these reasons, water is the PREFERRED CHOICE FOR THE FLUID YOUR BRAIN NEEDS.

Aqua Di Vita™ Structured Waters™
Vita Genesis, Inc

Statements contained herein were not written by Vita Genesis, Inc. and have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease.

- Article courtesy of Terry Rhoades, Independent Executive Founder, Vita Genesis, Inc.

Juice or Water for Children?

2005-02-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

Aqua Di Vita Water is not just for adults, it is suitable and a great alternative to soda, sugary drinks, sports drinks, or juice for children.

From CNN.Com Monday, February 7, 2005 Posted: 11:09 AM EST (1609 GMT)

Study links juice, chubby children

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Sweet drinks -- whether Kool-Aid with sugar or all-natural apple juice -- seem to raise the risk of pudgy preschoolers getting fatter, new research suggests.

That may come as a surprise to parents who pride themselves on seeking out fruit drinks with no added sugar.

"Juice is definitely a part of this," said lead researcher Jean Welsh of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While fruit juice does have vitamins, nutritionists say it's inferior to fresh fruit. The new U.S. dietary guidelines, for example, urge consumers away from juice, suggesting they eat whole fruit instead.

The bottom line, though, is that "children need very few calories in their day," Welsh said.

"Sweet drinks are a source of added sugar in the diet."

She said preschoolers were better off snacking on fruit or drinking water or milk.

Read the entire article:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/07/chubby.preschoolers.ap/index.html

After The Storm - Free VHS Copies

2005-01-31T21:13:00.000-05:00

Polluted stormwater runoff can have many adverse effects on plants, fish, animals and people.

Sediment can cloud the water and make it difficult or impossible for aquatic plants to grown. Sediment also can destroy aquatic habitats.

Excess nutrients can cause algae blooms. When algae die, they sink to the bottom and decompose in a process that removes oxygen from the water. Fish and other aquatic organisms can't exist in water with low dissolved oxygen
levels.

Bacteria and other pathogens can wash into swimming areas and create health hazards, often making beach closures necessary.

Debris - plastic bags, six-pack rings, bottles, and cigarette butts - washed into waterbodies can choke, suffocate, or disable aquatic life like ducks, fish, turtles, and birds.

Household hazardous wastes like insecticides, pesticides, paint, solvents, used motor oil, and other auto fluids can poison aquatic life. Land animals and people can become sick from eating diseased fish and shellfish or ingesting polluted water.

Polluted stormwater often affects drinking water sources. This, in turn, can affect human health and increase drinking water treatment costs.

After The Storm

A new half hour television special about watersheds--After the Storm--co-produced by The Weather Channel (TWC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) premiered on TWC on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 at 8 pm and 11 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST).

“I encourage everyone to tune in on February 4th to learn more about the threats facing our nation's waters from polluted runoff. After the Storm shows the connection between weather and watersheds and the importance of watershed protection. We all live in a watershed and we all have an impact on our environment."
-Benjamin Grumbles, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for Water

The show highlights three case studies-Santa Monica Bay, the Mississippi River Basin/Gulf of Mexico, and New York City- where polluted runoff threatens watersheds highly valued for recreation, commercial fisheries and navigation, and drinking water. Key scientists and water quality experts, and citizens involved in local and national watershed protection efforts provide insight into the problems as well as solutions to today's water quality challenges.

After the Storm also explains simple things people can do to protect their local watershed-such as picking up after one's dog, recycling household hazardous wastes, and conserving water.

VHS Copies of the After the Storm Video

VHS copies of the "After the Storm" program are available now. If you would like to order a free copy of the video, please call the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at 513-489-8190 or 800-490-9198 or send an email to ncepimal@one.net.

When you request a VHS copy of the "After the Storm" (VHS), please refer to EPA document number: EPA 840-V-04-001.

This tape is intended for education and communication purposes in classrooms, at conferences, etc. It may also be aired on cable or other TV stations, as EPA now has the full rights to the program. Stations may air all or a portion of the program. If a portion of the program is aired, please ensure that you include in your broadcast that the program was co-produced by EPA and The Weather Channel.

The VHS copies of "After the Storm" include closed captioning so the program is accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Information excerpted from the EPA site at: http://www.epa.gov/weatherchannel/

Pure Water Is Crucial

2005-01-28T09:40:00.000-05:00

Pure Water Is Crucial To A Child‘s Development

Other than just being smaller‚ children‘s bodies are really quite different than that of an adult.

Because many of the crucial defense systems that help protect adults from disease are not fully developed in children‚ they are much more sensitive to carcinogens‚ lead and water-borne parasites than adults. Just as medications and other chemical compounds effect children differently than they do adults‚ so do contaminants in our air‚ drinking water and foods.

Water is the body‘s only way to flush out these toxins and the purer the water is to start with... the higher its capacity is to collect and cleanse these harmful compounds from the body. Pure water helps a child‘s defenses grow stronger and perform better; giving them the protection they need during those fragile developing years.

A child‘s immune and detoxification systems are still developing into and throughout their early teens. Exposure to trace levels of chlorine, toxic chemicals & lead in drinking water during childhood years has been linked to increased risks of disease and learning disorders in later years.

A recent Baltimore study showed that children with higher blood-lead levels have a significantly higher rate of problem behaviors than children with low blood-lead levels. "This study lends support to the belief that undue exposure to lead in childhood years may have a pervasive influence on the prevalence of juvenile delinquency in this country."

A mixture of chemicals such as chlorine‚ lead‚ herbicides‚ pesticides and a host of other contaminants are commonly found in our water supplies‚ and in many bottled waters. These trace levels of water borne chemicals have been documented to have adverse health effects on humans‚ and especially on small children.

Unfortunately the health standards that determine how much and what levels of these toxins are permitted in our drinking water are all based on the potential effects on adults. These "Maximum Contaminant Levels" (MCLs) are also based on the false assumption that we are only exposed to one chemical at a time. We commonly find traces of several dozen different toxic chemicals in tap water.

A recent report by the Environmental Working Group‚ called "Into The Mouths Of Babes"‚ found that of 29 Mid Western cities tested all had at least one agricultural chemical present and that most had 5 or more in a single glass of tap water!

The report also points out that 45‚000 mothers in these 29 cities were unknowingly making infant formula with tap water containing three or more toxic chemicals.

Often there are out breaks of chlorine resistant parasites like Cryptosporidium and Giardia in city water supplies‚ as was the case recently in Milwaukee WI‚ when over 100 people died and 400‚000 became sick in less than a month‚ mostly children and the elderly‚ when the water system became contaminated with Cryptosporidium. This intestinal parasite causes flu like symptoms‚ but can be fatal to small children and older adults... and is not controlled by chlorine.

Childhood Asthma‚ Cancer‚ Leukemia and immune disorders have all risen in the last decade. Many experts and studies suggest that this is partially due to children‘s increased exposure to environmental toxins and their decreased ability to detox. Water plays a major role in a child‘s exposure to toxins and in their body‘s ability to get rid of them.

A child consumes 3 times as much water per pound of body weight than an adult does‚ so they get a bigger dose of the chemicals in their water‚ and they‘re developing bodies are simply much more sensitive to the harsh effects...

An increased intake of clean healthy water is one of the easiest and best ways to help promote good health for our children.

****

Why Choose Aqua Di Vita™ Scalarwave Structured Waters™?

Vita Genesis, Inc. prides itself on providing you with quality and excellence.
Our waters are among the purest you will ever find.

We provide you with water, as it should be: colorless, odorless, crystal clear, and no flavor.

When you try our waters, you will find a very clean and refreshing taste unlike any you have ever experienced before. There are no added minerals, chemicals, or other ingredients.

It's Your Life..Drink Deep!

How much Rocket Fuel would you drink?

2005-01-23T13:27:00.000-05:00

Rocket fuel pollutes Southwest water
Sunday, January 5, 2003 CNN.Com

A toxic chemical used to fuel Cold War-era missiles and the rockets that put man on the moon has left a legacy of contamination across the Southwest, where it pinches the region's already tight supply of drinking water.

The chemical, called perchlorate, pollutes much of the lower Colorado River -- the main water source for 20 million people across the Southwest -- and has forced the shutdown of hundreds of wells in California. State and federal officials are still debating how much risk perchlorate poses when ingested and what limits should be set for the chemical, a process slowed partly by lawsuits filed by defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin Corp. that worry they could be on the hook for billions of dollars in cleanup costs. Thousands of people have sued the companies that once made or handled perchlorate, alleging years of drinking water laced with the chemical have caused cancers and other illnesses.

Adrienne Wise-Tates, 46, has had tumors of the brain and ovaries, multiple cysts in her breasts, cancerous cells found when she had a goiter removed and, most recently, an unknown mass in her left kidney. It can affect the thyroid and can disrupt how the gland regulates metabolism. It's unclear how much is dangerous.

Initially, it was thought perchlorate pollution would be restricted to places where rocket fuel was made or used. However, it's since been tied to plants around the country that made munitions, fireworks and even the charges that deploy airbags.

"Anything that explodes seems to be associated with perchlorate," said David Spath, chief of the division of drinking water and environmental management for the California Department of Health Services.

Along with explosives, naturally perchlorate-rich fertilizer imported from Chile has contaminated wells on New York's Long Island, forcing some to close. "We need to be able to say to people that this is a problem, it is a big problem. It is moving rapidly. It is in 22 states and we need to address it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California. "We don't need to panic, but we need to do it in a way that's cost-effective and makes sense."

The single largest source of contamination is a former Kerr-McGee Corp. rocket fuel plant outside Las Vegas. For decades, wastewater containing perchlorate was left to seep into the ground, a company official said. "There were probably 20-plus years when we didn't have the environmental awareness we have today," said Pat Corbett, the former plant manager who is now the company's environmental technology director. The site still leaches as much as 900 pounds of perchlorate a day into a wash that drains into the Colorado River, the main water source for much of Arizona, southern California and southern Nevada.

Across the nation, millions more eat vegetables grown with Colorado River water.

What risk the vegetables could pose, if any, is unknown. "It's really one of the most massive pollution problems the water industry has ever seen," said Timothy Brick, a member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's draft proposal is stricter: one part per billion. Perchlorate in the Colorado River has been measured as high as 9 parts per billion. It will take years to discover the extent of perchlorate contamination nationwide, and cleanup will take decades more, to the consternation of people like Wise-Tates. "I would just hope no one else has to go through this, but I am sure they will, until they find some way to clean up the water," she said.

FAQ's on the EPA - Environmental Protection Agency website
(www.epa.gov)

Does my water contain perchlorate?
There have been confirmed perchlorate releases in at least 20 states throughout the United States. Additional information and maps detailing those sites are available in the draft assessment report. EPA, other federal agencies, states, water suppliers and industry are already actively addressing perchlorate contamination through monitoring for perchlorate in drinking water and source water. The full extent of perchlorate contamination is not known at this time.

How is perchlorate removed from water?Several types of treatment systems designed to reduce perchlorate concentrations are
operating around the United States, reducing perchlorate to below the 4 ppb level. Biological treatment and ion (anion) exchange systems are among the technologies that are being used, with additional treatment technologies under development.

Is perchlorate-contaminated water safe to drink?
EPA's draft toxicity assessment is preliminary and thus, it is difficult to make definitive recommendations at this stage. It is also important to recognize that estimates contained in the draft assessment are designed to be conservative. In other words, there are adjustment factors built into the estimate to help account for uncertainties in the underlying data and information used. Other factors that influence the answer to this question include how much water is consumed, the degree of perchlorate contamination and the health status of the consumer.

-----------

Look again at the last question. How much rocket fuel are you and your family willing to drink in your water? How long will it take the EPA to take action? In the meantime are you willing to risk drinking contaminated water while they study how it may harm you?

Perchlorate in Water affects Lettuce Supply

2005-01-22T22:05:00.000-05:00

U.S. Lettuce Supply Likely Contaminated With Rocket Fuel

Winter lettuce crops in California are contaminated with perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, which can harm humans, especially infants and developing fetuses, according to a study.

Exposure to perchlorate, which is highly water-soluble, can cause mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech, and motor skill deficits in developing fetuses. The compound is a known contaminate of drinking water in 20 states and also contaminates the Colorado River, which irrigates 70 percent of the United States’ winter lettuce supply, according to the study.

In the study, researchers analyzed 22 commercial lettuce samples, including prepackaged and head lettuces, adult and baby greens, and organic and conventionally grown.

Four of the 22 samples tested contained perchlorate in excess of 30 parts per billion (ppb). The highest sample, mixed organic baby greens, had 121 ppb. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency found that perchlorate in drinking water poses health risks in concentrations above one part per billion.

Based on those results, the study researchers concluded that 1.6 million U.S. women of childbearing age are exposed each day to levels of perchlorate above the EPA's recommended safe dose from winter crops of lettuce alone.

According to the study, lettuce, which is being sold in U.S. supermarkets, absorbs and concentrates significant amounts of perchlorate from polluted irrigation water.

Moreover, close to 90 percent of the U.S. winter lettuce supply is grown in Southern California and Arizona with irrigation water from the Colorado River, which is contaminated with perchlorate.

However, several groups have come out against the EPA’s recommendation, including the Pentagon and several defense contractors, who could be responsible for billions of dollars in potential cleanup liability for perchlorate pollution, arguing that perchlorate is safe in drinking water in quantities 70 to 200 times greater than the EPA’s recommended safe dose.

Definitive data on the levels of perchlorate in U.S. produce was supposed to have been available years ago, however, the Defense Department reportedly would not fund the estimated $215,000 needed to collect samples of vegetables, leading some environmentalists to question whether the Defense Department really wanted to know if perchlorate was contaminating food.

According to one environmental scientist, "If they can spend $1 million on a cruise missile, it seems kind of ridiculous they won't spend $200,000 to see if our food is contaminated with rocket fuel."

Researchers of the current study say that their results are not conclusive due to their small sample size. However, they hope that their results will spur the federal government to conduct a more definitive study that will take a comprehensive look at the potentially widespread perchlorate contamination.

Wall Street Journal April 28, 2003

----------

More Rocket Fuel in Lettuce

Lettuce and other vegetables grown in fields irrigated by the Colorado River may contain higher amounts of toxic rocket fuel than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Leafy green vegetables grown with contaminated water store and concentrate potentially harmful levels of perchlorate, a thyroid toxin that is a main ingredient of rocket and missile fuel, according to tests.

Further, aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a major user of perchlorate, reportedly knew as early as 1997 that vegetables stored high concentrations of the chemical, but did not release the information to health officials. There is also speculation that the Department of Defense may also have known, but did not warn other agencies, farmers or consumers.

Analysts recommend that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) begin testing on vegetables grown with water from the Colorado River, and, if harmful perchlorate levels are confirmed, take immediate action to reduce contamination and keep the food off the market.

Additionally, farmers who are adversely affected by perchlorate contamination of their crops should be fully compensated for all economic losses.

Perchlorate has contaminated close to 300 drinking water sources and farm wells in California and an unknown number of sources in at least 15 other states. The chemical impairs the thyroid’s ability to take up iodide and produce hormones that are critical to proper fetal and infant brain development.

The EPA doesn’t plan to adopt national standards for perchlorate in drinking water until at least 2006, although elected officials in California are calling for faster federal action.

However, it appears that vegetables grown with perchlorate-contaminated water may pose more of a threat than drinking water.

According to a 1999 study of lettuce seedlings grown in perchlorate-contaminated water, perchlorate was accumulated in the leaves by factors of 100 times or more. The lettuce was able to take up and store 95 percent of the perchlorate in the water, which means that lettuce grown in water with even low levels of perchlorate could deliver doses far higher than the EPA’s provisional drinking water standard.

Despite preliminary research that suggests food is likely to be an equal or greater source for perchlorate exposure than drinking water, this hasn’t been reflected in the proposed drinking water standards, which would need to be substantially lower to account for the exposure coming from food.

Environmental Working Group June, 2003

---------------------------------

How much rocket fuel do you feel is safe for you and your family to drink in your drinking water? Government regulation and standards are slow to be put in place. People can drink a contaminated water for years before the EPA acts.

How is Your Water?

2005-01-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

How is Your Water?

Water: Your Source of Vitality, Clarity and Connection!

This friendly greeting is common to every ancient and indigenous culture on Earth. Western scientists are now discovering what sustainable ancient civilizations and native peoples have always known--that water is a living being. Water is alive. It is intelligent. It has a consciousness and memory. Water can convey information, emotion and vitality. And water responds intimately to human communication.

Before our materialistic age lost the ability to sense subtle energy, water was a sacred substance used for purification, healing and regeneration: baptism, holy water, the holy Ganges, Loudes and other healing springs, spiritual visions of the Ocean of Love, myths of the Flood, and the drinking of sacred waters when visiting an oracle or a shrine. The Sumerian goddess Inanna had a vase in place of a heart, from which flowed miraculous water. Tibetan monks still chant regularly around the community water supply. Water thus energized assists the villagers in the cure of all physical ailments and social disharmonies.

What we are still in touch with is that we live on a water planet, unique and unlike any other in our Solar System. All of the humans, animals, trees and life forms that live here come from water. Our human body is 70% water. The earth is called the Water Planet because 70% of its surface is covered with water. Around the planet, leading-edge research (or is it ?re-search?) is reporting amazing, new, measurable evidence about exactly how this fundamental substance supports and sustains our lives.

Water Reflects Our Thoughts

Researchers are now demonstrating to us scientifically what ancient and native peoples also knew?that our thoughts affect our own vibrational energy which directly affects the structure of the very water within our bodies AND within our environment. Dr. David Schweitzer, grandson of Albert Schweitzer, is the first scientist to photograph the effects of thoughts captured in water. His photographic evidence shows that water can act as a liquid memory system capable of storing information. In Canada, also, water is being explored as an information carrier. The super business computers of the future will be made of mostly water?just like the one in your skull.

Water Has a Great Memory

French scientists, led by Jacques Benveniste, have proven that water can retain a memory of molecules that it once contained. In 1988, the prestigious British scientific journal Nature published the French experiments showing that if water containing antibodies is diluted repeatedly until the water no longer contains a single molecule of antibody, the water still retains its antibiotic power. Water will become the medicine of the future if we can just unlock a few more of its secrets.

Water Resonates with Our Vibration

Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto's water crystal photographs provide factual physical evidence that the vibration of positive human intention, thoughts, prayer and music affect the molecular crystal structure of water?and can make the water we consume more clear, clean, healthy and harmonious to our well-being.

Water Re-vitalizes Itself

Victor Schauburger, a German forester, discovered many of the wondrous secret properties by which water recharges and re-enlivens itself. In nature, bodies of water that are left undisturbed by man seek to imbue themselves with the geomagnetic energies that pervade our planet. They turn within themselves, wind, bend and bubble, froth and foam, spiral and cascade. From these actions, a strong renewal occurs in streams and lakes. Also, these untouched waters have the striking ability to neutralize and transform poisons and toxins that are added to it. In this natural process, the water is cleansed and revitalized.

How Is Your Water?

As the ancients would ask, "What is the health of the water you're putting into your body?" Clean, clear water is needed for the delivery and absorption of nutrients. Vital, alive water is needed for the elimination of wastes and pollutants. The quality of your life is directly connected to the purity and integrity of your water.

Revolutionary Structured Water

Recently a new process has been discovered that returns water to a more natural, ancient state. Structured Water is water that has been re-structured to give the water the identical life-enhancing properties that water used to possess thousands of years ago when the Primal Life Force and electromagnetic field of the planet was much stronger and when global pollution was non-existent. Today this form of bio-active water exists only in remote places on Earth where unique geological conditions give these natural springs ?miraculous? healing powers that other water sources simply do not have.

The life-promoting qualities of Structured Water are instrumental in key cellular functions of the body. The core of a cell's DNA is a column of Structured Water. Unlike tap water, rain or mineral water, Structured Water has a particular characteristic which allows it to pass freely through cell walls delivering oxygen, nutrients, protein chains and enzymes and removing the toxic build up that accumulates in our cells. These basic cellular functions serve as the foundation for almost every action and reaction in the body?thus emphasizing the importance of giving your body the best water you can find. In order for water to work optimally with the cells in your body, the structure of your water needs to have certain bio-dynamic properties that allow it to pass freely through the cell membranes. Therefore, if the water you drink consists of molecular structures that are too large or are interlaced with toxins or chemicals all of the important functions that water is responsible for in the body are greatly compromised.

When we are young, our bodies are full of Structured Water. As we grow older and drink the commonly polluted and dead water of our modern civilization, our body's Structured Water becomes unable to move freely through our cell walls. Research has shown that the lack of this specific form of water is responsible for cellular aging and cellular health problems, leading to the common physical and emotional ailments of our modern society.

Water to the Rescue

Water is the sustainer and purifier of our planet. It is no accident that both the planet and our bodies consist mainly of water. Why should it therefore surprise us that the greatest changes we could make for Earth and ourselves would deal with this mysterious substance? May the next glass of water you drink will transport you to a new place as you gain more knowledge of the liquid potential you are holding in your hand.

Vita Genesis - Aqua Di Vita™

Article by by Keith Varnum

Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease

Water and Arthritis

2005-01-14T18:28:00.000-05:00

Water and Arthritis

Arthritis pain and stiffness is now understood to be initially a result of increased friction and swelling in the bone joints. Our body uses water to lubricate these joints. When our water levels are reduced, especially as we age, there is increased friction between the cartilage surfaces resulting in swelling, stiffness and pain. The amount of total body water decreases with age, as does what is often known as the thirst mechanism. This is why many people, as they age, have little desire to drink water. The movement of the joints cause a suction that pulls water from the bone marrow to the joint cavity if there is available water through proper hydration. An increased intake of water and gentle rhythmic movements of the joints can ease and in many cases overcome arthritic pain.

A more detailed explanation of this is outlined in the book, The Body’s Many Cries For Water by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj.

Other supplements can help ease your arthritis and joint pain.

Glucosamine is a natural sugar produced by the body and found in certain foods. It plays an important role in the production, maintenance, and repair of cartilage. It stimulates the production of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans, two essential building blocks of cartilage.

Chondroitin Sulfate reduces inflammation and drives the Glucosamine and provide maximum absorption in protecting against future cartilage degeneration.

Vitamin A (Beta carotene) is essential for growth and repair of body tissues and it aids in bone formation.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) produces a mobilization of your body's self-defense mechanisms, which assists your immune system to overcome disease.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, which acts to protect red blood cells and unsaturated fatty acids from oxidation damage. It also assists your body in maintaining healthy membrane tissue.

Vita Genesis offers a liquid Glucosamine based nutritional - Joint Plus. This is Glucosamine with Chondroitin and MSM in an Aloe Vera base. We also have a liquid vitamin product called Daily Essentials Plus, which contains all the vitamins listed above and more, also in an Aloe Vera base. All you need is one ounce of Daily Essentials Plus per day to achieve your daily vitamin needs. We recommend both products with the Aqua Di Vita waters to help maximize absorbtion. Visit www.vitagenesis.com for more information.

Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease

More excerpts from the Water Puzzle

2005-01-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Today we have excerpts from 3 more chapters of the book "The Water Puzzle and the Hexagonal Key" by Dr. Mu Shik Jhon.

Chapter 4 Water Structure at Interfaces

“…we have found that the water immediately surrounding normal protein forms a greater percentage of hexagonal structures. We have also found that the water surrounding abnormal (cancer-causing) proteins has a significantly decreased number of hexagonal structures and an increased number of pentagonal structures.”

“…the water surrounding normal DNA is highly structured, and much less mobile than the water around abnormal DNA. This tightly-held and highly structured water which surrounds normal DNA acts to stabilize the helical structure of the DNA.”

Chapter 5 Hexagonal Water and Human Health

“…At the cellular level, aging causes a shift in the ratio of water inside vs. outside the cell. The volume of water inside the cell is reduced and cells “wither” just like the skin on the outside of the body.”

“…the metabolic rate has been correlated with the amount of cell water turnover in the body and both have been linked with health and aging. When seen from this perspective, cell water turnover becomes an important marker for overall health and longevity.”

“Aging is a loss of Hexagonal Water from organs, tissues and cells, and an overall decrease in total body water. Since aging is associated with the loss of Hexagonal Water from the body, it has been suggested that consuming Hexagonal Water results in a general slowing of the aging process. Several studies support this premise.”

“When considering the differences between pentagonal and Hexagonal Water, Hexagonal Water is the preferred choice. It is energetically more powerful! Hexagonal Water improves cell water turnover and supports metabolic efficiency.”

“In the human body, structured and disordered water exist at the same time and we have shown that the body’s survival rate decreases as the amount of disordered water accumulates. …Once again, an important key to health is the amount of hexagonally-structured water we have in our bodies.”

“… the water environment of both cancerous and diabetic cells is less structured and the surrounding water is able to move more freely than the water around normal cells. Accordingly, both cancer and diabetes have a common feature – the destruction of water structure at the cellular level.”

“In our experience, we have found that when individuals consume Hexagonal Water, the cellular water environment improves, contributing to increased health.”

Chapter 6 Drinking Hexagonal Water

“Even though the source of the water we drink is important, the structure of that water is the key. The best water for human consumption is Hexagonal Water. This water is characterized by a small cluster size (verified using NMR technology) which penetrates the cells much faster (verified with Bio Impedance testing), supplying nutrients and oxygen more efficiently than unstructured water.”

“Even our scientists, biologists and doctors have studied everything in water, without considering that the water itself and the structure of the water may be playing an equally, important role. Going forward, we have the opportunity to look at the whole picture and come to a more complete understanding of the relationship between water and life.”

-------------------------

Everyone serious about the type of water they are drinking or about promoting Aqua Di Vita Order should consider this book a "must have" in as part of their library and as a marketing resource.

Vita Genesis, Inc. - Featuring Aqua Di Vita

Proper Hydration

2005-01-10T11:42:00.000-05:00

How Essential is Proper Hydration to Your Health?

Everywhere you look you see ads or information about the benefits of
the proper hydration.

How much water should you drink every day?

A general guideline is to drink at least half your body weight in ounces. For example a 120 lb. woman would drink 60 ounces a day. The average person’s body is about 70 percent water. As you age this decreases, especially among the elderly who are often known for not liking to drink water. The fact is we all require constant hydration throughout the day to help maintain optimal health and energy. By drinking water throughout the day, your help maintain levels of hydration needed to optimize your physiological function.

What are the benefits of proper Hydration?
Here are just a few you can experience...

-increased energy
-weight loss
-mental clarity and alertness
-healthier skin and nails
-healthier hair
-healthier and stronger joints
-stronger immune system
-faster recovery from illness or surgery
-faster recovery from workouts or physical activity
-reduced hypertension and
-lower cholesterol
-slowing the aging process (water is often viewed as the true Fountain of Youth!)

As you can see the health benefits from proper hydration are extensive. On the other hand dehydration can have a serious negative impact on your health. Dehydration often goes unnoticed and untreated.

Here are a few signs of dehydration:

-Fatigue and weakness
-Headaches
-Nausea
-Dry mucous membranes in nose, mouth, or throat
-Nosebleeds (especially in dry interior air during winter)
-Dark, concentrated, strong-smelling urine in small quantities
-Irritability or unusual irrational behavior
-Weak, irregular pulse
-Low blood pressure
-Shallow, rapid breathing
-Constipation or cramps

Do not take dehydration lightly. Signs of dehydration should be addressed quickly to prevent further serious medical consequences. Older people and women are often at greater risk for dehydration because they have less muscle mass and lower body water content than men.

Often people believe that drinking soft drinks, coffee, or ther drinks which have water in them are adequate for to rehydrate. These drinks containing materials or other dissolved solids and many are diuretics, which may dehydrate the body.

"Just water?"

Tap Water

Even water like tap water or many bottled waters contain a large amount of dissolved solids. This is why it is important to drink the proper kind of water. Ordinary water does not have the same ability to exchange cellular fluids with the same efficiency as pure water. The next time you are in a restaurant and tell the server you want "just water", think about what you might be putting in your body.

Hexagonal Shaped Water

Lisa Johnson, CEO and President said “If you really wanted to clean your body and be healthy, why would you put anything but the purest water you could find into it?. Aqua Di Vita is the solution to proper hydration."

If you are not a customer or Associate and are interested in trying a sample
please visit www.vitagenesis.com
or email support@vitagenesis.com

Read more about Proper Hydration Here

Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease

Excerpts from the Water Puzzle

2005-01-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mu Shik Jhon has taken 40 years of research and condensed it into a simple book that will help you to understand why Hexagonal Water is so important.

Excerpts from "The Water Puzzle and the Hexagonal Key" by Dr. Mu Shik Jhon

Chapter 2 The Pieces of the Water Puzzle

“Water is indeed a puzzle with many properties that defy explanation. For example: Most students know that water freezes at 0° C and boils at 100° C, however if water were to follow the pattern of the other liquids in its class, it would boil at -60° C and freeze at -90° C – a huge discrepancy.”

“Most substances contract (increase in density) as the temperature falls. Water is different. Its density reaches a maximum at 4° C. just above freezing. After that, it begins to expand as it freezes. Although this is highly unusual, it is the reason that ice floats rather than sinking to the bottom of a body of water.

Water’s unusual changes in density were some of our first indicators that water had a unique structure.”

“Water has an unusually large heat capacity (the largest known), allowing it to absorb a considerable amount of heat with a minimal change in temperature. This is of great significance for biological organisms. It means that the human body can resist temperature changes even when environmental temperatures are extreme.”

“An intriguing quality about water, and one that has only recently begun to be explored, is that it has the ability to “remember.” Water will hold the frequency or vibration of a substance which has been placed in it – even after the substance has been removed. In other words, there is a lasting effect when water is influenced with any form of energy and it has the ability to carry this energy for prolonged periods of time.”

“There are dozens of “abnormalities” surrounding the properties of water. One thing is quite certain - water could not exhibit so many unusual characteristics unless it had unique structural qualities. The abnormalities of water are our best clue to understanding its unique structure…”

Chapter 3 The Specific Structure of Water

“In the world of water, there is no place for the loner - single molecules do not last long in a fast-paced dance where small groupings predominate. The single H2O molecule is a rare occurrence and is quickly snapped up by new partners that change every 100 billionths of a second. In other words, water is an interconnected, mass of predominantly five and six-membered units, forming a unique lattice that gives water many of its unusual qualities.”

“Temperature is one of the factors that determines whether water combines to form hexagonal or pentagonal groups. When bulk water is examined to measure the proportion of hexagonally-shaped structures, temperature makes a big difference. At 10° C., 22% of water is hexagonally-shaped. However, at the freezing point (0° C.) 26% of water is hexagonally-shaped. And, somewhere between -30° and -40° C, water reaches the super-cooled state where it is 100% hexagonally-structured.”

“…the key to the unusual characteristics of water was found in its structure. Accordingly, the molecular weight of water – (H2O)2 - generally accepted to be 18, ought to be calculated based on a combination of pentagonal and hexagonal groups which predominate in bulk water. In other words, water is comprised of different percentages of (H20)5 (molecular weight, 90) and (H20)6 (molecular weight, 108), depending on temperature. Using these revised molecular weights and an understanding of water structure, the unusual characteristics of water can be mathematically explained.”

“…the specific heat of Hexagonal Water is higher than that of pentagonal water. What this means is that Hexagonal Water has a greater capacity to perform work – to expel wastes, to absorb temperature changes and to protect against various other energetic influences.”

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Vita Genesis has Dr. Mu Shik Jhon's book available and features Aqua Di Vita Scalarwave Structured Water. Visit our site for more information.

Coming tomorrow...more excerpts from the book!

Relief

2005-01-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

We have a limited number of baseball style caps, t-shirts and polo shirts on hand that we are evaluating as future additions to Vita Genesis. In light of the tragedy caused by the Tsunami’s we are offering several items we have to our Associates and Customers at a premium, with the profits to be donated to help aid the massive relief effort.

Despite millions of dollars being donated and pledged by governments and people all over the world, every penny counts. Network Marketing is about helping people. It is about many people doing a little bit. Everything counts in giving. There is no such thing as a small act or goodness. Even small acts of kindness or giving will multiply thousand-fold. The events occurring as a result of this disaster are unimaginable. The most lingering impact on humanity will be generosity poured out by the world. You can help provide a safe place for them to lay their heads, obtain clean water and food for their bodies, and restore the hope and faith they need to lift them out of the numbing shock they must feel from their extreme loss and adversity. Do what you can to help by connecting with your heart.

If you prefer to donate directly (or in addition to through Vita Genesis) here are the links to the American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) and Doctors Without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org) websites.

We have a very limited supply of these items, so if you would like to donate and get one you should act fast. Help out by visiting www.vitagenesis.org

Sincerely,
Vita Genesis, Inc.

Your Bodies Many Cries for Water

2004-12-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

Did You Know....

1. Water is found throughout the body, both inside and outside the cells.
2. Water is the key to all body functions.
3. Our blood contains 90% water.
4. Nourishment for body cells and waste products that are formed in
connection with metabolism are transported with water.
5. Water must be so pure that the organism's various cells are not damaged.
6. Under normal conditions, a person needs 1.5-2.5 liters of water per day.

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj discovered through research that most so-called illnesses are actually symptoms of dehydration in the body. Once corrected, symptoms disappear.

Every day we lose at least two quarts (8 oz glasses) of water and some salt (which is necessary for maintaining acid and alkaline balance) via urine, respiration, and perspiration. Instead of replacing lost water by drinking more water, many people drink caffeinated beverages. Caffeine found in soda pop and in coffee acts as a diuretic that forces more water from the body than is contained in the caffeinated beverage itself.

During dehydration, the body produces more histamine. Histamine is a neurotransmitter involved in water rationing. It also regulates the thirst mechanism.By ignoring our body's thirst signals, we are preventing ourselves from using what is perhaps the simplest cure of all - WATER - in the alleviation of pain claims Dr Batmanghelidj in his book, Your Body's Many Cries For Water.

"Humans seem to lose their thirst sensation and, failing to recognise their water needs, they become gradually and chronically dehydrated as they get older." writes Dr Batmanghelidj. Contrary to popular belief, he claims that a dry mouth is the last signal of thirst and that the body can suffer from dehydration even when the mouth may be fairly moist.

WE SHOULD BEGIN TO REALISE that in the same way, we have a "hunger pain" signal, we also have a "thirst pain" signal in the body, writes Dr Batmanghelidj. He believes that whatever their illness, people should first try the water cure before turning to drug treatment.

Dr Batmanghelidj's theory is based on the principle that we misinterpret thirst signals as pain and treat them with drugs which silence instead of cure the problem. "Because dehydration eventually causes loss of some functions, the various signals given by the water distribution system regulators during severe and lasting dehydration have been translated as indicators of unknown disease conditions of the body." he writes.

The human body is composed of 25% solid matter (the solute) and 75% water (the solvent) and, according to Dr Batmanghelidj, medical researchers have assumed that the solute composition is the reactive regulator of all fuctions of the human body. He believes that it is wrong to assume that water acts only as a solvent and never as a regulator of different parts of the body.

In his book, Dr Batmanghelidj puts forward his theory of regional thirst that is the signal of chronic water shortage in the area where pain is registered. For example, the pain of rheumatoid arthritis as an indicator of water deficiency in the affected joint cartilage surface.

If the initial pain of the arthritis is taken seriously and strict attention is paid to daily water intake. Dr Batmanghalidj suggests that further damage to the joint surfaces can be avoided. Likewise, the author believes that stress-related conditions such as ulcers, migraine and high blood pressure can be avoided if the body has sufficient water intake.

For more on the research of water by Dr. Batmanghelidj and his book, "Your Bodies Many Cries for Water", visit the Hydration 101 page on the Vita Genesis, Inc. Website.

Excerpt provided by Terry Rhoades, Vita Genesis Independent Executive Founder and Leadership Council Member.

Water and Weight Loss

2004-12-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

How Eight Glasses A Day Keep Fat Away!

Incredible as it may seem... Water is the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off!

Although most of us take it for granted...

Pure, clean water may be the only true Magic Potion for permanent weight loss!

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat.

Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase!

And an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits!

Here's the reason why...

The kidneys cannot function properly without enough water. When they do not work to capacity, some of their load is dumped on the liver. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But if the liver has to do some of the kidney's work, it cannot work at full throttle.

As a result, it metabolizes less fat... more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops!

Drinking an adequate amount of water every day is the best treatment for fluid retention. But when your body is given less water than it needs... it perceives the shortage as a threat to survival and will begin to retain every drop. Water reserves are stored in extra-cellular spaces (outside the cells). This water can show up as swollen feet, hands and legs.

Diuretics only offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients. Again, the body perceives a threat and will replace the lost water at the first opportunity. Thus, the condition quickly returns.

The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give your body what it needs - plenty of water - only then will stored water be released.

If water retention is a constant problem for you... excess salt may be to blame.

Your body will only tolerate sodium in certain concentrations. The more salt you eat, the more water your system retains to dilute it. But getting rid of unneeded salt is easy -- just drink water! As the water is forced through the kidneys, it will remove the excess sodium.

Overweight people need more water than thin people. Larger people have larger metabolic loads. Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism... it follows that the over weight person needs more water to metabolize excess fat.

Water helps to maintain proper muscle tone... which in turn, aids proper muscle contraction and prevents dehydration. It also helps to prevent the sagging skin that usually follows weight loss. Shrinking cells are buoyed by water which plums the skin and leaves it clear, healthy and resilient. Water helps rid the body of waste. During weight loss, the body has more waste to get rid of - all that metabolized fat must be shed.

Again . . . Water helps flush out this waste!

Water can help relieve constipation...

The colon is a primary internal water source. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. Result? Constipation. But when a person drinks enough water... normal bowel function will return.

So far, we have discovered same remarkable truths about water and about weight loss... the body will not function properly without enough water and cannot metabolize stored fat efficiently. On the household weight scales... Retained water shows up as excess weight.

It may seem strange, but to get rid of excess water... you must drink more water! Drinking water is essential to losing weight.

How much water is enough?

If you are of normal weight for your height, then on average you should drink (8) eight -- 8 oz. glasses of pure water every day. However, if you are overweight you should take (1) one additional glass for every 25 lbs. of excess weight you are trying to lose. The amount that you drink should be increased if you exercise, or if the weather is hot and dry.

Preferably, your drinking water should be taken cold...

Cold water is absorbed more quickly into the system than warm water. Some evidence suggests that drinking cold water can actually burn calories. To utilize water most efficiently during weight loss, follow this schedule:

Morning: 1 Quart of pure water over 30 minutes
Noon: 1 Quart of pure water over 30 minutes
Evening: 1 Quart of pure water between 5-6 P.M.

When the body gets all the water it needs to function optimally, all body system fluids will perfectly balance.

When this happens . . . you reach the "breakthrough point".

So what does that mean?

Endocrine gland function improves...

Fluid retention is alleviated as stored water is lost...

More fat can be used as fuel because the liver is free to
metabolize stored fat...

Natural thirst returns...

There is a loss of hunger almost overnight.
But don't forget this...

If you stop drinking enough water your body fluids
will again be thrown out of balance . . .

Once again you may experience fluid retention, unexplained weight gain and loss of thirst!

So what's the remedy this situation?

Start over . . . increasing your water intake to force another breakthrough!

Reprinted from "The Snowbird Diet" by Donald S. Roberston, M.D.

Aqua Di Vita Water is the perfect choice to drink every day. Visit the Vita Genesis site today for more information.

Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease.

40% of Americans Use Drugs

2004-12-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

40 Percent in U.S. Use Prescription Drugs
Dec 2, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 40 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug and one-in-six takes at least three, the government reported Thursday.

"Americans are taking medicines that lower cholesterol and reduce the threat of heart disease, that help lift people out of debilitating depressions, and that keep diabetes in check," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in a statement. Full story

As prescription drug use increases and scares such as the recent pulling of Vioxx off the market become more common, one might ask the question, that Dr. Batmanghelidj researched:

Is Your Body Crying For Water?

Water's Role in the Body

Water helps nearly every part of the human body function. Considering that our bodies are almost two-thirds water, understanding water's important role in the body can be a fountain of health. The following are just some facts about water and it's role in the body:

Your brain is 75% water
Moderate dehydration can cause headaches and dizziness
Water is required for expiration
Regulates body temperature
Carries nutrients and oxygen to all cells in the body
Blood is 92% water
Moistens oxygen for breathing
Protects and cushions vital organs
Helps to convert food into energy
Helps body absorb nutrients
Removes waste
Bones are 22% water
Muscles are 75% water
*Statistics From The International Bottled Water Association

Water is the main component of almost every function in your body.

Dehydration is often a contributing factor to many health issues or
afflictions that people have today. By maximizing and increasing
your hydration through use of water you can help your health and
well-being. It is not recommended that increased consumption of
water be a substitute for medical care or prescriptions, but
everyone can increase their well-being through proper hydration.

Do you drink water?

If you try Aqua Di Vita for a month then you, like hundreds of
loyal customers, can see how it makes you feel.

Visit Vita Genesis for more information.

Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the FDA and are provided for informational purposes and are not intended for diagnosing, treatment, cure, or prevention any disease.

Dr. Batmanghelidj - Passed Away

2004-11-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D., Internationally Renowned Physician and Advocator of the Natural Healing Power of Water passed away on November 15th.

Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, M.D., an internationally renowned researcher, author and advocator of natural medicine died on November 15 at Fairfax Hospital. He was 73. The cause was complications from Pneumonia.

Born in Iran, Dr. Batmanghelidj attended Fettes College in Scotland, and was a graduate of St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School of London University, where he had studied under Sir Alexander Fleming.

He practiced medicine in The United Kingdom before returning to Iran where he was instrumental in the development of hospitals and medical centers. He also established a number of sport projects for the advancement of youth in the country, including the construction and management of the first ice skating and sports complex in the Middle East.

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979 Dr. Batmanghelidj was placed in the infamous Evin Prison as a political prisoner for two years and seven months. With limited access to conventional medication, he discovered the healing powers of water while treating more than 3,000 fellow prisoners who suffered from peptic ulcer. He considered this environment as an “ideal stress laboratory” and began extensive research into the medicinal effects of water. Dr. Batmanghelidj discovered that a careful regimen of water drinking could prevent, relieve and can even cure many painful degenerative diseases that are today treated with drugs.

After his release from prison in 1982, and a harrowing escape over the mountains into Turkey, Dr. Batmanghelidj came to America. At the University of Pennsylvania, he immediately continued his research into the role of water metabolism in the human body, and the damaging effects of dehydration on human health. He published and lectured extensively, and presented scientific papers at US and International conferences. He spent the last 20 years researching the natural healing power of water and contribution of unintentional dehydration as cause of many degenerative diseases.

He created the Foundation for the Simple in Medicine, and Global Health Solutions publishing to promote public awareness of the health values of water. His message to the world is “You are not sick, you are thirsty; don’t treat thirst with medication.” His ground breaking book, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, has been translated into fifteen languages and has sold over a million copies.

He has numerous other books, educational material and scholarly publications to his credit. His work has created an international community that embraced him simply as Dr. B.

Read more about Dr. B's book in the Vita Genesis Hydration101 Lesson - Click Here

Aqua Di Vita for Your Dog (and other Pets)?

2004-11-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

Aqua Di Vita for Your Dog (and other Pets)?

All living beings need water. Without it, they will quickly become
dehydrated and sick.

Dogs should have at least 2 bowls filled with fresh water everyday.
One should be in the house and the other should be outside.

Keep the water clean, cool and fresh. If the water gets dirty or
warm during the day, change it.

Tips

Hot Days:
1. Change your dog's water often in warm weather.
The water will taste better, and it will also keep your dog's body cooler.
2. Keep your dog's water dish in the shade.

In the Winter:
1. If you leave water outside for your dog, make sure that it does not
become frozen. Your dog needs regular, cool water to drink, not ice.
2. If you are not able to change your dog's water, you might want to
buy a special heated dog dish.

At the Lake:
1. If you and your dog are swimming, still bring drinking water along, because it is not healthy for your dog to drink lake water. If you are at the ocean it is not healthy for them to drink saltwater.

Aqua Di Vita is safe for your pets. Mix 1 oz. to a gallon of distilled
water like you normally would for yourself, and give it to them just
like any other water.

We recommend Aqua Di Vita Vitality Water for your pets.

Everyone wants and deserves to drink the freshest, purest water
around...don't leave out Man's (and Woman's) Best Friends...our Dogs!

Personal Development and Growth

2004-11-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

Personal development is very important to growth in Network Marketing.

- Develop your skills by learning from those who are successful and leaders.

- Develop your mind by reading both motivational and business related topics.

The Internet is an unlimited source of both. Spend a few minutes each day focusing on your personal development and you can start seeing advances in your business development as a result. You still need to watch for one big pitfall or trap. Don't become a dreamer without action. All the motivational materials, quotes or business you read will not help you one bit if you don't apply it.

Read It, Do It, Live It.

Here are a few quotes I read on another forum to share and think about today:

-----

"Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is
not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs." - Vaclav Havel

-----

Challenge your excuses." - John Maxwell

This may sound easy but it's not. When you realize you are making an excuse, stop and challenge it. Don't listen to the excuses, especially when they are based on fears.

A definition of FEAR is

F alse
E vidence
A ppearing
R eal

-----

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." -Napoleon Hill

There is no "right time". Life happens. Stop focusing on yesterday and tomorrow and get to work today.

-----

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice." -Mary Ann Evans

Your are not trapped by your circumstances, you are a product of the choices you make within the circumstances.

Are Your Kids Drinking Enough Water?

2004-11-17T13:33:00.000-05:00

Are Your Kids Drinking Enough Water?

Studies show that 70% of pre-school children drink no water at all during the day.

This startling fact is all the more troubling when you consider that children are more susceptible to dehydration than adults. The bodies of growing children produce more heat than adults do, and they have a harder time coping with hot weather and humidity.

An active, 50 pound child needs about a quart each day to stay hydrated. And during exercise, an additional five ounces of water is required every 30 minutes.

When it comes to children, not all beverages are created equal. A national survey conducted by Cornell Medical Center found that children that drank more than 12 fluid ounces of sweetened fruit juices a day are prone to obesity and reduced growth.

Vita Genesis Aqua Di Vita Waters are safe for children of all ages. Four to five glasses a day of our Energy Formula is recommended. Health and Medical experts often recommend exposing children to pure water early in their development-- especially before they aquire a taste for "sweet" beverages. Aqua Di Vita Waters are the perfect choice.

Fill up an Aqua Di Vita water bottle and give it to them each day. They will enjoy it and get hydrated at the same time!

2004-11-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Are Aqua Di Vita Waters Affordable?

Absolutely!

Bottled water is a 8 billion dollar Industry! Needless to say, the competition is tough - however, Aqua Di Vita can't be beat! We did a price comparison market analysis and here is how we stack up against the leading waters*:

Propel® $8.72

Elements® $9.68

Perrier® $11.52

Evian® $11.50

Dasani® $7.92

Aqua Fina® $7.12

Aqua Di Vita $4.65

*average cost per gallon.

We even offer 2 oz. sample bottles (makes 2 gallons) so you can try
the water and see how it makes you feel. Visit

www.vitagenesis.com

for more details.

Powerful Intentions

2004-11-12T11:55:00.000-05:00

Online communities are "hot" ways to develop relationships online.

A couple weeks ago we shared

www.supportfriends.com

and this week want to let everyone know about another brand new site that just launched.

www.powerfulintentions.com Main Site

Visit, sign up (FREE), and incorporate these kinds of sites
in your daily networking and business building.

- Jeff

Chicken Soup!

2004-11-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

Drink Up!

As everyone has heard, one of the keys to battling colds and flu is to drink plenty of fluids. Get rid of your cold or flu virus by drinking lots of fluids, especially water. Normally, about six to eight cups of water, juice, or soup a day is enough to meet your hydration needs-- but keep in mind you can easily lose a quart or even more of fluid a day when you're sick with the flu or a bad cold.

Try to double your fluids. Do not drink any alchohol, coffee, or soft drinks, all of which cause dehydration and will deplete your body of much needed immune boosting nutrients.

How about a Chicken Soup remedy like your mother or grandmother used to make?

There are accounts of Chicken Soup as a cold and flu remedy as far back as 800 years ago, when the court physician to Saladin, the Caliph of Egypt, first recommended he drink chicken soup. Throughout time, it has proven to be effective against cold and flu. Researchers have found that chicken soup itself seems to increase the flow of mucus. When the mucus, which normally lines your throat, is moist it can trap and pass the viruses down to the stomach, where your own powerful digestive acids can help destroy them. Whether it's the aroma or the soup itself, they have found that drinking chicken soup also helps make your nose run. This can also decrease the amount of time cold and flu viruses can spend inside your body.

Irwin Ziment, M.D., a specialist and professor at the UCLA School for Medicine, says chicken soup contains drug-like agents similar to those in modern cold medicines. For example, an amino acid released from chicken during cooking chemically resembles the drug acetylcysteine, prescribed for bronchitis and other respiratory problems.

Tip: Add foods with natural anti-viral and antibiotic properties to your diet when you are sick. Two of these, onion and garlic, are perfect to add to your Chicken Soup.

GARLIC -- Laboratory studies have shown that garlic actually helps protect from flu viruses while boosting production of immune system antibodies. Preliminary studies showed that people who ate garlic for three weeks had enhanced immune system activity.

Vitality Home-Made Chicken Soup
-------------------------------
Cut up 2-3 chicken breasts into small pieces.
Plac chicken in a large glass or ceramic pot*.
Add 3 quarts of Aqua Di Vita Vitality water.
Add:
Black Pepper (to taste)
Sea Salt (to taste)
10 cloves of fresh diced or pressed garlic
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and cut into slices
1-2 Bay Leaves
1 bell pepper
4 stalks of celery, chopped
Boil on medium heat until chicken is done, (approx. 1-1/2 hours)
Remove fat from the surface as it accumulates.
After the chicken is done, add a package of your favorite type of
noodle (if desired). Cook 10 to 15 minutes more or until noodles are done.

* When using Aqua Di Vita Water to cook or make tea, always use a non-metal pot and cooking utensils. We recommend this anyway, due to concerns regarding Teflon or other coatings used in the manufacturing of some cookware.

For more information on Aqua Di Vita Water visit www.vitagenesis.com

Water and the Skin

2004-10-28T13:25:00.000-04:00

Water and the skin

The skin acts as a water reservoir and participates in the fluid regulation of the whole body. The skin tissue volume of a 70kg man is about 7 litres. The extracellular matrix (water outside the cells) comprises two-thirds of this volume, and consists of about 50% fluid. One third of the tissue layer consists of interchangeable water which is stored mainly in the dermis. Skin thickness depends on the amount of collagen fibres, cellular substances and interstitial fluid content. The fluid content of the skin determines its biophysical properties such as turgor, elasticity and distensibility. Increasing fluid content leads to a greater skin thickness.

Effects of dehydration

It is not surprising, therefore, that dehydration is associated with changes in the appearance of the skin. In mild dehydration the skin may appear flushed, dry and loose, with a loss of elasticity. (Loss of elasticity may be demonstrated by pinching the skin on the back of the hand and observing the time taken for the skin to return to its normal position. Recovery will be slower if the body is dehydrated.) However, loss of skin elasticity is also associated with ageing, and hence, dehydrated skin may appear to be older than it actually is.

Eisenbeiss et al used ultrasound to study the effects of body water and skin thickness. They found that slight changes in the water distribution of the body, eg due to water retention or dehydration, influence the thickness and echodensity of the dermis, eg skin thickness increased after fluid infusion. These changes were more pronounced at the forehead than on the lower legs.

The above is extracted from a draft report of the published scientific literature on the impacts of water on health by Hilary Forrester, commissioned by Water UK and published in July 2002.

----

Good hydration makes you feel and look better. Did you notice that so many skin products now claim to hydrate the skin?

Click Here for more Hydration 101 Tips about the type of water you should be putting in your body.

Keeping Healthy This Winter

2004-10-26T13:13:00.000-04:00

Keeping Healthy This Winter

How Flu is Spread

Most cough, cold and flu viruses are passed from person to person in respiratory droplets spread by coughing and sneezing. A forceful cough can expel particles as far as 25 ft.

Touching something with virus on it and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes may also transmit infection.

Adults may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before getting symptoms and up to 7 days after getting sick. That means that you can give someone the flu before you know you're sick as well as while you are sick.

These Good Health Habits Help You Stay Well

Wash your hands frequently and avoid putting your hands near your mouth, nose and eyes. Sneeze or cough into a tissue and throw it away.

Wipe down shared surfaces, like countertops, doorknobs, keyboards and telephones. Flu virus can live on a surface for up to an hour.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose or mouth.

Most viral germs are airborne, so avoid contact with people who are sick. If your coworker is ailing, steer clear of his or her sneezes. If you are caring for an ill family member, wash your hands habitually and minimize proximity to his or her face.

Don't smoke. Quitting is always a good idea, but it's even more important now.

Eat healthy food. You are what you eat, and healthy eating will support your immune system.

Drink plenty of water. Avoid alcohol and caffeinated drinks as they contribute to dehydration.

Make time for moderate exercise in the fresh air.

Get plenty of rest.

If You Have A Respiratory Illness

Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.

Cover your mouth and nose. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Used tissues contain respiratory secretions and should be disposed of in the nearest waste receptacle.

Clean your hands. Wash your hands with soap and water, alcohol-based hand rub, or antiseptic handwash after having contact with respiratory secretions and contaminated objects/materials.

These recommendations are based on the Draft Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings. Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), CDC

Vita Genesis Structured Water and Liquid Nutritionals www.vitagenesis.com

The Water Puzzle

2004-10-22T11:49:00.000-04:00

From Institute of Heartmath Research Center

Water is the universal medium for all biological activity. Nearly two-thirds of the human body and one-half of each of our organs, by volume, consists of water. This amounts to approximately 10 gallons of water, largely enclosed within trillions of cells. Increasing evidence indicates that the water within living cells is highly structured, arranged in various intermolecular conformations held together by extensive hydrogen bonding networks, giving it quite different properties and behavior from bulk water. It appears, further, that the structuring of cellular water is critical to the healthy chemical functioning of the cell.

Increased knowledge of the mechanisms underlying electromagnetic and subtle information storage, amplification and transduction by water may open the doorway to comprehending how these processes operate in the water within us. This could aid in building a solid model to explain the effects of weak electromagnetic and subtle energies on living organisms, and, possibly, significantly expand our understanding of the function of water in biological systems. Studies designed to advance our understanding of water's role as a bridge between the worlds of energy and matter will provide a crucial link between the realms of science and spiritual phenomena, bear profound implications for the betterment of human and environmental health, and may well help lay the foundations for a newly emerging scientific paradigm.

Research by Dr. Mu Shik Jhon:

Dr. Mu Shik Jhon, President of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and the Honorary Chair-Professor of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and a world authority in water research, firmly believes that water dominates life. He is the originator of the hexagonal water theory and has been actively disclosing its relationship with cancers and aging mechanism as well as possible healing effects.

Professor Jhon says that here are three different shapes of water. One is hexagonal hook-shaped, another is pentagonal hook-shaped and still another hexagonal chain-shaped.

In other words, water molecules exist not separately, but as a cluster of molecules of the same shape. The hexagonal water in liquid condition constantly transforms.

Professor Jhon has found through experiments as well as molecular simulations that there are three kinds of water as above and that the more closely water is combined with biomeolecules, the more hexagonal shape molecules the water contains. All these shows us that our bodies prefer hexagonal water.

Dr Jhon has also found through experiments on cancer and diabetic patients that the water molecules near their abnormal cells is disorderly and highly mutable than that near the normal cells. On the basis of such experiments, he reported that “structured water in cells play the role in maintaining normal condition of the cells and if, for some reason, the structure of water is damaged, cancer or diabetes arises.”

Through his recent research, Professor Jhon confirmed that there are more hexagonal water around the normal protein than around cancerous protein. He insists that it is not absurd attempt at all to explore possibilities of normalizing the cancerous or diabetic cells by improving water environment of cells. Professor Jhon advises us to increase drinking of hexagonal water, and if given a choice, should be the only water you drink!

Visit the Vita Genesis Hydration 101 Link for more information on the Water Puzzle.

Drink Aqua DiVita - Hexagonal Structured Water - Click for More Information

Product and Opportunity Overview Calls

2004-10-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Join the Vita Genesis Conference Call
Every Tuesday Night
9PM EST
641-594-7510 Pin 61522

Take a Tour of Vita Genesis Here

Water and Flu?

2004-10-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

A study recently published by a British researcher did indeed find that people who drink eight glasses of water a day have less chance of getting the flu, a stuffy nose or sore throat.

The study also found that people who drink only three glasses of water a day were five times more likely to get a dry nose or sore throat, increasing their susceptibility to bacteria.

David Lewis, the researcher who conducted the study, said the key is to keep the mucous membranes in the nose moist. "This acts like a sticky fly-paper to trap things like dust, dirt, and bacteria and prevent them from getting into the lungs," Lewis said. He also noted that dehydrated membranes are half as effective.

In addition, the study noted that drinking more water was linked to fewer respiratory infections, headaches, skin problems and constipation. Only one in six of the respondents in the study said they drank eight glasses of water a day.

So, drink up to your health!

New Founders Positions!

2004-10-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

Vita Genesis recently announced the opening of new Founders positions.
New Founders get the following benefits when they enroll as a Vita Genesis Founder.

Exclusive 3% Founders Bonus Pool - paid monthly
Paid at the Gold Level
Membership in the Vita Genesis Founders Club
3 months of free personalized website service with back office.
Vita Genesis start up package including Visa Debit Card for commission payouts
Vita Genesis Founder Product Package
Eligibility to receive leads from national advertising done by the company.

**see www.vitagenesis.com for more details

Sign Up Forms are available on the Website or you can call the Corporate Office
at 906-475-9576 to enroll.

Exisisting Associates who are not Founders may upgrade to these new Founder positions.

2004-10-11T14:46:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Official Vita Genesis Blog!

This Blog is to help provide education about the benefits of structured water and provide a leadership forum for Vita Genesis Associates.

Visit the Vita Genesis Website at : www.vitagenesis.com