Chlorine in Your Drinking and Shower Water

In the article “ On Chlorine”, on the "friends of water" web-site, the author cautions against drinking or bathing in chlorinated water because of the risk of cancer. This statement is explicit: “Drinking it, and absorbing it though the air and water in showering and bathing seems like a bad idea to us.” This is a poorly supported precautionary statement because they don’t give enough evidence to prove that it may cause irreversible harm or that there is not a scientific consensus about the potential risks.

The article discusses a study which states that when trihalomethane, a chemical by-product of chlorination, is absorbed or inhaled into the body, the chemical becomes much more dangerous because it does not go through a detoxification process in the liver. They link chlorine exposure to increased incidents of cancer, which could be argued to be irreversible harm.

The article describes only the one study, cited in the previous paragraph, where scientists believe using or drinking chlorinated water is harmful. Arguing that the scientific community believes that drinking chlorinated water does not cause harm, the article quotes the US Environmental Protection Agency: “Chlorine is not classified as a carcinogen by the EPA, and chlorine levels are controlled in drinking water at levels the EPA deems safe.” This limited evidence of one scientific body believing it is safe and one group of scientists believing it is unsafe hardly leaves the reader feeling there is a lack of consensus.

This article has unsuccessfully used the precautionary principle to show that absorbing or drinking chlorine is bad. Although, it tries to prove using chlorinated water in your homes may cause cancer, it certainly does not convince the reader that the scientific community is divided on this issue. The article is enormously biased because it is on a web-site selling chlorine water filters. It is essentially semi-subtle advertising for their products, targeted at their potential customers.

References:

Friends of Water. "On Chlorine". friendsofwater.com. 2007-2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009 from http://www.friendsofwater.com/No_Chlorine.html