Chlorine in Drinking Water? Ask the Chickens!

When I was a child, my mother always had a bottle of chlorine bleach in the laundry room. We were taught not to touch it. In fact, the warning was so strong that I thought the very act of putting a finger on the bottle spelled death!

As I got older, I learned more about chlorine bleach. I learned that it was safe to touch the bottle, and that even spilling a bit on your skin was not bad if you rinsed it off. I learned, though, that it was still not something to be ingested.

Why, then, do we put chlorine in drinking water?

Killing Germs

Municipal water treatment plants put chlorine in drinking water to kill germs. Chlorine is a disinfectant, as well as a bleach. Putting chlorine in drinking water is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to kill some, though not all, of the germs that are present in the water.

Emergency Disinfecting

After a major storm, clean drinking water can be hard to find. You may not have power to boil water. At such a time, you can practice emergency disinfecting by putting chlorine in drinking water. Regular, household bleach will kill some, but not all, types of disease-causing organisms in the water. You will need to put 1/8 teaspoon (or 8 drops) of chlorine in each gallon of drinking water. Stir it well, and let it stand for 30 minutes before you use it.

Disadvantages of Chlorine in Drinking Water

Although chlorine can kill serious microorganisms such as those that cause cholera and typhoid fever, putting chlorine in drinking water involves health risks.

Chlorine in drinking water can react with organic matter that is present, such as decaying vegetation. The reaction results in by-products, the most common of which is trihalomethanes.

Trihalomethanes

Trihalomethanes have been shown to increase the risk of cancer in laboratory animals. Tests on humans also show a possible link between the trihalomethanes produced by chlorine in drinking water and cancer.

A report released by The U.S. Council of Environmental Quality states that “Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.”

Learning from Chickens

Dr. Joseph Price wrote a very divisive book in the late sixties titled Coronaries/ Cholesterol/ Chlorine. Dr. Price concluded, “Nothing can negate the incontrovertible fact, the basic cause of atherosclerosis and resulting entities such as heart attacks and stroke, is chlorine.”

After writing that book, Dr. Price headed a study of chlorine in drinking water. The study used several hundred chickens as test subjects. One group always had chlorine in drinking water; the other drank water without chlorine. Nothing else in their environment and care differed. At death, each chicken was autopsied.

* The chickens raised with chlorine in drinking water all showed some level of heart or circulatory disease. The group that drank chlorine-free water had no disease.
* The chickens raised with chlorine in drinking water, when subjected to winter conditions, showed poor circulation. They shivered. Their feathers dropped. They became less active. The group that drank chlorine-free water did not show such reactions to the cold.
* The chickens that drank chlorine-free water grew faster and larger. They displayed vigorous health. The group that were raised with chlorine in drinking water were smaller, took longer to mature, and were less healthy.

The poultry industry was amazed – and took action to preserve the health of their chickens. Most large poultry farms began – and continue – to use water that does not contain chlorine.

Obviously, we have a lesson to learn from the chickens.