Archive for month: December, 2015

Chlorine’s benefits fall into five major categories:

• disinfection
• pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
• public safety
• crop protection
• every day life

First, disinfection. Before chlorine, a drink of water could kill you. Fortunately, since the advent of water chlorination, these epidemic diseases, which once killed tens of thousands, have been virtually wiped out in the United States, Europe and other developed nations.

Hailed as one of history’s greatest public health advances, water made safe by chlorination has also contributed to a 50 percent-plus increase in life expectancy and a dramatic decline in infant mortality rates.

Just as water is essential to life, chlorine is essential to safe water. This fundamental fact is tragically illustrated every day by the more than 25,000 people around the world who die each day from diseases associated with dirty drinking water, according to the World Health Organization.

In addition, one only needs to look to the cholera epidemic in Peru that took thousands of lives in the late 1980s after the country stopped chlorinating its water out of concerns over exposures to Trihalomethanes (THMs). This tragedy clearly illustrates that as far as safe water is concerned, the real dangers the world faces without the benefits of chlorine chemistry far outweigh the hypothetical risks of chlorinated compounds.

Aside from its essential role in water purification, chlorine is also one of the most effective and economical germ-killers against a wide array of life-threatening infections, viruses and bacteria, such as HIV, salmonella, E. Coli, and campylobacter.

Simply put, nothing cleans like chlorine. Homes, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other public places such as nursing homes, schools, day care centers, resorts, spas, and cruise ships are all made cleaner and safer thanks to chlorine.

Chlorine also is a cornerstone of modern medicine. Today, about 85 percent of all pharmaceuticals contain or are manufactured with chlorine. These drugs include vitamins and medicines that treat heart disease, cancer, AIDS, ulcers, arthritis, pneumonia, depression, diabetes, allergies and colds, ear infections, malaria, and meningitis to name a few. Almost one-third of central nervous system drugs contain chlorine, while 98 percent of gastrointestinal medications use chlorine.

Chlorine also makes possible a wide variety of medical equipment. An estimated 25 percent of all medical devices in hospitals contain or are made with chlorine. Among them are IV and blood bags, X-ray and mammography film, syringes, oxygen tents, diagnostic instruments, sterile tubing packaging, coolers for organ transplants, surgical sutures, and artificial blood vessels.

Chlorine helps improve human health in other ways too. About 96 percent of all crop protection chemicals use chlorine in the manufacturing process. Thanks to these chemicals, society can count on a wide selection of nutritious and low-cost grains and produce. It is estimated that chlorine-reliant crop protection chemicals contribute to a 23 – 40 percent increase in production yield. Clearly, without chlorine’s help in controlling pests, diseases and weeds, there would be far more food shortages and failed crops all over the world.

The products of chlorine chemistry not only save lives, they make the world a much safer place. Chlorine chemistry has helped make possible some of the most important public safety advances in recent years, such as bullet-resistant vests that have saved thousands of police officers lives, and the special plastic known as “bullet-resistant glass” that provides protection in security vehicles, police cars and bank teller windows. Chlorine also helps fire fighters “take the heat,” by contributing to the manufacture of fire-resistant clothing and helmets.

And though you might not have realized it, chlorine makes everyday life a lot safer. Seat belts and airbags, two of the most important devices in automobile safety, are both possible thanks to chlorine chemistry.

Chlorine also helps make our everyday lives a lot more enjoyable and productive. Used to make one of the world’s most widely used and versatile plastics — polyvinyl chloride (or PVC) — chlorine plays a role in everything from car upholstery to card tables, garden hoses to golf bags, rain coats to recreational equipment and wallpaper to window frames.

As a major factor in the technological advances that have revolutionized communications, chlorine chemistry contributes to the production of the microprocessors and wires in computers, computer disks, and the plastic housings for computers, keyboards and telephones.

Virtually every part of the home is touched by chlorine’s benefits. From the ground up, many are constructed and decorated with chlorine-related products such as vinyl siding, windows and plumbing pipes; nylon carpeting, house paint, and fiberglass insulation. Inside the home, chlorine contributes to everything from clean, disinfected tap water, to household cleaners and bleach, to food packaging and plastic wraps, to televisions.

Traveling away from home, chlorine is there nearly every step of the way, contributing to the construction of automobiles, aircraft and trains. Even space vehicles and rocket fuel depend on chlorine chemistry.

When you think about it, the many benefits of chlorine chemistry can be summed up in three words: Chlorine Saves Lives. And when you think a little more, it’s readily apparent that life simply would not be the same without chlorine.

But chlorine’s benefits do not just exist in the present; they will extend into the future, particularly where the environment and human health are concerned.

The pulp and paper industry’s switch to elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching provides a clear example of how chlorine chemistry can be part of the answer to improving our environment, while maintaining economic growth. Through the use of chlorine dioxide, elemental chlorine-free bleaching represents the best of both worlds by virtually eliminating the presence of dioxin in mill waste water and pulp products, while still providing the highest quality recyclable white paper and saving precious forest resources.

Elemental chlorine-free bleaching also appears to offer significant environmental advantages over TCF. Specifically, recent evidence indicates that TCF pulp manufacture increases wood consumption by about 10 percent. This means that if pulp and paper mills were TCF, the annual increase in forest resources required would equal about 100 million mature trees. Furthermore, TCF reduces paper’s recyclability by damaging cellulose fibers.

Though society tends to quickly forget, chlorine chemistry over the years has provided other solutions that have allowed us to minimize or eliminate risks and improve the environment. For example, DDT, although now banned, helped rid malaria from much of the world decades ago. Today, two other products of chlorine chemistry — polyvinyl chloride plumbing pipes and house paints based on titanium dioxide — are helping to reduce the public’s exposure to lead.

In the future, chlorine chemistry will make possible other advancements in productivity, environmental protection and human health that will benefit the world community.

Already chlorine chemistry has proved Thomas Malthus wrong. Thanks to modern crop protection chemicals — the overwhelming majority of which are based on processes using chlorine — hardly anyone in the more affluent nations of the world has experienced malnutrition or starvation.

The health benefits of phosphorus are not restricted to one category, as it has a number of critical functions for other body parts as well:

Bone Formation:Phosphorus is a vital part of the growth process, as well as the maintenance of bones and teeth. It works in association with calcium to create strong bones, which can withstand the normal wear and tear of human life. It also helps in boosting the health of your gums and tooth enamel. It also helps in relieving serious problems like bone loss or the loss of mineral density, also known as osteoporosis. This mineral lays the foundation of a strong skeletal structure to ensure health and functional living. One of the recent discoveries of phosphorous also link it to heart health, meaning that with a proper intake, you can better protect yourself from a range of cardiovascular diseases.

Digestion: Phosphorus plays an important role in facilitating effective digestion in the human body. It does this by stimulating the digestion of riboflavin and niacin in an efficient way. These two vitamins are also essential for human health, so any way that their uptake can be maximized is a good thing. These two varieties of vitamin B are responsible for everything from energy metabolism to neurological and emotional response systems. Beyond the uptake of other vitamins and minerals, phosphorous directly clears up indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, and generally tones up the digestive system for regular, healthy bowel movements. This increases the health of the digestive system, as well as that of the kidneys, since the toxins are being eliminated from the body, rather than recycling through the kidneys and stressing that system.

Excretion and Urination: Phosphorus plays an important role in keeping the kidneys healthy. It does this by ensuring the proper release of waste from kidneys through the process of urination and excretion. By increasing the quantity and frequency of urination, the body is able to balance its levels of uric acid, excess salts, water, and even fat, since urine is usually about 4% fat. Phosphorous encourages the healthy balance of all fluids and materials that are eliminated from the body, thereby helping the entire body remain healthy and toxin-free.

Weakness: Phosphorous has the ability to remove minor health problems like muscle weakness, numbness, fatigue and similar ailments. Normal levels of phosphorous in the body are a great way to remain fit and active. A normal amount can be approximately 1200 mg for adults, according to experts and from suggestions of various health practitioners. Sexual weakness can also be cured with healthy supplementation of phosphorous into the body, so issues like loss of libido, frigidity, impotence, and sperm motility can be boosted by having an adequate supply of phosphorus in your system.

Brain Function: Since phosphorous is an essential element found around as well as inside the cells of the brain, it is obviously responsible for important functions. Proper levels of phosphorous guarantee proper brain function and cognitive growth and development. Studies have linked a phosphorus deficiency to an increased risk of cognitive malfunction, and the early onset of neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Protein Formation: Phosphorus is one of the most important element in the creation of proteins, which further help in the process of reproduction. It also facilitates the maximum utilization of proteins in the human body to ensure proper growth of cells, along with their repair when necessary. In the same manner, phosphorus also helps our bodies utilize carbohydrates as well as fats. The metabolism of proteins is what keeps our body growing and maintaining itself as the wear and tear of the years continues. It is one of the most essential parts of human metabolism, so phosphorus’ stimulating effect is vital to our overall health.

Cell Repair: Phosphorus also contributes to the repair process and maintenance of various body cells which suffer from daily wear and tear. It ensures that body cells are developed properly and remain active for impressive overall health. This contribution mainly comes in the form of helping to create protein and stimulating the correct hormones to react accordingly around the body to stimulate metabolic activity.

Hormone Balance: The health benefits of phosphorus may be considered vital for regulating the balance of hormones in the human body. It ensures that hormones, especially those required for good reproductive health, are always present in appropriate, balanced amounts. Phosphorus does this by directly interacting with the endocrine glands of the body and helps to regulate the creation and release of hormones. The hundreds of hormones in our body play extremely important roles in all of our health issues, and phosphorus is an irreplaceable part of that control system.

Energy Extraction: Phosphorus aids in the process of energy extraction by stimulating the process of metabolism of different nutrients. Furthermore, it helps in the flow of energy and its efficient usage by different organ systems, some of which is due to its ability to absorb vitamins so efficiently.

Chemical Reactions: Phosphorus acts as a participant or co-factor in a number of chemical reactions taking place inside the body. Also, it facilitates the proper utilization of various nutrients entering the body. All in all, be sure to always include phosphorus in your diet, you won’t get far without it!

Some say that aluminium exposure can damage your health. But scientific evidence does not support this. In some circumstances, aluminium can actually improve our health.

We are exposed to aluminium in many ways:

• The Earth’s crust (7 percent of Earth’s crust is aluminium)
• Most rocks and soils (where aluminium occurs in various chemical forms)
• Vegetation
• Naturally in most water supplies
• As part of dust particles in the air
• In all clays (which has made it a part of for instance cooking pots since our first civilizations)

As you can see, our evolution has developed in an aluminium-rich environment.

Eat and drink

Food is the most important source of aluminium for the human body, with medicines that contains aluminium.

Most of the intake of aluminium from food comes from the natural content of aluminium in fruit and vegetables. This is because plants absorb aluminium from the soil.

Some foods contain added aluminium salts. In Europe, the daily aluminium intake from food is estimated at 3-10 milligrams.

To prepare, preserve and store food and drinks, aluminium in used in foils, menu trays, cans, etc. The amount of aluminium we get in our bodies from cans, foil or saucepans is very small (About 0.1 mg/day).

Water

Aluminium is a natural component in surface and ground water. It is also common to use aluminium sulfate or “alum” for efficient purification of water supplies.

However, aluminium in water is less than 1 percent of our daily aluminium intake.

Medicines, vaccines and cosmetics

Aluminium in medicine goes back to ancient Greek and Rome, where aluminium compounds were used as an astringent, for example to stop bleedings.

Nowadays, the main aluminium compound in medicine is aluminium hydroxide. This is used to treat stomach ulcers and kidney failure. Some vaccines contain aluminium compounds to make them more efficient.

Aluminium salts are used in cosmetic products like deodorants. The aluminium salts block sweat ducts and reduce the amount of sweat on the surface of the skin.

Breath

Inhalation of aluminium through air is a small source of exposure. According to the World Health Organization, the exposure is up to 0.04 mg/day, which is less than 1 percent of the contribution we get through food.

Intake and uptake

Most of the aluminium we get through food, water, beverages and medicine, passes through the digestive system without being absorbed by the body.

There seems to be no clear evidence of a correlation between the amount of aluminium ingested and uptake in ‘normal’ people. But this does not take into consideration situations where the barriers are being bypassed. Some studies seem to show that a high intake and uptake of aluminium gives toxic effects.

When aluminium is absorbed, it is carried through the blood stream to the kidneys, where it is rapidly discharged.

Patients with kidney failure will not be able to eliminate aluminium, and the aluminium can accumulate and cause a toxic effect. It is important that people with kidney failure only use aluminium-free water when undergoing dialysis.

Negative effects

High levels of aluminium in the body have been shown to have neurotoxic effects, effects on bone and possibly reproduction.

This occurs when the amount of aluminium consumed exceeds the body’s capacity to excrete it, because the aluminium is then deposited in our bodies and can cause problems.

Some studies have indicated abnormal volumes of aluminium in brain tissue of Alzheimer patients. Other studies show no correlation between aluminium intake and Alzheimer. The theories have caused a lot of discussions, and there are many different opinions.

Positive effects

Todays research does not support suggestions to exclude commonly used aluminium products. The exception is patients with kidney failure, who should avoid aluminium entering their bloodstream through dialysis.