From PAAVO AIROLA, Ph.D., N.D.
Taken from his book
"Are you Confused?" [1971]
The Water Controversies
There is no longer controversy in regard to our polluted waters.
Only a decade ago or so those of us who talked about the slow
mass suicide that we were committing by polluting the waters in
lakes and rivers were called alarmists. But now, everyone is
suddenly aware of the grave consequences we have to face for
abusing our water supplies. The President of the United States
told us, in his 1970 State of the Union speech, that we have to
clean our environment or perish. I am afraid that it might be
"perish", because, in spite of all the talk and promises,
nothing is being or will be done; more toxic matter than ever
before is pouring into our lakes and rivers from industrial
sources, from fields and forests saturated with chemical
fertilizers and toxic sprays, and from sewage loaded with
household detergents and other poisonous chemicals. We may have
already reached the point of no return.
Since there is general agreement now on the subject of polluted
water, and since this book deals with controversies,
misconceptions and confusion, we will discuss a few other
controversial topics regarding water.
*Fluoridation of the water
Let me state clearly and loudly that fluoridation of the water is
the biggest hoax in medical history perpetrated on innocent
people in the name of science.
Some 80 million Americans are now mass-medicated by, sodium
fluoride, while there is no positive, conclusive, scientific
proof that the addition of this inorganic toxic chemical does the
least bit of good, even to the teeth of children between ages 7
and 12. But there are dozens of reliable studies made around the
world that show that the fluoridation of the water causes
fluorosis (mottling of tooth enamel), mongolism in infants,
kidney damage, and other harmful effects to the body by its
direct effect, and by its interference with enzyme, mineral and
vitamin functions within the system. These studies are, however,
suppressed; researchers are persecuted; and their findings are
not published in medical journals. Woe to those who dare to go
against the orthodoxy's monopoly of thoughts, ideas and
practices!
Unfortunately, space limitations prevent us from going into
detail about this fascinating question of misguided chemical
"progress", fluoridation of the water. Suffice here to say that
several governments in Europe - notably Denmark, Poland, Sweden,
Russia and Italy - have investigated all American claims for the
benefits and safety of fluoridation and, after careful study,
have prohibited fluoridation by-law on the grounds that "there is
not sufficient evidence as to the benefit or the safety of this
unscientific measure". The Swedish government and the Swedish
Medical Society have for several years campaigned for water
fluoridation, but in 1970 reversed their policy, and now are
advising to stop all future fluoridation. A committee of forty
Swedish medical experts, after a careful study of the newest
facts, reported that "because of the increasing amount of reports
which link artificially fluoridated water to a variety of
health-damaging effects, all further fluoridation of the water in
Sweden should be stopped until more knowledge of harmful
side-effects of water fluoridation is obtained."
(Those who are interested in studying the fluoridation question
thoroughly should read the most informative book on the subject,
called FLUORIDATION, compiled by the National Health Federation
and obtainable from NHF P.O. Box 686, Monrovia, California,
91016.)
Just one more thought on fluoridation - not a very scientific,
but a plain horse-sense thought. The American Dental
Association supports and endorses fluoridation very forcefully
and spends a lot of its members' money on pro-fluoridation
campaigns, advertising and propaganda, pushing fluoridation down
the throats of the American people.
Pro-fluoridationist doctors and dentists claim that
mass-fluoridation would reduce the tooth decay by 60 per cent.
Are you naive enough to believe that the American dentists, in
mass, would endorse and actually financially support a program
that would reduce their income by 60 per cent? They are not that
dumb. They know that fluoridation of water will not reduce their
incomes. There are actually as many or more dentists in the towns
with 15 or more years of fluoridation than there are in
non-fluoridated towns of comparable size. Fluoridation results in
mottled teeth which need lots of dental work later in life and
early replacement by dentures. You may not know what you are
doing when you vote for the fluoridation of your water supply,
but pro-fluoridationists know what they are doing, believe me! If
they are so genuinely interested in reducing tooth decay - and
reducing their incomes - by 60%, why don't they try advocating
sugar-free diets and bone-meal supplements? It has been
demonstrated conclusively by several researchers in Sweden and in
the United States that such simple prophylactics as the addition
of bone-meal to the diet and the avoidance of white sugar and
white bread will bring tooth decay to a virtual standstill. In
a Swedish study, children brought up on bone-meal supplements
were almost 100 per cent free from tooth decay. Why don't the
American dentists push this kind of caries-pre-ventive program,
which really works?
Abraham Lincoln said: "You can fool some of the people all of the
time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not
fool all of the people all of the time." Almost one half
THE WATER CONTROVERSIES of the American people have now been
fooled for 20 years. Will all of the American people have to be
fooled for "some of the time," before they will finally be
awakened to the fact that they have been used as the guinea pigs
of a quasi-scientific experiment based on an erroneous,
speculative theory?
*Distilled vis-a-vis natural water
There has been a great deal of confusion lately in regard to the
advisability of drinking distilled water. Some health "experts"
tell us that all well water, spring water, lake water, and fresh,
running river and stream water is not good for human consumption.
We know that practically all fresh water is polluted these days;
and all the health experts agree that we should drink only pure,
fresh, unpolluted and uncontaminated water that hasn't been
chlorine or fluoridated. These are not the points of disagreement
in this controversy, however. The reason some experts condemn all
natural water is that "it contains large amounts of inorganic
minerals which the body can not use." The same experts claim that
these inorganic minerals can cause stiff joints, hardening of the
arteries, gallstones, kidney and bladder stones, and many other
ills. They advise, therefore, that the only "natural" water which
is good for you is steam-processed distilled water.
This distilled water idea is one of the most nonsensical and
unscientific fads that has hit the health business in a long
while. Consider these facts:
1. Man has used natural waters from springs, rivers and lakes for
thousands of years, and enjoyed wonderful health.
Hardening of the arteries is a relatively recent disease, a
disease of civilization.
2. All wild animals drink natural waters and enjoy perfect health
and complete freedom from disease.
3. The Hunza people, known for their extraordinary health and
total freedom from hardening of the arteries or gall-bladder or
kidney stones, drink natural waters that contain even more
inorganic minerals than the waters in other parts of the world.
4. It has been scientifically established that in many places of
the world, notably one town in England, where drinking
water is extremely "hard", i.e. it contains extra large amounts
of minerals, the people have a much lower incidence of
arteriosclerosis as compared to the areas where people drink
so-called "soft" water.
5. The latest findings of the British Society for the Advancement
of Science and the U.S. Navy Dental Research Institute show that
drinking so-called hard water, which is rich in minerals and
trace elements, particularly molybdenum,
strontium and fluorine, can prevent tooth decay and
cardio-vascular diseases, caused by the hardening of the
arteries. The trace element chromium in hard water helps to
prevent diabetes.
6. Distilled water, void of all minerals, is not a natural water.
It is a synthetic, artificial, man-made, fragmented product
that does not occur "naturally". Prolonged drinking of soft
(read: deficient in minerals) or distilled water will result
in mineral deficiencies and lead to deficiency-caused diseases.
There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that minerals from
the water plug the arteries and cause arteriosclerosis. Hardening
of the arteries is caused by the cholesterol deposits on the
inside walls of the blood vessels. Some calcium and other
minerals may be deposited on cholesterol, but this is not caused
by drinking hard water, but by faulty mineral metabolism.
*Organic versus inorganic minerals
The main objection against drinking natural waters is that they
contain inorganic minerals that the body "can not use".
This objection is based on the antiquated theory that our body
can use only the organic minerals. All minerals, chemicals,
metals, salts and trace elements that are present in plant and
animal tissues are organic. Those minerals that are present
in soil, rocks, water, sea water, and air are inorganic. As
plants grow, they transform inorganic minerals into organic
minerals.
It may be true that your body can use only organic minerals,
if with the word use we mean the body's ability to assimilate and
utilize these minerals as essential building blocks for renewal
and repair of cells, and for many other vital biochemical and
metabolic processes in the system.
This does not mean, however, that inorganic minerals can not be
absorbed into the system, that they are completely useless. There
is some recent research which suggests that inorganic minerals,
which have always been an integral part of man's environment,
have some important part to play in man's life processes.
For example, people have been using mineral springs and various
kinds of mineral water baths for ages, long before civilization.
I have seen ancient bathing places in the Caucassus mountains of
Russia, where cave dwellers carried their sick to bathe in
natural hot mineral springs. I have seen many such ancient
bathing places, Balnearios, in Mexico. Mexican Indians have been
using mineral waters for the healing of their sick since long
before any white man stepped on this continent. They also use
mineral-rich seawater to cure themselves of diseases. I have met
many Indian medicine men who employ seawater and sand packs, and
who recommend drinking seawater for many ailments. In Germany, I
have visited dozens of mineral water Spas, where millions of
people take "cures".
Note that all these mineral waters, as well as seawater, contain
only inorganic minerals: If your body can not use them at all, if
they do nothing but cause serious disorders and diseases, as you
have been told, then why do millions of people around the world
visit these Spas and mineral springs and report enthusiastically
of the many health benefits, even cures, they obtain from them?
*The medicinal value of mineral water
The medicinal and health-promoting properties of mineral waters
have been demonstrated in many experiments and studies. Drs.
Korenyi, Harkavy and Whittier reported on the experiments they
conducted with 34 patients with high cholesterol levels at the
Greedmoor State Hospital in New York. These patients, whose serum
cholesterol levels were above 240mg.%, did not receive any other
type treatment known to have any effect on serum cholesterol,
except 30.5 fluid ounces of mineral water daily in three divided
doses. The treatment continued 30 days.
At the end of two weeks the average decrease of serum cholesterol
was 9.9mg.%. At the conclusion of the study, the average decrease
was 23.8mg.%.
A Hungarian doctor, 0. Schulhof, M.D., made a study of mineral
Spa therapies and reported that "beside the psycho- logical
effects produced by the changed environment, and the complex
effect of other therapeutic treatments, we still attribute
importance to the specific effect of the mineral water." Dr.
Schulhof said that it has been demonstrated that mineral water is
actually absorbed through the skin. According to Dr. Schulhof,
mineral waters have a beneficial effect on the connective tissues
as well as on the immunological and healing powers of the body.
In Germany, three million people frequent mineral bathing and
drinking Spas each year, most of them on their doctors'
recommendations. In Bad Pyrmont, I visited the famous Mineral
Water Cure establishment run and directed by the State Medical
Board. Medical doctors supervise the "water cures" at Bad
Pyrmont. Here is a quote from the brochure published by the State
Medical Government:
"Bad Pyrmont Spa facilities are recommended for the treatment of
the following diseases: diseases of the heart and
circulation; cardiac insufficiency, cardiac infarct, coronary
thrombosis; disorders in blood pressure, peripheral circulation
disorders; nervous disorders, diseases of the blood-forming
organs; all types of anemia; rheumatic diseases of the bones,
joints and muscles; women's complaints: inflammation of female
abdominal organs, periodic and other hormone disorders; eczema;
allergies; conditions of exhaustion; children's diseases;
diseases of old age and senility."
Keep in mind that this is not a "quack"-operated joint trying to
cheat people of their money, offering bogus mineral water
cures for all these serious diseases, but a State-operated Spa
that has been approved by the State Medical Association!
If mineral waters didn't work or did not have a beneficial and
curative effect, do you think these hundreds of mineral Spas
would be operated on such a grand scale for thousands of years?
A doctor with whom I spoke at Bad Pyrmont told me: "The modern
inquiry into Balnealogy* and the medicinal value of mineral
waters is recent and as yet incomplete. But what is already known
indicates that mineral waters do indeed have a curative effect.
And they should, inasmuch as disorders in mineral metabolism and
biochemical derangement are at the root of many diseases. But
what is even more important is the fact that these mineral
waters have been used for healing purposes for almost two
thousands years; and millions of sick people have been benefitted
by them - patients and doctors see examples of it every day."
In our own experience directing biological therapies at a mineral
water Spa in Mexico, many of our patients have recovered quite
spectacularly on a combined biological program of fasting,
special diets and hot mineral baths. We also advised them to
drink one glass of mineral water each day. Patients with high
blood pressure, arthritis, varicose veins, thyroid insufficiency,
asthma, psoriasis, and cardiac and circulatory disorders have
responded rather miraculously to the Spa therapy. Many arthritics
who were badly incapacitated and immobile, have walked for miles
in hilly terrain after a few weeks of treatment; patients with
high blood pressure improved dramatically, showing decreases in
blood pressure of 30 to 40 mm. After 2 weeks; and patients with
respiratory and heart problems experienced great relief within a
few weeks.
The available research work, corroborated by our own experience,
suggests that inorganic minerals present in seawater and mineral
waters have a definite curative effect on many disorders by
stimulating the body's own defensive and healing forces.
*Balnealogy - the Medical Science of curing and preventing
sickness by bathing.
My assumption is that the healing effect of mineral water is not
only due to the nutritive value of the minerals present, but also
to the catalytic effect of these minerals on the vital
biochemical body processes.
*The health-building value of minerals in water scientifically
confirmed.
Recently, the British Society for the Advancement of Science held
a special Congress in Exeter, England, to study the effects of
minerals and trace elements in man's environment - water, air and
soil - on man's health. It was revealed at the Congress, as an
established fact, that in the areas where people drink water rich
in trace elements molybdenum, strontium and fluorine, they have
less caries, or tooth decay. It has been also established that in
the areas where drinking water is deficient in trace element
chromium, there is an abnormally high prevalence of diabetes. The
Congress has specifically stressed the fact, based on latest
findings, that the so-called hard water (water with high mineral
content) has a definite preventive effect against the development
of cardio-vascular diseases caused by arteriosclerosis, or
hardening of the arteries. The fact was considered "remarkable"
because hard water contains more calcium than soft water.
A very convincing discovery, proving the value of drinking
so-called hard water (rich in minerals and trace elements), was
made by Drs. Losee and Adkins at U.S. Navy Dental Research
Institute. Checking in the birthplaces and homes of 360 recruits
who never had a single dental cavity in their lives, the
researchers discovered the remarkable fact that they all lived in
three small geographic regions of the United States - northwest
Ohio, northeast South Carolina and west central Florida. Set out
to discover what circumstances peculiar to these areas caused
people to resist dental decay, the scientists discovered that the
water supplies in these areas were rich in minerals and trace
elements, particularly in molybdenum and strontium, but also
boron and lithium. Hard, mineralized water the cavity-free
recruits were drinking all their lives, was "significantly
higher" in these minerals than the water in the other
areas of the country known for the average amount of dental
cavities. For example, there was 50 times as much strontium in
the water samples from northwest Ohio as in the water from the
high-cavity states.
The researchers, impressed by the cavity-resistant property of
minerals and trace elements in drinking water, conducted
controlled experiments with rats to prove their discovery
scientifically. Four groups of rats were given special dental
decay-producing diets plus distilled water (devoid of minerals),
fluoridated water, artificially mineralized water and natural
mineral-rich water. The group that drank natural water containing
minerals and trace elements was "significantly better" both in
numbers and severity of dental decay. Incidentally, the group
that drank fluoridated water, showed no improvement in dental
health over the groups which drank unfluoridated water.
Since dental health is a very reliable indication of overall
health, the above research clearly demonstrates the wisdom
and health-building value of drinking hard, naturally mineralized
water rich in tooth-health minerals, particularly in
molybdenum and strontium.
Dr. Ragnar Berg, perhaps the world's greatest authority on
nutrition and biochemistry, said, "It is extremely important
for man's growth and his health that he uses 'hard' water for
drinking . . . Drinking mineral-rich hard water could improve the
calcium-deficient diets of civilized men."
*What about seawater?
We have all experienced the invigorating effect of a few days or
weeks by the seashore. The reason is this:
minerals from the seawater and air are actually absorbed through
the skin and lungs. Health food stores have recently begun
selling seawater as a food supplement. Dr. M. O. Garten tells in
his book, THE HEALTH SECRETS OF NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR, of many
remarkable cases where health was restored to patients given
about one ounce of seawater daily.
Cases of Parkinson's disease, chronic indigestion, bleeding gums,
and other chronic ailments responded dramatically to seawater
therapy.
What is the secret of the therapeutic property of seawater? It is
an extremely rich source of all the basic minerals of which your
body is made. The chemical composition of seawater is about the
same as the chemical composition of your blood. But many doctors
and researchers seriously doubt that the mere presence of
minerals in seawater is responsible for its startling healing
property. By drinking only an ounce of seawater a day, patients
get such infinitesimal amounts of minerals that their nutritive
value, could not possibly be entirely responsible for the good
results. I am inclined to believe that, whatever other mysterious
forces or principles are involved in the beneficial effects of
seawater, the healing and health-promoting property of seawater
is basically due to the catalytic action of the inorganic
minerals it contains. The mineral components and the heavy metal
salts of seawater act as catalysts to restore disturbed body
chemistry, and stimulate the assimilation of organic minerals
from foods. The minerals in seawater, which are inorganic, act
within the body as chemical stimulants for the body s various
organs and glands, re-generating and normalizing the functions of
these organs and stimulating and increasing the body's own
healing forces. The homeopathic doses of minerals from ionized
seawater, with its life-giving chemo-electrical and cosmic
forces, are quickly absorbed into the system where they have a
healing effect on all body cells, nerve tissues, glands
and vital organs.
*Summary
In view of all the evidence, both scientific and empirical, of
the beneficial therapeutic and prophylactic effect of mineral
waters, seawater and plain natural "living" drinking water from
springs, rivers or lakes - which all contain inorganic minerals -
how can anyone claim that these waters are harmful and that you
should drink only steam-processed distilled water? To call the
man-made, processed, artificially distilled water "natural" is to
pervert the meaning of the word. "Natural" is something you can
find in nature as an integral part of the God-made universe.
Of all the natural waters upon this earth none is distilled.
Rainwater is naturally distilled, but become mineralized when it
reaches rivers and lakes. There are a few small tribes living in
desert areas who are forced to collect rainwater for drinking;
but they do so only because of necessity.
When natural lake or stream water is available, man always
chooses it for drinking and cooking. There is no evidence that
the rainwater-drinking tribes enjoy better health.
But there is plenty of evidence showing that people who drink
the natural, mineralized waters of mountain streams, springs and
lakes have always enjoyed superior health. To "prove" the
superiority of distilled water by telling how great a single
individual feels who has been drinking it for decades, is no more
scientific than to use cigar-smoking and whiskey-drinking
Churchill, who lived to be 92, as proof of the health-giving
properties of cigars and whiskey.
Those who drink distilled water and feel good, do so not because
of the distilled water but in spite of it. Switch back to
natural, mineral-rich, sun-drenched, oxygenized and ionized
"living" water from flowing springs and streams, and take some
mineral water or small amounts of seawater occasionally - and
feel the difference this change will make!
Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain
natural "living" water from flowing springs and streams in the
United States. Practically all inland sweet water is contaminated
by sewage, pesticides, detergents, etc. To city tap water has
been added many more toxic chemicals to the previously
contaminated water - such as chlorine, fluorine, and many more.
So the only way to assure pure water supply in the United States
today is to buy bottled water which is on sale in most
supermarkets. Both natural, pure spring water, as well as
distilled water, are available. I trust that after reading this
chapter you will make the right choice when you buy your bottled
water.
................
Entered on my Website July 2003
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