The Dangers of Reverse Osmosis Water

Reverse Osmosis Waters Are Ruining Your Own and Your Family’s Health !

By G. S. Johar

This consumer welfare article is based chiefly on the public interest matter presented at the Press Club of Kanpur ( India ), some time back, under the aegis of CHEMISTRY FOR HUMANITY AND DIVINITY [ CHD ] ( a charitable / consumer society ), to which the author is closely attached.
THE WATER FRAUD

Through the following two lines, the English writer, Miss Sarah Doudney [1843 ?-1926], in her poetry, ‘The Lesson of the Water Mill’, had tried to explain the importance of time that had passed away, and the water that was consumed out.

TAKE THE PROVERB TO THINE HEART, TAKE, AND HOLD IT FAST,
“THE MILL CANNOT GRIND WITH THE WATER THAT IS PAST"

But these days water is being consumed without taking into consideration the consequences befalling thereof. As regards the quality of water, neither the people nor the Governments are serious ; the latter are more guilty in allowing flooding of the market with such packaged bottled waters which are not only being manufactured unscientifically but with the full understanding that such waters will eventually land their regular consumers on hospital bed after some years.At least in India the multinational companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi, through the marketing of their highly dangerous and hazardous waters---KINLEY and AQUAFINA---respectively, are fooling the Indian public with impunity and playing with the health of millions. Despite having no minerals in them, these waters are being sold to them under the artificially-created misunderstanding that these are ‘mineral waters’. An Indian company, ‘KENT R. O.’, is doing the same mischief by promoting its Reverse Osmosis ( R. O. ) instruments in the tens of thousands of houses of middle class and rich people alike. The R.O. instruments ( the so-called ‘Water Purifiers’ ) have the power to bereft the drinking water of all its mineral content, thus turning it a ‘sick’ or ‘naked’ water, that is absolutely unfit for human consumption. Sadly, the popular Indian film actress, Hema Malini and her daughter, by misusing their celebrity power, are also motivating their Indian fans to buy such dangerous instruments for their homes. The author is sure that if Hema Malini and / or her daughter dare to drink such an R. O. water themselves for some years, they will not be able to reach any studio for a film shooting owing to resultant state of osteoporosis ( fragile and porous bones ), diabetes, etc.

After the holding of CHD’s press conference and its coverage in many print and some visual media, the KENT R. O. company gave a befooling modification to its marketing strategy by renaming itself as “KENT MINERAL R.O”., a term which is highly laughable. Why ? Whereas “R. O.” means no minerals, but “MINERAL R. O.” means “minerals-but-no-minerals”, that is equivalent to saying by some one that “My son is a married bachelor”, or “My daughter is a married spinster”. Thus, declaring a product as “Mineral R. O.” is a big nonsense. If you are consuming a good quality water ( having sufficient natural mineral content ) you will surely continue to live a healthy life, otherwise you should be prepared to pay some heavy to very heavy price.

Bottled water has now taken the shape of a big business in every country as it usually tastes better than what comes out of your tap. But is every bottled water "healthy water ?". Not always ! "Is the water you are drinking hard ? Is it moderately high in TDS ( total dissolved solids ) ?" “Does it have a good degree of alkalinity ?”. “Does it contain good amounts of calcium, magnesium, and silica ?”. Most bottled water labels in the India and other countries do not give the information you need to know the answers to these questions. Every bottling company must print the complete water analysis Test Report on the label, but hardly any company does that. People must keep in mind that many bottled waters are simply processed waters mostly using reverse osmosis ( R. O. ) , de-ionization or simple filtration. With over reportedly 700 brands of bottled water available in the US, around 80% are processed water. Same is the situation in India and many other c ountries. For maintaining good health, the consumer must purchase only natural spring or artesian well waters that come closest to the "healthy water" criteria, which says that :

Hardness of water ( as CaCO3 ) should be around 170 mg / Liter ;
Alkalinity ( as CaCO3 ) also around 170 ;
TDS around 300 mg / L ;
Calcium ( as Ca ) around 70 mg / L ;
Magnesium ( as Mg ) around 30 mg / L ; and
Silica ( as SiO2 ) around 10 to 20 mg / L.

De-mineralized water has little or no minerals, and is not only having zero health value, rather it is dangerous for health. This is the result if you use a distiller, a reverse osmosis unit ( R. O ), or de-ionization ( ion exchange resins ). However, the research on heart diseases and cancer shows a healthy water is hard and moderately high in TDS ( total dissolved solids ). Then why do people purchase these de-mineralizing or water softening systems ? Usually their thinking goes something like this : "We know we must drink water to keep ourselves alive, but often it is so polluted with chlorine, chemicals, toxic metals, etc., that it is not safe to drink it as such. So in order to get rid of these harmful moieties we are buying bottled water, and we have also installed an R.O. water purifier in our house”. Creating a "healthy water" means removing the harmful agents but keeping the beneficial minerals. "For the purpose of health, Minerals in drinking water are more easily and better absorbed than minerals in the solid food", according to Dr. John Sorenson, a leading authority on mineral metabolism. But devices like R.O. purifiers remove everything from the water, harmful bacteria ( if any ) as well as beneficial minerals. This mineral-stripped water cannot sustain life even in a fish bowl. Like humans all fish require minerals to prosper, and if allowed to live in R. O. types of waters they will all perish. If this type of water is consumed for long periods of time, it will certainly result in acute deficiency of essential mineral elements like calcium ( Ca ), magnesium ( Mg ), and the precious mineral---silica ( SiO2 ). Hence, mineralized water is needed for all cellular functions of the body, and if there are no minerals in your drinking water your body will try to rob the minerals from some other parts of your body system to satisfy its needs. Mostly the bones and teeth are the worst victims to lose calcium, magnesium, etc. Although we can take mineral supplements to replace them, but it is not easy to replace the minerals in our body with the same speed with which we have lost them.


WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR BODY IS DEPLETED OF CALCIUM ?
[ R.O. PURIFIERS FULLY REMOVE CALCIUM FROM WATER ]

(1) Calcium is the most well known osteoporosis-preventing element. It maintains bones and teeth. It also helps in lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension. The regular daily intake ( RDI ) of calcium for adults is around 800 - 1000 mg. The prolonged deficiency of calcium will also cause muscle spasms.

(2) Without calcium the contraction of heart muscles, nerve impulses, blood clotting and wound-healing cannot take place.

(3) Most people get only about half of the amount of calcium they actually need each day. Besides food, water is the best source to provide calcium. And in case if we don’t get calcium even from water, then the entire life process of the man will be at stake.

(4) Without calcium, even the hormones and enzymes that regulate digestion and metabolism cannot be produced in the body.

(5) Drinking calcium-less water will greatly reduce blood calcium, and for carrying out vital functions, the body will try to steal calcium from the bones. Eventually the withdrawals of more and more calcium from the bones will make them highly porous and fragile, thus causing occasional fractures. Tens of thousand of such calcium-deficient people around the world are languishing in hospitals for the treatment of their fractured bones.

(6) Calcium also helps in reducing the irritating effects of BILE ACIDS in the colon, thus reduces the incidence of painful colon cancer.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR BODY IS DEPLETED OF MAGNESIUM ?
[ R.O. PURIFIERS FULLY REMOVE MAGNESIUM FROM WATER ]

(1) Just like calcium, magnesium is also the most vital element for maintaining good health. The RDI for magnesium is minimum 320 mg for men and 270 mg for women. This element controls around 300 enzyme-related processes in the human body. Many chronic diseases may be prevented or treated by the regular intake of magnesium. The magnesium levels are also easily depleted by stress, or by certain diseases or medication or by intense physical activity.

(2) Magnesium is involved in energy production, nerve function, muscle relaxation and bone and tooth formation. In conjunction with calcium and potassium, magnesium regulates heart rhythm. It also has a role in the production and use of insulin in the body. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, USA, have come to the conclusion that those people who have lowest magnesium levels in the body had a 94 % greater chance of developing type-two diabetes ( non-insulin-dependent ).

(3) Recent research indicates that magnesium helps to prevent and treat heart disease. Studies show that the risk of dying of a heart attack is lower in areas with ‘hard’ water, which contains high levels of magnesium. Some researchers speculate that, if everyone drank hard water, the number of deaths from heart attacks might decline by 19 %. Magnesium appears to lower blood pressure, and has also been found to aid recovery after a heart attack by inhibiting blood clots, widening the arteries and normalizing the dangerous arrhythmias.

(4) Magnesium also helps in expanding the airways, which is helpful in treating asthma and bronchitis.

(5) The recommended ratio of calcium and magnesium in the body is 2 : 1. A lack of magnesium can make a work-out harder. Magnesium also eases symptoms of fibromyalgia ( muscle and joint pain ). It also reduces spasms and cramps, and lowers high B.P. too. In women it improves the symptoms of PMS ( Pre-menstrual syndrome ).

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HUMAN BODY IF SILICA ( SiO2 ) IS REMOVED FROM WATER ?
[ R.O. PURIFIERS FULLY REMOVE SILICA FROM WATER ]
[ Silica-free Water Will Gradually Make You Old-Looking, Wrinkled, and Ugly ]

Silica ( SiO2 ) is another natural trace mineral ( ~ 10 to 35 mg / liter ) in the drinking water that strengthens the body's connective tissues – the muscles, tendons, hair, ligaments, nails, cartilage, and bone -- and is also vital for healthy skin. The synthesis of cartilage in human body takes place under the full involvement of silica. That is why silica deficiency can result in reduced skin elasticity, and also hampers the body's ability to heal wounds. Solid food sources of silica include green onion, green beans, strawberries, cucumber, mango, asparagus, beet root, etc. But a large proportion of this ingested silica from these sources is not fully bio-available. Through further research it has also became apparent that healthy people always have higher levels of silica in their blood vessels and other tissues than those suffering from degenerative diseases. When people are young, silica levels in their body are high and their bones and joints are also flexible ; their skin is also pliant, flexible and glowing. But with the growing age of the people, silica levels go on declining, and without adequate tissue levels of silica, the human body manifests many of the symptoms of aging such as joint disease, weakened digestion, and wrinkled skin, etc. The best of all the sources of readily absorbable form of silica is only pure natural drinking water wherein it is present in invisible, soluble colloidal form. The colloidal silica ( present in water as Silicic acid, H2SiO3 ) is much more bio-available to the body because it is absorbed rapidly after a short transit time in blood. The great binding ability of colloidal silica certainly makes it a most useful in the treatment of a whole range of conditions, but perhaps silica’s most exciting and innovative use is its ability to improve the strength and elasticity of the skin, hair, and nails by its direct action on the connective tissue. The colloidal silica in water has the ability to undergo a process of binding with unwanted elements such as viruses, bacteria and inflammatory pathogens, thus rendering them immobile and harmless ! This natural power of silica makes it suitable for wound-healing, as well as preventing to some extent the occurrence of acne vulgaris ( pimples ) and certain other inflammatory conditions. It has been found that the process of reverse osmosis removes 85 – 99 % of the silica content from the water. Up to 10 to 40 mg of silica are also lost from our body every day through excretion, skin shedding, hair cutting, nail clipping, etc. The R. O. technique either substantially reduces or completely eliminate this precious natural mineral—Silica from the water. The normal levels of Silica in direct natural sources of drinking water ( bore-well, well, or spring waters ) are around 10 to 35 milligrams per liter. But waters containing further higher levels ( > 50 mg/l Silica ) are dangerous to health because in that case there is a danger of the formation of Silica-containing kidney stones ( renal calculi ). But pure Silica stones are never formed because drinking waters containing 50 mg or more of silica per liter are very rarely encountered in nature. But, on the contrary, after passing through R.O. instrument, silica levels drop to the alarmingly value of 0 to less than 2 mg / liter, thus turning such a water sample unhealthy, or rather useless, not only for human consumption but for use by animals also. But the water-selling companies are unconcerned. When CHEMISTRY FOR HUMANITY AND DIVINITY [ CHD ] subjected Coca Cola’s Kinley water, and Pepsico’s Aquafina water for silica analysis, both the waters exhibited zero value for SiO2. The “Mount Kailash” and “Natural spring” waters also showed same results.

COCA-COLA ADMITS THAT IT SOLD TAP WATER OF PUBLIC SUPPLY SYSTEM, IN BOTTLES, IN UK, UNDER THE BRAND NAME “DASANI”

A news item on the titled matter was published online on March 4th, 2004, in ‘Common Dreams’ News Center [ Source : http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines04/0304-04.htm ]. It has been found that at least two out of every five bottles of water sold around the world are ‘DASANI’ type tap water only, rather than mineral water originating from some good natural source. The origin of UK's ‘DASANI’ came to light when a complaint was made to the British Food Standards Agency over Coke’s use of the word “PURE” in its DASANI marketing. The word “PURE” is meant that the water has to be processed to make it pure. This strategy also implies that tap water is ‘IMPURE’. Befor the disclosure of Coca Cola’s misdemeanor the DASANI water had a great hit and the company had created seven million pounds marketing value.

COKE AND PEPSI’S FOOLING DRIVE IN INDIA

After fooling the customer in UK, the Coca Cola company is now fleecing and harming consumers in India and elsewhere by selling its deadly harmful water under the brand name of “Kinely”. Adopting similar deceitful tactics, the Pepsi company has launched its dangerous water under the brand name of “Aquafina”. Both “Kinely” and “Aquafina” are virtually slow poisons for the consumers. Both the waters have been analyzed by CHEMISTRY FOR HUMANITY AND DIVINITY ( CHD ) in its laboratory ( KANPUR TEST HOUSE ), and its results are shocking. The chemical analysis of these waters has proved that these are almost de-mineralized or virtually distilled water samples which cannot support life systems of the human body. The TDS value of Kinely is only 12 ( twelve ), and that of Aquafina only 5 ( five ). The required TDS value is ~ 300 mg / Litre. Similarly the total hardness value for Kinely is 12 and for Aquafina, it is 0 ( zero ). The normal value should not be less than 170 mg / Liter. Likewise the calcium content in Kinely and Aquafina both is zero. The Magnesium content in Kinely is 3 mg / Liter and AQUAFINA is 0 ( Zero ). These value suggest that both these waters are poisonous for human health. Those people who are proudly drinking these waters as a ‘lifestyle choice’, are likely to suffer from heart-attacks, diabetes, hypertension, muscle-cramps, etc, in the coming years.Both Coke and Pepsi have declared that their bottled water conforms to I.S. 14543 ( of the Bureau Of Indian Standards ), but very unfortunately for the public, and very fortunately for the Coke and Pepsi companies the specification, I.S. 14543, is so highly defective and useless that even ordinary tap water can fully satisfy its norms and parameters. This specification does not guarantee even the basic minimum requirement of TDS, Total Hardness, Calcium and Magnesium levels, without which the water is bound to create havoc in the human life. If there is no hardness, no TDS, and no Calcium and Magnesium, that sample of water is unfit even for an aquarium. Fish kept in such a water will soon die for lack of these minerals. On account of all these facts and figures, the manufacturing of Kinely and Aquafina water deserve to be banned with immediate effect in all parts of the world. At the same time a specification of I.S. No. 14543 issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards ( B.I.S. ) must also be declared obsolete and outdated. Instead, all bottled waters manufactured in India or in any other country should invariably be of natural ‘Mineral Water Quality’. “The R. O. type packaged drinking water” system must be declared illegal by all the conscientious Governments of the world, and the World Health Organization ( WHO ) should also issue related directions from its own end. Every mineral water sold in the market must show a printed declaration on the label about the TDS, Total Hardness, Calcium and Magnesium contents. Preferably the values of these four parameters should be around 300, 170, 75 and 30 respectively. The R. O. system for the drinking water should be declared a criminal offence as it strips the water of its life-sustaining mineral content, and health of the consumer suffers irreparable damage despite money being spent by them. This is a case of blatant fraud with consumers. The Test Report ( test data ) on the chemical analysis of Kinley, Aquafina, Kent R.O., etc., waters are being given below ( wherein startling facts about waters are being been revealed ) :

Kinley water : TDS = 12 mg / L ; Total Hardness ( as CaCO3 ) = 12 mg / L ; Calcium ( as Ca ) = Nil ; Magnesium ( as Mg ) = 3 mg / L ; Total Alkalinity ( as CaCO3 ) = 7.5 mg / L ; Silica ( as SiO2 ) = Nil.
Result …………. Highly dangerous to human health.

Aquafina water : TDS = 05 mg / L ; Total Hardness ( as CaCO3 ) = Nil ; Calcium ( as Ca ) = Nil ; Magnesium ( as Mg ) = Nil ; Total Alkalinity ( as CaCO3 ) = 04 mg / L ; Silica ( as SiO2 ) = Nil.
Result …………. Highly dangerous to human health.

Kent R. O. water : TDS = 18 mg / L ; Total Hardness ( as CaCO3 ) = 10 mg / litre ; Calcium ( as Ca ) = 1.5 mg / litre ; Magnesium ( as Mg ) = 1.5 mg / litre ; Total Alkalinity ( as CaCO3 ) = 15 mg / L ; Silica ( as SiO2 ) = 1.0 mg / litre.
Result …………. Highly dangerous to human health.

The chemical analysis data on Mount Kailash water ( Of M/s Peacock Mineral Waters Pvt. Ltd., Faridabad, India ; and “Natural Spring” water ( of M/s G. C. Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Solan, Himachal Pradesh , India ) are also given hereunder :

Mount Kailash water : Total Hardness ( as CaCO3 ) = 50 mg / L ; Silica ( as SiO2 ) = Nil.

“Natural Spring” water : Total Hardness ( as CaCO3 ) = 160 mg / L ; Silica ( as SiO2 ) = Nil.

In the wake of Test Report of CHD, does I. S. certification ( ISI mark ) issued by Bureau of Indian Standards for various drinking water bottles is of any significance ? The consumers must themselves rise to the occasion.

CARELESSNESS SHOWN BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE AND MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS OF INDIA

India is not the only country where ‘Water Fraud’ is being played openly and without a single question being raised either by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare or by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. In fact the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, New Delhi, itself has willingly fallen victim to this water fraud. In the month of March 2007, the Ministry had invited tenders for supplying ‘packaged drinking water’ in 20-Litre-capacity plastic bottles for the consumption by the Ministry’s staff during the summer period ( which is still on…). But while issuing this tender the ministry did not care to think that most of the packaged waters supplied by the water companies, which have of late acquired mushrooming growth, are fully de-mineralized R. O. waters ; and that such waters will eventually ruin the health of ministry’s personnel. Similarly, in the Ministry of Health there are top ranking bosses--Director, Deputy Director, Secretaries, scientists, etc., drawing high salaries---but none has ever tried to apply his / her brain on the hazards of R.O. waters which quite often they are drinking themselves, and are also proudly presenting the same to the honorable ministers while they are in office or when they are speaking at a public function. Similar unawareness is exhibited to and by the honorable judges of all ranks---the Supreme Court, High Court, and the lower courts. If the later category of people---the most valuable force of the country—continues to drink R. O. water, at home or in the office, the impact will be disastrous in the next 5 years or so, as the demineralization of their body system will greatly affect not only their own health but also the health of the judicial system of the country as well. And this fundamental fact invariably applies equally to all the countries of the world.