Did you know that fluoride can damage fertility, destroy bones, causes hyperactivity and lower IQ in children?

Clean water is often regarded as the most important nutrient for life. Most people can survive no more than 7 days without it, but are you drinking pure water?

The Berkey water filter is what we have chosen to remove the toxic chemical pollution now common in most of our country’s water supply and many wells.

We Also Want to Be Prepared in an Emergency with No Electricity!

(NaturalNews) A leading cause of ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and autism in children could be the hidden chemicals lurking in the foods we eat, the water we drink and the products we consume, says a new study recently published in The Lancet. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) found that, among other things, the fluoride chemicals added to many public water systems in North America directly contribute to both mental and behavioral disorders in children.

Building upon earlier research published in 2006 that dubbed fluoride as a “developmental neurotoxicant,” the new review included a meta-analysis of 27 additional studies on fluoride, most of which were from China, that linked the chemical to lowered IQ in children. After thorough analysis, it was determined that fluoride obstructs proper brain development and can lead to autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, ADHD and other health conditions, a “silent epidemic” that many mainstream health authorities continue to ignore.

According to the two main researchers involved in the study, Philippe Grandjean from HSPH and Philip Landrigan from ISMMS, incidences of chemical-related neurodevelopmental disorders have doubled over the past seven years from six to 12. The reason for this is that an increasing number of mostly untested chemicals are being approved for use without the public being told where and in what quantities such chemicals are being used.

“[S]ince 2006, the number of chemicals known to damage the human brain more generally, but that are not regulated to protect children’s health, had increased from 202 to 214,” writes Julia Medew for The Sydney Morning Herald. “The pair said this could be the tip of the iceberg because the vast majority of the more than 80,000 industrial chemicals widely used in the United States have never been tested for their toxic effects on the developing foetus or child.”

Fluoride must be immediately removed from public water supplies for child safety

While pesticides dominated the duo’s list as the most pervasive and damaging chemicals whose presence the public is largely unaware of, fluoride, which is intentionally added to public water supplies as a supposed protectant against tooth decay, is also highly problematic. It is also largely ignored by public health authorities as a possible factor in childhood development problems, even though the science is clear about its dangers.

Like lead, certain industrial solvents and crop chemicals, fluoride is known to accumulate in the human bloodstream, where it eventually deposits into bones and other bodily tissues. In pregnant women, this also includes passing through the bloodstream into the placenta, where it then accumulates in the bones and brain tissue of developing babies. The effects of this are, of course, perpetually damaging, and something that regulatory authorities need to take more seriously.

“The problem is international in scope, and the solution must therefore also be international,” stated Grandjean in a press release, calling for improved regulatory standards for common chemicals. “We have the methods in place to test industrial chemicals for harmful effects on children’s brain development — now is the time to make that testing mandatory.”

To learn more about the dangers of fluoride and the science behind why it is harmful and anything but beneficial for teeth, be sure to visit the Fluoride Action Network’s website.

You can also check out the abstract of the new study, entitled “Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity,” here:
http://www.thelancet.com.

The Big Berkey Water Filter System: Uncertified and Inconvenient

The Big Berkey Water Filter has a strong following. And in the years we’ve spent researching the best water filter pitchers and the best under-sink water filters, we’ve been asked about the Big Berkey several times. Its manufacturer claims the filter can remove far more contaminants than other filters. Yet the Big Berkey is not independently certified to NSF/ANSI standards, like our other filter picks are.

After 50 hours of research and independent lab testing of the claims made by Big Berkey’s manufacturer, our test results—as well as those of another lab we spoke with and a third whose results are public—were not entirely consistent. We believe this further illustrates the importance of certification to the firm NSF/ANSI standards: It lets people make buying decisions based on a dependable, apples-to-apples comparison of performance. In addition, because the Big Berkey system is much larger, more expensive, and harder to maintain than pitcher and under-sink filters, we wouldn’t recommend it even if it were certified.

The Big Berkey’s manufacturer, New Millennium Concepts, claims the filter can remove more than a hundred contaminants, far more than other gravity-fed filters we’ve researched. We tested these claims on a limited scale, and our results were not always consistent with lab results that New Millennium commissioned. In particular, results from both our commissioned lab and the lab most recently contracted by New Millennium showed less effective filtration of chloroform than that third, earlier test (which is also listed in New Millennium’s product literature).

None of the tests we cite here—not ours, and not the New Millennium–contracted tests by Envirotek or a Los Angeles County lab—come near the rigor of NSF/ANSI tests. Specifically, NSF/ANSI requires that filters of the type Berkey employs pass twice their rated capacity of contaminated water through the filter before measurements are taken. Although to our knowledge all of the tests we and New Millennium contracted were thorough and professional, each used its own, less strenuous protocol. And because none of the testing was done to full NSF/ANSI standards, we have no clear way to compare the results precisely or to compare the overall performance of the Berkey filter with that of other gravity-fed filters we’ve looked at in the past.

One area where everyone’s findings did align was in removing lead from drinking water, suggesting that the Big Berkey would perform well at removing heavy metals. So if there’s a known issue with lead or other metals in your water, the Big Berkey is perhaps worth investigating as a stopgap measure.

With its large activated carbon filters, the Berkey would also be expected to remove PFAS efficiently, and it did so in a test by the Environmental Working Group, who used our recommended home water-quality test kit for PFAS. (See the full test kit guide for detailed information; for more on PFAS filtration in general, see our overview.)

The difficulty of comparing inconsistent lab results aside, New Millennium Concepts did not respond to repeated requests for an interview to discuss our findings. Taken together, our reporting left us with an opaque understanding of the Berkey system, which isn’t the case with many other filter manufacturers.

For everyday water filtration, most NSF/ANSI–certified water pitchers and undersink filters are smaller, more convenient, far less expensive to buy and maintain, and easier to use. And they also provide the accountability that comes with independent, transparent testing.

Keep in mind that most municipal water supplies are safe to begin with, so unless you know that you have a problem locally, you probably don’t need filtering for health reasons. If emergency preparedness is your main concern, consider the advice in our guide to emergency preparedness, which includes products and advice to keep clean water available.