Comments from Eva

"Dear Ian,
I just read a few articles in your health blog spot. First the info on asparagus, great stuff. But then I read just above that canned goods contain Bisphenol A, a toxic chemical in the lining in cans and bottle lids. The guy who talks up the asparagus cure is saying that canned asparagus is o.k. to use. That is a bit contradicting to the 'don't use cans' article."

Yes, Eva, we live in fast moving times. Who would have thought that we would ever have the need to put all of our fruit and vegetables through a sterilizer before we eat them? But that's exactly what Cassie and I do here in beautiful 'organic' Byron Bay, learning in the process the tricks producers play to get their fruit or vegetable off their paddock and into our homes. Take strawberries; our Lotus Sanitizer takes far longer to cleanse strawberries late in their growing season. Why? Because (as an ex-strawberry grower) I know that pests tend to get worse in strawberries the longer the strawberries are fruiting, so growers use more pesticides miticides and fungicides later in the season. Grapes imported from the US give the Lotus such a hard time that I have given up. I will never buy another imported grape! Yes, Eve, it's difficult and I understand why people write things today that may be unacceptable tomorrow as our knowledge of toxins in our food chain expands."

"Also in the alkaline water article it says that tap water is good because of Fluoride being good for your teeth. Calcium fluoride is what one needs for good teeth, not Sodium Fluoride. I have read nothing good about Sodium Fluoride. It's also outlawed in Europe and causes Kidney Disease amongst other things.
Regards, Eva"

Eva, the evidence is clear that some form of fluoride helps the problems kids have with their teeth. However the 'side effects' are many and support your claim that fluoride, in balance, is a terrible decision.
Take a look at this site for a good summary

Fluoride in Queensland and the World.

It's not just local people getting caught up in the fluoride debate. Here's a report from the UK where one local council wants to UP the amount of fluoride in their water!

While on the subject, we've been adding more useful information to our new site all about fluoride here. I think you'll find it interesting.

Questions are coming in from clients tempted to buy cheap reverse osmosis systems. We have also had reports in from people who made the big mistake of buying these 'Chinese cheapies'. The problem is that the only way to test whether a system is actually taking out Fluoride is an expensive laboratory test, but we are seeing people being seriously duped by sellers of these units. From what they've told us, we can see the darn things aren't even removing ordinary minerals!

It's easy to cheat in selling an RO. By using cheap pre filters, you can reduce the cost of the whole system. Unfortunately the main purpose of good prefilters is to extend the life of the sensitive and fragile membrane in the heart of the system that actually does the fine filtration. It's also the most expensive part, so you'll be up for big money in keeping your RO going because your cheapie prefilters haven't protected the membrane.

So be careful. You gets what you pays for. And if you wnat to take a look at a really good system, go here.

Fluoride Facts

We've been busy down the mine this week and here's the result: a new site to assist people to educate themselves about Fluoride in their water without the hype. Appropriately, it's called Fluoride Facts. Here it is

I've also written a short 'frequently asked questions' for people confused about the practical aspects of installing an RO system. you'll find it here

Ohio Town Citizens go on unplanned Acid trip

BELLAIRE, Ohio – Water service for thousands of residents returned to normal Tuesday, a day after the system was flushed to remove hydrochloric acid accidentally added to the village's supply.

Forty pounds of the acid were added to Bellaire's water Sunday after a supplier shipped the wrong chemical and the filtration system crew mistook the containers for fluoride. The error was discovered Monday morning when workers noticed fluoride levels were lower than normal.

"Unfortunately, the drums are all the same size and the same color," water department superintendent Kirk Baker said.

The chemical drums were labeled, however, said Janet Barth, an official with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Baker said crews opened fire hydrants and drained the system to clean it.

"All I can say is it was an unfortunate accident and it won't happen again," he said.

Ian: not on his watch, anyway! But serously: if a guy can just 'mistake' a drum of highly toxic chemicals in a municipal water supply plant.. is there still an reason not to have a reasonable to excellent water filtration system?

Fluoride; Hard to argue with this video.

Fluoride, Fluoride, Fluoride!

It's certainly in the news lately, especially in Queensland.

Fluoride in Brisbane has created Google searches by the thousands as people scramble for a way to avoid the dreaded chemical in their family's water. We are just putting the finishing touches to a special 'infosite' about fluoride, but in the meantime, if you have any sort odf water filter you can now get a fluoride reduction cartridge for us. It will go inline before your ordinary filter. To learn more, click here.

So you think fluoride is OK?

Then perhaps you should take a look at this.

Flouride; A serious debate!

When dentists suggest that they will actually cough up to pay for a community's fluoride, one has to take notice. My dentist friend in Melbourned has turned to DIY home renovations as an alternative income source because the introduction of Flouride has slashed his tooth repair business. There's certainly no doubt that flouride assists preventative dental health, but there are certainly many arguments against flouride introduction on a mass scale.
Here's the report
See this website for more info against flouride.