Chlorinated tap water linked to food allergies

Researchers claim to have found chlorine to be one of the causes in rising numbers of people with food allergies.

Chlorine is a chemical element with the highest electron affinity and it has the third highest electronegativity of all the elements. For this reason, chlorine is a strong oxidizing agent.

It is a highly efficient disinfectant added to public water supplies to kill disease-causing bacteria that the water or its transport pipes might contain, this according to Wikipedia.org.

According to Mail Online over the years Britain alone has seen a rise in food allergies in recent years, with up to ten million adults claiming to be unable to eat a variety of food from milk to mustard.

The research also found high levels of dichlorophenol in adults’ urine which are said to have 80% more likely to have food allergy, Daily Mail Online reported.

Professor Jeni Colbourne, the chief inspector of drinking water told Daily Mail that dichlorophenol was unlikely to be found in tap water.

“Excessive use of dichlorophenols may contribute to the increasing incidence of food allergies in Westernised societies,” the study concluded.

“Previous studies have shown that both food allergies and environmental pollution are increasing in the US. Our study suggests these two trends might be linked, and that increased use of pesticides and other chemicals is associated with a higher prevalence of food allergies,” lead author Dr. Elina Jerschow said.

However, despite this Colbourne maintained that: “Currently in the UK consumer, exposure to dichlorophenol via tap water is considered to be minimal.

“In the US generally chlorination is known to be less well controlled and relatively high doses of chlorine are used, so it would be reasonable to consider the risk of exposure to be generally higher”.

According to Wikipedia.org dichlorophenols are any of several chemical compounds which are derivatives of phenol containing two chlorine atoms.

Source: The New Age

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