Dr. Robert Morris and colleagues at the Medical College of Wisconsin concluded after examination of 10 previous studies on the cancer-causing abilities of chlorinated water:

"There is a clear pattern between consumption of chlorinated water and rectal and bladder cancer."

--Dr. Robert Morris
(Dr. Robert Morris has been the featured health/water expert on "Dateline NBC" and was a key presenter at the WQA National Show in March 1995.)

Halina Szejnwlad Brown, Donna Bishop and Carol Rowan contrast their estimates of skin absorption versus drinking for three toxic chemicals: Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Styrene. Depending both on the compound involved and the body region exposed, skin can act as a fairly strong barrier to chemical entry or as no barrier at all.

Their analyses were based on data published for the hand, one of the least porous areas of the body. Their most surprising finding was that for a swimmer, between 83 percent and 91 percent of the chemicals entering the body came through the skin.

"Modern diets are marginally deficient in many elements, and therefore,the contribution of hard water or a daily intake of lithium or magnesium, or particular other elements may make a difference between optimal and sub-optimal intake. Also, chemical forms of many of these elements in water are different from what is food. In food, there may be some chelating agents that prevent immediate absorption of certain elements and even if they are contained in very high amounts in food, their absorption comes down to perhaps a few percent."

--Dr. Masironi
World Health Organization

The EPA has raised skin absorption of chlorine to its top 10 carcinogen watch list.

June 1994

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