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Did
you know?
Reverse osmosis is the finest water filtration method known. This process will
allow the removal of particles as small as ions from a solution. It is used
to purify water and remove salts and other impurities in order to improve the
color, taste or properties of the fluid. R.O. uses a membrane that is semi-permeable,
allowing the fluid that is being purified to pass through it, while rejecting
other ions and contaminants from passing.
This technology uses a process
known as crossflow to allow the r.o. membrane to continually clean itself. This
is the reason of why an r.o. element can last many years before clogging or
need replacement. This
water purification process requires a driving force to push the fluid through
the membrane, and the most common force is household water pressure or pressure
from a booster pump. The higher the pressure, the larger the driving force and
efficiency.
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Water
Can Heal
Did
You Know?
Water can prevent and alleviate many of our symptoms
Prostate
cancer caused by plastic...in our water?
Linking prostate
cancer to a widespread industrial compound, scientists have found that
exposure to a chemical that leaks from plastic causes genetic changes
in animals' developing prostate glands that are precursors of the most
common form of cancer in males. The chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, is
used in the manufacture of hard, polycarbonate plastic for baby bottles,
microwave cookware and other consumer goods, and it has been detected
in nearly every human body tested. Scientists and health experts have
theorized for more than a decade that chemicals in the environment and
in consumer products mimic estrogens and may be contributing to male and
female reproductive diseases, particularly prostate cancer.
The new
study of laboratory rats suggests that prostate cancer, which usually
strikes men over 50, may develop when BPA and other estrogen- like, man-made
chemicals pass through a pregnant woman's womb and alter the genes of
a growing prostate in the fetus. One in every six men develops prostate
cancer, a rate that has increased over the last 30 years. Researchers
at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Cincinnati
exposed newborn rats to low doses of BPA and found the structure of genes
in their prostate cells was permanently altered, a process of reprogramming
in early life that promotes cancer in adulthood.
One key gene
was switched on, producing too much of a cell-damaging enzyme that has
been detected in cancerous prostate cells but not normal cells. Also,
as the rats aged, they were more likely than unexposed animals to develop
precancerous lesions, or cellular damage, in the prostate that have been
known for years to lead to prostate cancer in humans. "The present findings
provide the first evidence of a direct link between developmental low-dose
bisphenol A... and carcinogenesis of the prostate gland," according to
the researchers. Results from the team, led by Gail S. Prins, associate
professor of andrology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Shuk-mei
Ho, chair of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati, are
reported today in the journal Cancer Research. Exposure to the chemical
"may provide a fetal basis for this adult disease" in humans, the report
said.
Dr. Rebecca
Sokol, a USC medical school professor who specializes in male hormone
research, called the study "cutting-edge." She said it added to a growing
body of research, called epigenetics, that suggested environmental chemicals
could alter how DNA sequences turned on and off in a fetus, permanently
imprinting the genes of a child and sensitizing him or her to disease
in adulthood. Such findings could have major implications for human disease
and could, in part, explain why the prostate cancer rate has surged. BPA,
used for about half a century, is a key building block in the manufacture
of polycarbonate plastic and ranks among the world's most widely used
industrial chemicals.
Prins, Ho
and other researchers cautioned that the study was conducted on rats,
which sometimes reacted differently to chemicals than humans did. Replicating
the work in humans is virtually impossible because 50 or more years usually
pass from exposure in the womb to the onset of prostate cancer. "You can't
say from the results of this study that this is going to affect humans,"
Sokol said. But she said the results were in line with previous animal
research that showed chemicals could induce genetic changes that altered
sperm and other reproductive functions.
The prostate
gland, which develops in human males when they are fetuses, is extremely
sensitive to natural estrogen. As a result, scientists have long theorized
that prostate cancer could be increasing in men because of their exposure
to estrogen-like chemicals in the womb. Unlike carcinogenic chemicals
that can cause profound damage to DNA, BPA seems to inflict subtle changes
that are passed from one generation to the next, Sokol said.
"The big
focus today is whether or not environmental toxicants will induce heritable
changes in gene function.... In other words, is there something that happens
to alter genes without actually altering the genetic code?" asked Sokol,
who studies the effects of chemicals on sperm. "This [new study] is cutting-edge
research in this field and the role that environmental toxicants may play
in altering the genetics of exposed offspring." Steve Hentges, a representative
of the American Plastics Council, called it "fascinating research, a good
piece of research" that should be studied further. But he said the "real
question is what does this mean for human health," because there are too
many limitations in the study for it to apply to humans.
"No one has
actually observed prostate cancer after any treatment with BPA," he said.
The study's authors said the animals developed the precancerous lesions
and genetic changes when exposed to low concentrations of the chemical
similar to the amounts found in human blood and fetuses. But Hentges said
the rats were injected with doses 100 to 1,000 times higher than the most
recent human testing done by federal officials in 2004. In recent years,
evidence has been building that BPA causes changes in the hormones and
reproductive tracts of male and female animals. Lower sperm counts; decreased
testosterone and enlarged prostates were reported in male animals, and
early puberty and disrupted hormonal cycles in female animals.
Of more than
100 studies that examined low doses of the chemical, 94 funded by government
agencies found harmful effects in lab animals, and 11 funded by industry
reported no effects, according to a 2005 review by Frederick vom Saal
of the University of Missouri. Polycarbonate, which cannot be manufactured
without BPA, is a clear and shatter-free plastic. In addition to beverage
bottles, utensils and food packaging, it is used in automobiles, medical
equipment and compact discs.
Small amounts
of the chemical can leach from plastic containers, especially when heated,
cleaned with harsh detergents or exposed to acidic foods or drinks. It
also is used in children's dental sealants and as a resin lining metal
food cans. Last year, the California Legislature considered a bill, introduced
by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) that would have banned children's
products that contained BPA or other plastic compounds called phthalates.
It died in an Assembly committee after sparking a scientific debate and
intense lobbying by the plastics.
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