The Chlorine In Your Water Poem by Stephen Katona

The Chlorine In Your Water



There is a yellow green gas,
You cannot see in your glass.
Sometimes you can tell,
It is there by the smell.
It does a great job removing bacteria,
Like Diphtheria,
Or even Listeria.

But perhaps we should all think,
About the chlorine in our drink?
I do not want to alarm,
But there is a chance it might harm.
It protects at a price,
Attacking bacteria that are nice,
And I am sure it excels,
At killing our own cells,
Forcing new ones to grow,
When a mistake could cause woe.
Some studies have found it an enhancer,
Of bladder and bowel cancer.

It makes us grow old,
From what I've been told.
Our cells can only divide,
A few times before they're stupefied.

Whether old or young,
Do you want it in your lung?
You have the power,
To remove it from your shower.
It is rather grim,
To have to breathe it when we swim.
Should we accept every wheeze,
And ignore why we sneeze?

Do you think it will please,
Inflammatory bowel disease?
Perhaps it is the key,
Why there is Crohns and UC.
Our skin finds it harder to heal,
And might even peel.

With asthma and chlorine on a map,
You can see they overlap.
Sadly in the West,
Not everyone has guessed,
That there may be a link,
With the gas in our drink.

'But! ', I hear you cry,
'Without it people will die.'
Let go of your dread,
We can use something instead.
The answer is well known,
It is called 'ozone'.
And coming from pure water,
Is gone when it reaches your daughter.
Unlike chlorine its life is brief,
Now that is a relief.

There is many a city,
That make it with electricity.
Ozone is made from O2,
Yes it is true!
Imagine if you had,
Water with nothing they add.
Already people can dance,
In Paris and Nice in France,
San Diego and Los Angeles in the USA,
Have water that is ok.
Osaka in Japan,
Now use this plan.
You don't have to be rich,
To make the switch.
Ask a clever committee,
To stop chlorine in your city.
See if you can arrange,
To have your water change.

I hear you shout,
'Can 'I' get this chlorine out? '
If you leave water in a jug overnight,
What is left will be slight.
Boiling will send it away in the air,
So there is no need to despair.
You can also remove it with a filter,
Or a water distiller.

To learn more have a look,
At 'Question Chlorine' on facebook.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Topic(s) of this poem: health
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
The following are studies that have been done looking at potential links between chlorine and various diseases. They can be found with a simple google search.

1. The association of drinking water source and chlorination by-products with cancer incidence among postmenopausal women in Iowa: a prospective cohort study.

2. Chlorination, chlorination by-products, and cancer: a meta-analysis.

3. Drinking Water Source and Chlorination Byproducts II. Risk of Colon and Rectal Cancers.

4. Case-Control Study of Colon and Rectal Cancers and Chlorination By-Products in Treated Water

5. Meta-analysis of studies on individual consumption of chlorinated drinking water and bladder cancer

6. Infant swimming in chlorinated pools and the risks of bronchiolitis, asthma and allergy. 

7.Attendance at chlorinated indoor pools and risk of asthma in adult recreational swimmers. 

In 2009, I asked the world to carry out more research looking at the safety of chlorine in the Journal of Medical Hypotheses in an article called:
'Step aside tobacco, chlorine could be man's next great carcinogen.'
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Amitava Sur 25 August 2014

A very good informative write, Katona... thanks a lot, for opening eyes of people.

1 0 Reply
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