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2. Chlorine and Contaminants: How to Avoid Harmful Effects from Your Water

• Dr. Ina Nozek, Dr. Glenn Nozek • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Could your “clean” water be doing more harm than good? In this eye-opening episode of The Toxic Truth About Water, Drs. Glenn and Ina reveal how chlorine and chloramines—common disinfection agents—can create serious health risks. From eye irritation and dry skin to long-term effects like oxidative stress and compromised immunity, learn why the solution might be worse than the bacteria we’re trying to kill. Tune in to discover practical steps for avoiding these hidden hazards.

What You’ll Learn

  • Chlorine & Chloramine Basics: Why these chemicals are used, plus key differences between them.
  • Short & Long-Term Effects: From skin and eye irritation to byproduct formation and DNA damage.
  • Real-World Examples: How everyday tasks—like brushing teeth or boiling water—factor into exposure.
  • Simple Prevention: Filtration methods, shower filters, and other ways to reduce harmful contaminants.

Key Takeaways

  1. Disinfection Trade-Off: Chlorine and chloramines kill bacteria but produce harmful byproducts (like trihalomethanes).
  2. Unseen Exposure: We absorb these chemicals through drinking water, steam in hot showers, and even restaurant meals.
  3. Action Steps: Testing with OTO, investing in carbon-based filtration, and letting water sit are quick ways to reduce risks.

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Glenn:

Welcome to the Toxic Truth About Water. We're Drs. Glenn and Ina, and in this podcast, we're uncovering the hidden dangers lurking in your water and how they impact your health.

Ina:

After decades of exploring natural health, we've learned the importance of clean, safe water, and we're here to share that knowledge with you. From the effects of toxins and contaminants to the solutions you need, we've got the inside scoop. So let's dive in.

Glenn:

Yeah. So do you trust the water you drink? What about the water you Bathe in and the water you cook with, you might think the chlorine and the chloramines being used by your municipalities are there to keep us safe, but are they really?

Ina:

So on today's episode, guys, we're gonna talk about the hidden dangers of chlorine and chloramines in your water. My Uncle Marty, God rest his soul, he had a lot of very famous sayings in our family, and one of the things he always said was, for every plus, there's a minus. And this is very true for treating our water. So In third world countries, many people get sick and die from waterborne illnesses, right? There could be E. coli, there could be other bacteria that are deadly. And so fortunately, we don't really have that issue here for the most part in our country because our water is being treated. However, What they're using to treat and disinfect the water has a lot of harmful effects, which we're going to talk about today. But let's just back up and talk about chlorine and chloramines. And so chlorine, a very powerful disinfectant, has been used since the early 1900s to kill bacteria and pathogens, in the water. Chloramines, which is actually a mix of chlorine and ammonia, is used to prevent chlorine evaporation and provide longer lasting disinfection. Although it's probably a little more effective than chlorine, which is why they're using more chloramine now than chlorine in and of itself, but it does come with even more harmful effects. That's really what we want to get into today. Yep. And so we know there's short term effects on our health, there's long term effects.

Glenn:

Yeah, it's a crazy catch 22. We want to handle the biologicals and the most important things that are just obvious in the water that, affect our health. So we need to get rid of those. And the sad thing is that the chemicals used to do that, have these either short, some are short term, but others are longer term side effects that creep up and are really devastating on our health.

Ina:

So let's just talk briefly about the short term, which are obvious to many people, right? So if you've ever, Swam in a pool with a lot of chlorine your skin can become irritated, things like eczema or dry skin can certainly be a result of even the chlorine in our home that is being used to treat our water, right? So many people will notice dry skin, dry scalp, fleeky scalp from the water.

Glenn:

It's so true. It was absolutely classic. I was a swimmer when I was in high school. And so we used to swim at the local college pool loaded with chlorine. We'd come out after a two hour practice. Our eyes beat red. could barely see almost like halos around the lights. People probably can relate to this.

Ina:

I remember as a kid, you come out of the pool, your eyes are bright red and burning, but you wanted to stay in another hour. You just, I remember just never wanting to get out of the pool, but we just, we didn't think much about it. Even our parents, it was just what happened when you were in a pool too long.

Glenn:

didn't have the internet. We didn't have public knowledge the way we do now. Question as much. Exactly. We just accept it.

Ina:

We assumed it was safe. If it was allowed, it was safe. Some people really notice their throat gets irritated, they're coughing and again eye discomfort, right? So just that burning, stinging in our eyes. So those are some of the short term health effects. But let's dive in a little bit more to the long term. effects, which is extremely concerning to us. With chlorine and chloramine, what's really important to understand is those disinfectants combine with other natural compounds. So when water is being treated with those detergents, it's combined with natural compounds that are already in the water and they're creating things like trihalomethanes, And haloacetic acids, trihalomethane and haloacetic acids are in our water, more so in certain areas than other areas, but across the board, this is the result of disinfecting our water.

Glenn:

And again, these are natural byproducts. This just happens with the chlorine and chloramines combining with things that are already naturally in water.

Ina:

Absolutely. And these contaminants, these chemicals that are formed, are causing, for one, cancer. Whether it's GI, Urinary tract cancers.

Glenn:

that is a huge deal. So imagine guys, the geno toin is a toxin that affects your DNA. And so whether it's, I always think, the first thing that comes to mind is a pregnant woman. Or a very young baby just developing.

Ina:

Yeah, or even young children who are developing women in childbearing years And then also I never want to forget to talk about our fur babies, right? So dogs and our cats our pets that are drinking this chlorinated water. It's also having an effect on them So we know that cancer is definitely a long term effect There's Increased risk from these byproducts, but there's also the risk of thyroid issues, asthma, and an overall weakened immune system. Chlorine and these byproducts are causing a lot of oxidative stress and damage to our cells over time. And what's also interesting is chloramine is actually more harmful to those who have kidney disease or a compromised immune system. So again, this combination, whether it's, the chlorine, the chloramine or those byproducts, they're all leading to some real serious health consequences.

Glenn:

somebody has a kidney issue. They go to their urologist, they're told to drink more water all the time, and perhaps they don't have any system to help purify their water, and they're simply drinking this chlorinated cleaned water, chloramined cleaned water. And now they're really making things worse without even realizing it. So yeah, they needed to hydrate, but they didn't need to have by products that actually make their kidneys worse.

Ina:

Yeah. And remember guys, it's not just what we're drinking and cooking with. When we brush our teeth, when we take a hot shower, those vapors the chlorine is creating a gas that we're breathing in. So we're breathing it, we're drinking it, we're absorbing it through our membranes in our mouth, in our skin. Throughout this series, we really emphasize it's not just what we're drinking, and we know the importance of drinking pure water, but it's not just that. It's just in everything. It's everywhere. When we go out to a restaurant, and many of you notice, I know for me, I never drink the water in a restaurant unless I know that those owners are using really proper filtration. I'll never ever drink the tap water. Some of you may go in the server will come and put water on the table and right away. You don't even have to taste it You can smell it, but sometimes the taste is so vile like we can't even drink it

Glenn:

but the catch there of course is they're also using that exact same water to cook your food in

Ina:

but it's you know as it's cooked It helps that it's being You're not even really getting, the strong taste or the strong odor.

Glenn:

boiled, maybe it helped dissipate a little of it,

Ina:

exactly. But I want to share about this little experiment that you can do at home. So there's something called OTO, which is just it's a little chlorine tester that many people use. to test chlorine in their pool. So you can get it at the pool store. You can get it on Amazon, a few bucks. And basically you're just putting a few drops in your water to test it. So unless you're on well water, or unless you're filtering out your water. What we would recommend if you want to do this little test, just to prove this point, take some tap water, put it in a glass, and then take the OTO and put five drops of OTO in that tap water. It's going to turn yellow. That indicates that there is chlorine and chlorine type disinfectants in that water. Okay? Now, take another glass,

Glenn:

fresh glass,

Ina:

With some more tap water.

Glenn:

Just a little bit though.

Ina:

Take it and put it in your mouth. So remember when we brush our teeth, typically we're putting some toothpaste on the toothbrush. We're brushing and then we're rinsing out our mouth with water. We're swishing it and spitting it out. So in this case, we're gonna have you take some water in your glass. You're gonna put it in your mouth, swish it around for a couple of seconds, the entire amount, don't swallow, and then spit it back into the glass. Now add those same drops from the OTO container, and what's mind blowing, even in a couple of seconds of swishing in your mouth, the yellow is not going to be shown. You're not going to see the water turn because your mouth already absorbed that chlorine and those chlorine compounds. So when we brush our teeth, It's getting in there. Now, you could do that same exact test by taking a couple of fingers and swishing it in the water and then put the drops in. It's not going to turn yellow. Your skin already absorbed it. And then lastly, you can do this with food. You can take rice, oatmeal, pasta, any kind of food, put it in the water and then drain that water off. And that drained water, you add the drops, it's not going to turn yellow. Why? Because that chlorine already was absorbed into the food.

Glenn:

So it can't be denied that 100 percent happens every time that you're using the water. Untreated water if it has chlorine in it, you are going to be affected that way when you

Ina:

Untreated

Glenn:

Unfiltered, right? The water's treated

Ina:

What we really want to do ultimately is filter that out and we're going to be talking about in future episodes when we talk about filtering out chlorine specifically and chlorine type compounds in these disinfectants, the best way to do that is with certain types of carbon filtration,

Glenn:

either catalytic carbon, activated carbon or a combination of both is preferable and these allow you to remove those chlorine and chloramine compounds from that water.

Ina:

Some people will put on a shower filter to do that so that when you're taking a shower you're not breathing in or getting, the chlorine into your skin. The other way to reduce the amount is to boil your water. So boiling water will kill pathogens. It will also dissipate. The chlorine, but how practical is that? Are we going to boil our water and then shower in it or brush our teeth in it or boil all the water we use before we use it? No. And then the other way is just to let water sit because of water just sits

Glenn:

eventually

Ina:

chlorine will also dissipate. But again, how practical is that? So that's just, some of the ways that we can, prevent that. So let's wrap this up. we want to make sure that you guys understand that yes, there's the good and the bad, the plus and the minus of treating water and it's being done. There's no way around it in our country and our, our water is being treated, but then knowing. What that results in and what the risks are, that's most important. And we're never, we're going to tell you, we're never trying to scare you, freak you out. We just want you to have that knowledge so that you can do something about it, right? So that you can prevent you and your family from getting those cancers, those mutations, those, negative impacts of these substances.

Glenn:

Yeah. Obviously. you choose the best solution for the situation you're in, and that's what we're here to provide for you. Chlorine and chloramines are where it all begins. That's where you're going to start. Municipal water begins. And so we're excited that we were able to touch on that and at least expose you to what's happening when you're exposed even to that. So again, thanks for joining us on the toxic truth about water. Make sure to hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to your podcasts. This one simple step ensures that you're never left in the dark when it comes to new information that we can bring to light.

Ina:

Until next time, remember, we're all in this together. And keep on questioning, keep learning, stay healthy, stay informed. Much love to you guys. Be well. Bye for now.

Glenn:

Talk to you next time.

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