Chlorine in Water

(and Its Impact on our Health)

Bacteria in Water

As stated in the previous chapter, the considerations herein contained must be read discriminately, with critical thinking. Their purpose is to prompt public and scientific debate on the subject.

To guarantee water’s microbial purity in centralized conveyance systems, the use of a chemical disinfectant like chlorine seems inevitable. Bacteria and other microbes spontaneously develop in water and fix themselves on conduit and storage tank surfaces. Even if the vast majority of these bacteria are harmless to man, small portions are of the same family as those that thrive in the body of those afflicted with certain infectious diseases. This will normally lead to relate cause and effect, between absorption of water containing reputedly pathogenic bacteria and the appearance of infectious disease. However, such a correlation is far from being so simple.

Many observations have shown that absorption of these bacteria, even in substantial quantities does not necessarily lead to illness, just as illness can appear without having been preceded by the absorption of suspected contaminated water. The appearance of infectious disease is a phenomenon that results from a combination of circumstances within and without the human body. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we believe that the dominating factor is not the quality of water consumed, but the general state of a person’s immune system.

The precautionary principle would dictate however that it is best to consume bacteria-free water. This is the origin of Pasteur-influenced hygienics, which postulate that from the moment bacteria are eliminated from water – by chemical disinfection for example – all is well. By extrapolation, we will exert all efforts to kill off all life in water, with the help of biocides (substances that kill life). This is the justification for chlorine use, but also for UV sterilization with lamps. From such a perspective, chlorine constitutes a hygiene feature. But in reality, chlorine is a toxic biocide with many side effects that no one almost ever talks about.

Even though World Health Organization specialists are perfectly conscious of these, notably the undesirable effects of chemical disinfection (of drinking water), the subject is rarely treated in publications of any sort. Yet, specialists rightly know that the decision to disinfect water (or not) is based on an estimated balance of risks. Chlorination eliminates immediate risks linked to pathogenic bacteria, but in so doing, the water consumer is exposed to other types of health problems. Unfortunately, because it takes so long for chemical disinfectants to reveal their harm, it is very difficult to establish a cause and effect relation between some viral or degenerative diseases and prolonged use (even externally) of chlorinated water.

Toxic organo-chlorinated compounds are often mentioned as a chlorination by-product. The toxic effect of these is only noteworthy when the initial water contains enough organic impurities (bacteria, humic particles) before disinfection. When the initial water contains little of these substances, organo-chlorinated compounds are hardly produced, in fact negligible, and are therefore harmless to one’s health. The real risk is to be found elsewhere: in water’s electrochemical properties.

Chlorine’s Oxidizing Character
Bioelectronics of Vincent (BEV) Elements

Bioelectronics is a multidisciplinary science situated at the crossroads of electrochemistry, thermodynamics, biology and medicine. It is based on four basic postulates [1]. Even those who know nothing of bioelectronics observe the unfavourable effects of chlorine in drinking water.

Chlorine’s bactericide effect is tied to its oxidizing character. When you put an oxidizing substance in water, water will tend to capture available electrons. Thus, water’s properties become modified. This translates into a measurable electric potential increase, for example of inert metal (like platinum or gold) that has been immersed in the said water. An oxidant’s dissolution means a reduction of water’s electronic activity, which is quantified as rH₂.

There is a great similarity between acid-base reactions (pH) and oxidation-reduction reactions (rH₂). The dissolution of an acid in water increases proton activity, which reduces water’s pH. In contrast, bases that capture protons reduce proton activity and increase the pH. Similarly, the dissolution of a reducing agent in water increases electron activity (since it is an electron provider) whereas oxidants act the other way around. Electronic activity is characterized by analogous pH and rH₂ scales. The following table resumes the likeness between both types of charged particle exchanges (protons, electrons).

Acid-base Reactions	Oxidation-reduction Reactions
Proton exchange [H+]	Electron exchange [e-]
Proton activity [H+]	Electron activity (tied to hydrogen’s activity) [H2]
Unit measure pH = -log[H+]	Unit measure rH2= -log[H2]
Acid environment pH between 0 and 7	Reducing environment: => anaerobiosis rH2 between 0 and 28
Acid-base neutrality Neutral pH = 7	Redox neutrality Indifferent rH2 = 28
Alkaline environment pH between 7 and 14	Oxidizing environment: => aerobiosis rH2 between 28 and 42

Unfortunately, the rH₂ variable is not taken into account during physicochemical analyses of water. Yet it should be, as each type of microorganism (viruses, bacteria, fungi) can only develop within a given pH and rH₂ range.

Graphs (called Vincent diagrams) that correlate rH₂ values with respect to pH values can help map the specific range of existence of any bacteria or virus. Outside those ranges, microorganisms will die [2].

Scientific literature that deals with bioelectronics acknowledges that most infectious disease bacteria grow in a neutral to lightly alkaline and reductive medium. In comparison, viruses prefer an oxidizing and lightly alkaline medium. Chlorine disinfection will therefore be harmful to bacteria, but will generate a favourable electrochemical environment for viruses. Regular and prolonged absorption of disinfected water having weak electronic activity (i.e. high rH₂) progressively modifies blood’s redox properties and sets the ground for a whole series of diseases.

Louis-Claude Vincent’s work has shown that a healthy person’s blood has an rH₂ around 21. A person in whom a cancer is incubating has an rH₂ level above 28. The person afflicted with irreversible cancer has an rH₂ blood level above 32 with a slightly alkaline pH.

These last readings are exactly the values measured in water disinfected by chlorination.

It’s obvious that ingesting a few glasses of chlorinated water will not provoke illness. However, prolonged consumption – for years on end – of such water impoverishes the body’s electron content and progressively increases blood’s rH₂ value. Thousands of clinical observations have shown that there is a net correlation between alterations to blood’s rH₂ value and the appearance of some cancers and viral diseases.

Those who practice bioelectronics consider the rH₂ as an important criterion to define water quality.

I am of the opinion that bioelectronic alteration of our body is not conditioned exclusively by chlorinated water absorption. Other factors such as one’s diet or lifestyle can also influence. Nevertheless, continuous use and absorption of water that has been disinfected with chlorine can be suspected of promoting long-term health problems.

In this regard, it would be wise to enhance legal potable water standards to guarantee its harmlessness. This is the reason many scientists propose the notion of biocompatible water (i.e. good to drink) as complementary to legally potable water. These ideas are discussed at the biocompatible water page.

Considering the above discussion on water chlorination and its impact on one’s health, it is reasonable to adopt a view that is altogether different from conventional water distribution companies and proponents.

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[1] The basic postulates of Bioelectronics of Vincent : excerpts from an article by Joseph Országh that was published in the magazine «Sciences du Vivant» Vol. 5 pages 77-87 in 1994:

First postulate : Any electronic charge disruption (by ionization, dissolution, transfer or displacement) brought upon an aqueous medium modifies water’s properties as an active solvent, which properties can be measured with properly selected electrodes. These electrodes will only detect the nature of the modifications affecting the water itself, and not that of the solutes contained in the water.

Second postulate : As independent variables, the quantified proton and electron transfers (respectively measured as pH and rH₂) define a two-dimensional space in which every point corresponds to a precise state of the water medium.

Third postulate : To each state characterized by a certain level of proton and electron transfers (pH and rH₂) can be associated a multitude of situations, each corresponding to a different electric charge density and mobility.

Fourth postulate : The maximum dissipation speed of the chemical energy stored in a living water medium is proportional to the square of the potential redox, and inversely proportional to the water’s electric resistivity.

[2] My personal contribution to bioelectronics is limited to its electrochemical aspects and excludes all medical or biological concerns. In my publications on the subject, I sometimes quote work done by others in order to highlight bioelectronics' other possible applications.