by Dr. Pamela Costello, MD, PhD

The best way to detoxify is to stop putting toxic things into the body and depend upon its own mechanisms. Andrew Weil, MD

One of the primary sources of neurotoxins is that of unfiltered or poorly filtered drinking and cooking water. It’s a common misconception that because most toxins found in drinking water can neither be seen nor tasted, that the water is safe to drink. Furthermore, many patients know to buy quality drinking water, but then source their tap water for cooking. Boiling water might remedy microbes or infectious agents, however it does nothing to purify water of its toxins. The greatest error made beyond that is relying upon commercial grade testing to test tap or well water to determine its safety for drinking and cooking. Such testing is notoriously inadequate in addressing water borne toxins, both in quantity and the type of toxins found therein, as well as deeming ‘safe allowable limits’ that do not address the issue of bioaccumulation of toxins that occurs with many years of ingesting multiple ounces per day.

Safe water is fundamental to a healthy nervous system and body. Water helps maintain body temperature, removes waste from the body, and provides the basic component of all bodily functions, cellular processes, and all body fluids. Water is a renewable resource, replenished by rain and melted snow. However, new weather patterns, the toxic byproducts of geoengineering, depleting aquifers, toxic spills, and shrinking glaciers, have all destabilized previously reliable natural water sources.

The human body is composed primarily of water, and it requires healthy drinking water to properly flush the kidneys and liver, as well as remove toxins and waste via the colon. Unfortunately, whether from a well or municipal source, most tap water is far from pure. Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, aluminum as well as radiation, pharmaceutical drugs, toxic halide products (chlorine and fluoride), and a multitude of other disease-causing toxins, are all found in drinking water.

The toxicity of our drinking water spans back millennia. Lead toxicity in water was among the first heavy metals known to ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews. As their use increased, so did the awareness of their poisonous effects on the human body. The concept of illness resulting from bioaccumulation, or long-term storage in the body, of even low dose exposures to heavy metal toxins, was described by Paracelsus in the early 16th century.

Despite centuries of awareness of disease caused by toxicities in drinking water, we remain without safe water to drink, as poisons (such as lead) leach into our tap water from unsafe plumbing. There are more than 80 “regulated” contaminants and more unregulated toxins present in most tap water, including silent poisons such as radiation from nuclear arms and energy industries.

When we drink tap water, we are actually consuming water that contains a mixture of toxic poisonous chemicals that are rapidly absorbed by our bodies, and stored in our nervous systems and bones. These stored toxic substances (such as fluoride, lead, mercury, arsenic, and aluminum), create a constant stimulation of the brain’s immune system, leading to chronic brain inflammation and excitotoxicity, which have been linked to abnormal brain development and to neuroinflammatory disorders.

Proper water filtration is necessary to create clean, pure drinking water. To be absolutely certain you are getting the purest water you can for you (as well as for your family and pets), you need to properly filter your own water or consider purchasing all of your drinking and cooking water from a conscientious commercially filtered source, not merely the bottled municipal water that most water companies deceptively market as ‘pure’.

By cleansing your body and eliminating toxins from your environment, your body and brain can begin to heal itself, prevent disease, and achieve its maximum health. 505-503-8325, www.drpamelacostello.com.