An Odd Romance: How Safe are Household Chemicals?

CEBU, Philippines -  Life is indeed littered with risks. Even the things and practices that have already become part of popular tradition are not necessarily free of threats. Often, it's only the overt risks that call people's attention, those that they clearly see or those whose effects are immediate.

Our long-standing romance with chemicals is an example. Certain chemicals are incorporated into the many things that we use every day, whether at home, at work, everywhere. These things are just so common that we find no need to check them for possible health hazards. The general presumption is that if something has been around for quite a while already, it must be safe and okay.

Well, yes, many of the everyday supplies we use are okay. Or, perhaps, okay until we gain more knowledge to determine otherwise. For instance, we think of salt as okay - in our food, at least - but salt can be transformed into a more potent substance like, for instance, hypochlorous acid, a chemical that "though it can be safely used when diluted, it can be very dangerous when concentrated," as stated in the wiseGeek website (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-hypochlorous-acid.htm).

The website further states that "'chlorine bleach' sold for disinfectant and laundering contains hypochlorous acid, and the systems used to chlorinate many water supplies rely on it to kill unwanted microorganisms in the water, with the acid creating conditions that make life unsustainable for these microbial invaders."

Despite continued reports of skin irritation after exposure to chlorinated water in swimming pools and public baths, tooth enamel corrosion even among preschoolers, as well as lung irritation as an occupational hazard, chlorination is a widely accepted method of cleansing the water supply. We've come to see it as a "lesser evil" compared to the risk of being inflicted with E. coli or Salmonella typhi, which can cause dysentery or cholera.

Chlorine has long been associated with future fertility damage among children who regularly use chlorinated pool waters, as well damage from its reaction to the protein of the hair and skin. Natural News, citing a 2013 finding of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, reports that "people with high levels of dichlorophenol, a chemical byproduct of chlorine, collected in urine samples, were found to be 80 percent more likely to have food allergy."

But Engr. Astrophel S. Logarta of the Production and Distribution Department of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), suspects that such reports could be funded by bottled water firms to scare the public from tap water. He contends that MCWD uses chlorine gas in the treatment of water, explaining that "Gas doesn't dissolve in liquid. That means there's no [human] intake of chlorine at all [from MCWD-supplied water]."

The chlorine gas used in the water treatment is at a low level of 3 to 5 percent or 1 to15 parts per million. "While water flows through our pipeline," Engr. Logarta continues, "chlorine gas stays on the sides carrying out its purpose of disinfecting. There's this strong smell that [comes with the water] when you open the tap because that's what it is - in gas form; it evaporates. It's not the powder form you're more familiar with for laundry or the bleach."

The chlorine that the public is familiar with is in calcium hypochlorite form, which is a component in bleaching powders and as hydrochloric acid in muriatic acid products. Another common form is sodium hypochlorite, which is used in many household cleansers.

Engr. Logarta assures that MCWD is continuously monitoring the quality of its water supply and that their daily monitoring reports are available, "should the public doubt [the quality of] our product." He adds, "We are being supplied with premium chlorine that is in consonance with the guidelines of the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water."

The MCWD assurance comes with a warning that the public should be more wary of these random water refilling stations, instead. "It has never come to our attention [that there's] a single case of ailment caused by the water we supply, but you have already learned of water samples collected from refilling stations that tested positive of prevailing microorganisms," Engr. Logarta points out.

In so many words, MCWD is telling its consumers not to worry. But some people aren't appeased. They argue that if the smell that comes out with the water upon opening the tap is evaporating chlorine gas, the fact that one smells it can mean that there's chlorine getting into the nose; and that still amounts to chlorine intake. 

A little review in world history will show that chlorine in its elemental form was used as a chemical weapon in World War I. Referred to as "bertholite," it was first used by the Germans in the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. More recently, in 2007, insurgents in Iraq used chlorine bombs during an attack on the local population and coalition forces in Anbar province. But these uses may be too far-fetched from the kind of chlorine contained in household products.

The local Department of Health has said that they have not conducted any study on the effects of prolonged human exposure to chlorine. And this familiar chemical is not the only one that suffuses today's homes. In the meantime, we consumers may just have to go on walking on tightrope on the issue, trying to keep our balance as our odd romance with household chemicals continues.