One product that sells and sells quite well, is coming under the same scrutiny as tobacco and that is bottled water. Both the water in the bottle and the plastic container are coming under attack, again. Cathy Cooper of the Canadian Environmental Law Association is drawing attention to a chemical called Bisphenol A. Some scientists say it mimics estrogen, which you might think of as the little instant messenger of the body, relaying information and instructions from one group of cells to another. It's probably rather important to keep any all intruders that might miss-communicate any instructions, or, information from one group of cells to all others, out of your body.

The Canadian Environmental Law Association has found lab animals exposed to Bisphenol A, linked to two common types of cancer. One being breast cancer, while the other is prostrate cancer. another type of chemical used to produce water bottles is known as, polyethlene terephthalate. This particular chemical breaks down into the water we drink, truly contaminating the water. A third chemical known as anitmony can cause dizziness, depression, nausea or even death. Anitmony is a chemical and these chemicals are toxic, unlike love which can cause the same symptoms but usually lacks the lasting ill-effects.

As if all this news isn't bad enough, a Washington Based Environmental Group did a two year study on contaminants in bottled water and turned up high levels of a chlorine byproduct in 2 of 8 brands of bottle water. The byproduct is known as trihalomethanes. According to the EPA website, this particular product is a essentially a disinfectant and is also found in tap water. The maximum amount of disinfectant allowed in drinking water is 80 parts per billion. The two brands that had the highest levels were named as Wal-mart and Acadia of the Giant Food supermarkets, although the level was indeed below the federal limits set by the EPA.

So what is a body to do? I think I have found a happy medium, one that saves me a small fortune in these tough economic times and doesn't look all that bad either. It's called Tappening and the simple task of boiling. Boiling is simple as long as you don't burn the water. Simply take a good spaghetti sized pot and fill it with water. Then, place it on the stove until it comes to a roiling boil. Not being very handy in the kitchen, I tend to look for rising cloud of steam. Turn off the burner, cover the top of the pot with some aluminum foil and push it onto the bottom shelf of the fridge.

Tappening is what's happening. It's a small company that is offering stainless steel water bottles, along with a nifty water bottle bag. I like stainless steel. It doesn't easily corrode, rust or for that matter break. It's essentially clean and safe to drink from. Just wash it out with a brush, soap and some hot water. It doesn't contain any of the adverse chemicals of bottled water and I feel pretty secure with the water I boil. Besides, the holidays are creeping in on us and with Wall Street telling us to scrimp and save, I can cut water buying from my budget and replace it with a very nifty gift for a reasonably small price.

There's a song I remember from a musical called Fiddler on the Roof. It's called L'Chaim. It's a toast to life. Tappening, may very well be, a toast to health.

Breezing thru the deadwood on a hot summer day
I saw a human being lazybonin' out in the hay
I said uh, hey Mr. Human can ya rainmaker too?
He said I guess it's O.K.
ya know the
only thing we need is water.
Cool.
Clear
Water.

John Lennon ©1974 all rights reserved.