Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 11 2010 | 1,290 views
Scientists have claimed people should remove old copper pipes from their homes, or else install special filters, because the metal has been shown to build up in your body and cause serious health problems.Tiny traces of copper from pipes mix with tap water and are then consumed. Over a long period of time this leads to a build-up of copper in your body, which in turn leads to Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and diabetes because your body cannot process the metal.
People over 50 should also avoid vitamin and mineral pills that contain cooper and iron. They should also donate blood regularly to reduce iron levels.
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Dr. Mercola's Comments: |
The use of copper piping in home construction in the U.S. started in the early 1960’s. By 1970 it was almost exclusively the material of choice for water piping, and it’s now estimated that 98 percent of all homes built after 1970 have copper pipes.Despite public perception that copper pipes last forever, the reality is the average life of a copper pipe, per engineering specifications, is about 20 years. So if your home was built in 1980, for example, your copper pipes are now 10 years past their prime.Over the last couple decades, changes the EPA made to public water chemistry standards shortened the life expectancy of copper piping even further, down to 10 to 15 years in some areas of the country.Water with pH below 6.5 can corrode copper pipes. This breakdown of the pipes not only introduces high levels of copper into your tap water, but also causes pitting, or "pinhole" leaks, which can allow other contaminants into the pipe and the water passing through it.Reports began surfacing as much as 15 years ago documenting the corrosion and failure of copper piping on a massive scale across the United States.
read the rest of the article here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/11/copper-pipes-in-your-home-may-cause-heart-disease-and-alzheimers.aspx
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