Gene Shaparenko - Aqua Technology

As published in The Journal of International Health Research

We write in many periodicals and technical journals with worldwide readership. Many of the topics are easy---and the words come easy. For example, describing drinking water problems, alternative solutions and the best technologies for the most conclusive solutions.

This topic is far more difficult---with fewer scientific studies to fall back on. This is an excerpt from an article which the author provided to The Journal Of International Health Research(JIHR). JIHR deals with the problems of HIV and AIDS---providing tons of medical supplies worldwide as well as information on orthodox and alternative treatment technologies and preventative techniques.

The current topic of pure water and it's relationship to the immune system is one which few have investigated, and, as is the case with the entire topic of HIV and AIDS, sometimes can offer only preliminary and perhaps only hypothetical conclusions in many cases. However, to the individual who must live with these types of medical problems, it is critically important---so let us begin.

First, we know that water is a carrier of dissolved minerals, salts, heavy metals, and radioactive residues as well as organic chemicals and a wide range of living materials such as parasites, fungi and bacteria of all types.

Many of these materials enter the water through natural channels---minerals, salts and the like come from exposure to rocks, dirt and other inorganic materials. Heavy metals enter the water as a result of exposure to metallic pipes; aluminum compounds are added to drinking water; chemical residues enter from industry sources and so forth.

Biologically active materials enter through a great variety of sources---many understood quite well, others still mysterious and foreboding. Human and animal wastes are the primary contributors to microbiological contamination of drinking water.

In this article, we'll focus on just a small sampling of inorganic chemicals and living materials which are found in drinking water---and how we do know they affect the immune system, or a depressed immune system---and finally, how to eliminate such materials from drinking water and thus reduce exposure of the immune system to potentially disastrous water contaminants.

Opportunistic Infections. These are infections which are known to be one of several types of clinical manifestations of HIV. Other categories would include Neuropsychiatric manifestations and AIDS related cancers.

Opportunistic Infections may be caused by Parasites, Fungi, Bacteria and various types of Viruses. By "opportunistic" we mean that these organisms take the "opportunity" to cause infection when the immune system has already been impaired.

For example. several years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the entire city's water system was infested with cryptosporidium, a parasite which scientists suspect finds it's source in farming environments, and in particular, livestock.

Tens of thousands of residents became violently ill. Trauma and emergency centers were jammed, and residents were told not to drink the city tap water until further notice. Chlorination of the water could not kill the parasite---which resembled an egg with a super-tough exterior shell.

The lines formed at water trucks and grocery stores---the bottled water supply quickly ran out and boiling water for 20-30 minutes became standard procedure.

The story might end here but it doesn't. At this writing, we are aware, through various news sources, that at least 104 individuals died in Milwaukee as a result of exposure to the cryptosporidium parasite.

Worse, it is known that 84 of these individuals were HIV positive. Similar outbreaks in several midwestern states, Georgia and more recently in Las Vegas and once again in Milwaukee indicate that this problem is widespread and worsening.

Therefore, we have seen the opportunistic manifestation of HIV via cryptosporidium parasites. It clearly attacked those with depressed immune systems and the results were disastrous.

Water companies and the technical gurus who follow municipal water treatment view cryptosporidium as one of many new "super bugs" which classical, municipal water treatment procedures(chlorination, ammonia, etc.) simply cannot cope with.

Much like the gradual ineffectiveness of certain antibiotics in fighting persistent infections, our "tried and true" municipal water treatment procedures are failing to provide protection against the "super bugs"---and few if any antidotes are even on the horizon.

Only two techniques are known to eliminate parasitic problems such as cryptosporidium, giardia and others known to be a virtual death knell for HIV sufferers: steam distillation and micro filtration. Steam distillation is the preferred technique. The tap water is heated to boiling---killing the parasites and leaving their residues behind. The pure steam is captured and returned to a liquid by cooling, similar to the hydrologic cycle which brings us rain.

Micro filtration comes in many forms---but the only one which we know to be completely effective is a solid ceramic filtration element with an absolute filtration rating of 0.2 microns. It is excellent for traveling or where there are KNOWN infestations of bacteria, liver flukes, or parasites.

Techniques such as reverse osmosis and carbon filtration are virtually useless in such situations---and may in fact worsen the condition rather than remedy it---because these two techniques have no means to kill microorganisms---and may instead act as breeding grounds.

For those who wish to delve further into this topic, the Center for Disease Control's classification system for HIV infections list the water-borne parasitic infections caused by cryptosporidium as falling in Group IV(Other disease category), Subgroup C(secondary infectious diseases).

>Inorganic Chemicals and the Immune System.

Perhaps the most thoroughly investigated and best-known inorganic chemical suspected of damaging the immune system is sodium-fluoride, the chemical used to fluoridate nearly 60% of the nation's drinking water.

We are not here to argue to efficacy of fluoridation and tooth decay. A concise summary of fluoridation, cancer and supposed dental benefits which appeared in the Evergreen Times a couple of years ago is available from the author at no charge.

To understand the impact of fluoride on the immune system, we remember that the immune system is the body's major defense mechanism against disease. This immune system is comprised of white blood cells and a number of tissues throughout the body that make or activate white blood cells.

When operating properly, and unimpaired, these white cells serve as the body's surveillance system to recognize and destroy foreign agents such as bacteria, viruses, and chemicals as well as the body's own obsolete, damaged, or cancerous cells.

The process by which these white blood cells migrate through the blood stream and then through the walls of blood vessels to reach the agent that they must destroy is known as leucotaxis

Once the white blood cells reach the foreign material or agent, the white cells encapsulate and "swallow" the agent in a process called phagocytosis. Then, various enzymes and cofactors necessary for the breakdown of the foreign material migrate to the interior of the white cells where the foreign material is held captive. In a healthy immune system, these enzymes and cofactors then digest and destroy the invading organism or foreign agent.

It is known that sodium fluoride, in concentrations found in public drinking water, will inhibit both the leucotaxis and phagocytosis processes---in effect, rendering the immune system ineffective or as a minimum in a reduced capacity to deal with infections or other foreign materials.

The mechanism suspected in this degenerative process is the increase in cyclic adenosine mono phosphate(AMP) generated in the body when fluoride is present. Cyclic AMP is known to inhibit the migration of white blood cells.

Perhaps even more important is fluoride's interaction with the enzyme(protein) production process. Fluoride is known to form very strong hydrogen bonds with groups of atoms called amides. Proteins(or enzymes) are formed by the grouping of hundreds of small, molecular building blocks which we know as amino acids.

There are about 20 different types of amino acids which are linked together something like a chain---thus forming a protein or enzyme. At each link in this chain of amino acids is an amide.

As noted above, fluoride will interact and bond with this amide---creating in many cases a disruption of the enzymatic reaction of this chain of amino acids. Without proper enzymatic reactions, these proteins cannot react with the foreign material captured in the white blood cells(if the white cells were actually able to get to the invading organism)---and the immune system is consequently compromised.

This is not some sort of magic process we have described---it is one which is well known in all of the medical world. What is astonishing is the lack of concern that the medical community and the U.S. Public Health Service have shown regarding the disarming of the human immune system by a toxic chemical byproduct of the aluminum industry(sodium fluoride)---intentionally being placed in our drinking water---impregnated at a thousand times more potent in our tooth pastes and found even in soft drinks which are bottled in fluoridated water areas!

Fluoride is also known to react with aluminum cookware---thus increasing aluminum levels in drinking water up to 1000 times! Although some experts don't agree as yet, studies have shown that aluminum in drinking water, from natural as well as man-made sources, is highly correlated with the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease.

To quote Robert Carton, PhD, former scientist with the US Environmental Protection Agency,when interviewed on CBC TV's "Marketplace" on November 24, 1992---

"...Fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century, if not of all time."

So here we have opportunistic disease such as cryptosporidium and giardia in the nation's drinking water---both untreatable by conventional municipal water treatment processes. And we have fluoride and aluminum being added, intentionally, at water treatment plants---both causing harm to the immune and neurological systems. And the list could go on to include lead and other heavy metals which destroy the body's nervous system.

There is only one process which will remove all of these contaminants, as well as others which may affect the operation of the immune system: steam distillation of drinking water.

Compared to a few years ago, small steam distillation systems are now within the financial reach of virtually every individual---at about the cost of a simple carbon filter one could buy at the local hardware store.

They are also much easier to operate and maintain, more compact, and they even look nicer than the old "laboratory-type" designs of a few years ago.

Do yourself a favor and get away from tap water---it's probably loaded with one or more of the problems we have discussed above. Get a small steam distillation system or alternatively, look for steam distilled water on the grocery shelf. Do not use "de-ionized" or "reverse osmosis" or "filtered" water---these processes are not designed to completely remove the types of problems we have discussed above.

Remember, you only have one immune system---and it's job is to keep you alive and well and free from disease and infection. Use pure steam distilled water---it's as natural as a rain drop---and made the same way. You will be glad you did!

Mr. Shaparenko is a former satellite communications systems engineer with experience in physics, biology and chemistry. He developed the nation's first full-service "water stores", Aqua Technology, and currently writes for several national and international trade journals on drinking water technology, business and health.