Alzheimer's link to Copper & Zinc

Paul Pollets_2

This article makes a strong case tying copper and zinc to Alzheimer's disease..."literally causing oxidation and rusting of the nerve cells..."
Since we get most of our potable water via copper or galvanized piping, it's not too hard to imagine from whence it came. What do you think??

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-12-26-alz-advance_x.htm

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Lot of drink water

regulations in Europe are being addressed lately. Every issue of the Globalpipe newsletter has a few articles.

Germany's latest revised drinking water regulation TrinkwVo (maybe) is looking at amounts of copper in the water,and tightening testing and investigation of microbiological hygine, among other things.

I believe nickel and zinc plated fittings are now banned for pex drinking water applications. Wonder what they know that we don't

hot rod

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Paul Pollets_2

When we know it...

it's usually too late. Accelerating the research would certainly assist defining what piping systems have no risk for potable water distribution. Ken Secor won't like this!!
Happy New Year!!

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[Deleted User]

handy to have heard about this

prior to a customer bringing up the concern...like you say, if a concern is there, a metals filter and pex pipe are an option.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Interesting and Troubling

Interesting inasmuch as it certainly wouldn't be the first time that a rogue theory winds up being the correct one. Since such research is generally funded by grants those following the "accepted" line of reasoning tend to scoff at others as grand monies are very limited and other avenues would cut into their own funding...

Troubling in that it seems the only reason he received money for research is because there is a possible drug to treat the problem. Even though it's a 70-year-old drug one will get you a hundred that if shown to work it will be renamed, re-patented and sold at a hideously inflated price...

Paul Pollets

You got that right...

the guy patents the drug and than we take a pill, rather than changing the pipe. Go figure... Maybe Wirsbo will come up with an "anti-copper/zinc" vaccine.

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

Zinc is a common supplement--"Centrum, 'A' to Zinc".

My grandmother once sent me a study showing that zinc was important--particularly to men because it is in relatively high concentration in their ejaculate.

Rather freaked me out that she'd send such a thing...

She was a good, licensed nurse however who gave good advice:

1) NEVER drink or use domestic hot water for cooking.

2) Soak puncture wounds in coal oil (kerosene).

3) Use liquid Lysol on nasty insect bites like chiggers.

4) Use straight bleach on active poison ivy/oak or add a couple of cups to a soaking bath when you suspect you've been exposed but before eruption.

1-4 work!

jbplumber

domestic hot water

What is the reason for not using dhw for cooking?

jbplumber

domestic hot water

What is the reason for not using dhw for cooking?

Steve Ebels

It makes you wonder

If there is a connection. You never used to hear about Alzhiemers and now it's a common affliction. What changed? Did they just discover this disease or is there something environmental that has caused a major uptick in its occurance?
Think of the lawsuits and panic if copper piping was linked to this illness. I have to believe 80% of the buildings in the US are plumbed with copper.

Wow!

bob_25

What's Safe?

I don't know what is safe but I have piped high purity water systems for industrial use and the ONLY material we could use was polypropylene. I was told any thing else would leach into the system and contaminate it even 316 stainless. It's always somethin. bob

kevin coppinger_4

Generally speaking....

don't use hot water for cooking because w/ copper pipe(lead solder) and the faucets made of brass (brass faucets have upo tp 8% lead in them), the lead is leached out of them giving you a higher lead concentration. By further boiling, it the concentration is made higher.Long term there can be problems....I have pex in some of my house, had plybutylene in my last...makes me want to rip out the copper and go all pex like I plumb 95% of all my work on others homes.kpc

Ex Maine Doug

Part of the problem is

that more people are living longer. Plus we have better and faster communications systems. Plus we have many more people looking at things.
Probably not time to panic though. In the 1990's, wars have killed 2 million kids, injured and maimed another 4 million and made a million orphans. We kill 17,000 people a year in alcohol related crashes. Add a few thousand more for mistakes in hospitals.

Makes copper pipe look really really good. Just ask a kid in a country without potable water because there is no pipe. Or for that matter ask a kid that does not have plumbing in this country.

Jeff Lawrence_21

And Mercury?

I saw this website advertised on a billboard when we were driving around on New Years Eve. Read the first paragraph (in Yellow on my computer)

http://www.momsagainstmercury.com

Kinda makes you think.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

She just always insisted domestic hot water was "bad" for drinking/cooking as it could make you sick--never said how or what, but was rather fanatical about it.

DIY Homeowner

pH is critical.

Most/all public water suppliers are now required to maintain a slightly basic pH of the water supplied to their customers. This has help tremendously in reducing the leaching of metals from plumbing into the water. This was not always the case in the past. This also doesn't help folks with private wells drawing acidic groundwater.

The other side of the coin, with plastic products, is what kinds of long-term effects do low levels of pasticizers (phthalates) in drinking water have? The jury is still out on that one....

Gordy

When you really stop and think. About every way that man has tried to make things more inovative and convenient, will kill or maim him in some way or another!Automobile,electricity,Gas,Boats,Airplanes,Food,Cell phones The list is endless.What we use that is safe today will probably be deemed unsafe in 10 or 20 years from now

jw

Pseudo Estrogens!!!

Altho I sell plastic tube for potable water, I personally drink only RO water at home. Reason? There is a LOT of research that shows plastics slowly shed molecules that mimic the hormone estrogen in the body. This includes teflon skillets as well as plastic pop bottles and plastic food bags.

As to copper poisoning, I was in Vancouver BC which has acidic city water (at least in the 80's) and I took a big drink out of a little used lav that had blue stains where the water dripped on the porcelain. Tasted awful, but I was thirsty. Was sick for several days after this.

We are ALL in the midst of a very large experiment. Will be interesting to see what shakes out in the future as to how modern plumbing and packaging affects our corporate health in the civilized world. Did not see the same health problems when using galvanized pipe which was an improvement over lead pipe.

jw

Mark Eatherton1

I hope...

you're also taking large doses of vitamin and mineral supplements. Drinking pure RO water has a tendency to strip those elements out of your body.

I agree, we are in the midst of a large, long term experiment and it's going to take a LONG time to determine the final results.

I remember something not too long ago about aluminum also causing Alzheimers disease. I suspect is it metals in general. I wonder if the makers of Goldschlager are in trouble...

ME

hr

I think RO's

tend to drop the ph, also. Generally RO is more than most homeowners need.

hot rod

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Rudy

More on Copper

Several years ago I was re-piping a small lab for a fish biologist and he insisted on only using plastic water supply piping. He was using the water to grow extremely small aquatic insects to feed the fish he was studying. He told me that copper ions leaching from even a small section of copper pipe was enough to kill off these insects.

Where I live we have a lot of moss growing on roofs. It takes clean air and water for this stuff to thrive. Ever notice how you don't see much moss growing below the galvanized pipe flashings?

Probably a little copper and zinc in your system is a good thing. Too much, not so good.

I've told my family that they should bring my body down to the metal recycler when I'm gone. I'm sure there's enough scrap there to make it worth while.

GEO_3

They say there's no connection between metals and alzheimers but I forget where I read that. I know, not funny. Think about it, what replaced lead in anti-fouling paint...COPPER. You can kill a tree with one copper nail. On the other hand it's supposed to be good for arthrites.