Hearing damage can be caused by pollutants in drinking water

Did you know that you can suffer permanent hearing damage just from low dosages of barium in your drinking water?

In laboratory tests mice were fed extremely low dosages of barium (a common pollutant) to test how much the dosages effected their hearing.

We already know that high dosages of barium causes physiological impairments in inner ears, but testing was needed to determine how much barium could cause hearing damage - and the test results from the lab mice tell us is that no amount of barium is safe.

The testing on mice involced a tiny dosages of 0.14 mg/kg/day via drinking water for one group of mice and a large dosage of 1.4 mg/kg/day for a 2nd group of mice.

It should be noted that the WHO health-based guidelines for human drinking water limit is 0.7 mg/l.

After two months of exposure the low-dose barium in drinking water caused severe hearing loss in the mice. Inner and outer hair cells, stria vascularis and spiral ganglion neurons all showed severe degeneration, resulting in severe hearing loss.

This means that if you are drinking tiny amounts of barium in your water you could be suffering hearing loss over the longer term. It should also be noted that pregnant mothers should be worried about drinking water and their babies, as exposure to even a tiny amount of barium could cause their baby to be born deaf.

ADVICE

If you are concerned about the quality of your drinking water have it tested for barium, lead and other pollutants.

If you are concerned about your hearing and possible hearing damage get a free hearing test from your local audiologist. eg. If you live in Vaughan or Woodbridge you can get a free hearing test from OmniHearing.

When traveling avoid drinking the local water if you deem it suspicious. Stick to bottled water.

If pregnant have your drinking water tested immediately. No point taking risks with your babies health or hearing - barium, lead and other pollutants in drinking water can cause a host of different health problems for you and your baby.

If you have children have your drinking water tested anyway, because growing children are most vulnerable to pollutants in the drinking water.

If you notice a chemical factory dumping 'stuff' into the local water supply, don't hesitate to warn other people about it. Your vigilance may save the lives or health standards of others.