You wouldn't knowingly bathe in toxins every morning, or set out to harm your lungs and sinuses, irritate your allergies and skin, or willingly increase your risk of cancer. But the fact is, chlorine and its by-products in your shower water are toxins which can damage your health.

These toxins are:

Chlorine: Added to most municipal water supplies, this disinfectant hardens arteries, destroys proteins in the body, irritates skin and sinus conditions, and aggravates asthma, allergies, and respiratory problems.

Chloroform: This powerful by-product of chlorination causes excessive free-radical formation (accelerated aging), normal cells to mutate, and cholesterol to oxidize. It's a known carcinogen!

DCA (Dichloro acetic acid): This chlorine by-product alters cholesterol metabolism and has been shown to cause liver cancer in lab animals.

MX (another chlorinated acid): Another by-product of chlorination, MX is known to cause genetic mutations that can lead to cancer growth and has been found in all chlorinated water for which it was tested.

Research indicates an increased risk for bladder and rectal cancer from drinking chlorinated water. And even though you¡¦re not drinking water in the shower, you can absorb many times more chlorine in a shower than you do by drinking the same water! Tests show that your body can absorb more chlorine as a result of a 10-minute shower than if you drank eight glasses of the same water.

How can that be? A warm shower opens up your pores, causing your skin to act like a sponge. As a result, you not only inhale the chlorine vapors, you also absorb them through your skin, directly into your bloodstream-at a rate that's up to six times higher than drinking.

Short terms risks include skin, eye or sinus irritation in some people. Long term risks include oxidation (cell and tissue aging), hardened arteries, increased risk of cancer, and hardened arteries. In addition, if you suffer from any of the following, chlorinated water can make your condition worse:

• asthma
• sinus conditions
• allergies
• skin rashes
• emphysema

The good news is that showering in chlorine-treated water is a risk you can erase immediately, through the use of a proper shower filter. Be sure to choose a shower filter with Vitamin C, a powerful chlorine neutralizer.

According to Dr.  Francis T. Mayo, Director of the Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory, "Since chlorine is required by public health regulations to be present in all public drinking water supplies, it is up to the individual to remove it at the point-of-use in the home."

Stan Howard is a researcher for Best Water, specializing in water purification. For a free report on water purification and to learn how to prevent chlorine in your shower, go to Shower Filters