function removeWhitespace(xml){

  var loopIndex;

  for(loopIndex = 0; loopIndex < xml.childNodes.length; loopIndex++){

    var currentNode = xml.childNodes[loopIndex];

    if(currentNode.nodeType == 1){

      removeWhitespace(currentNode);

    }

    if(((/^\s+$/.test(currentNode.nodeValue))) && (currentNode.nodeType == 3)){

      xml.removeChild(xml.childNodes[loopIndex--]);

    }

  }

}