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HIDDEN FLUORIDE
Jeff Green, U.S.A.
Fifty years ago, politicians and
dentists pushed fluoride to improve our collective smile. Now we are warned
to keep fluoridated water out of baby's formula.
Hindsight? Today, as the devastating
effects of chemicals in our water, food, and environment, capture ever more
of our daily attention, a look back to see where things went wrong is
needed. A closer inspection reveals that many of the chemicals most likely
to do us harm were introduced into the environment without adequate testing,
often by means of publicity blitzes that misled the public.
Once again fluoride is a case in point.
Last year, when the U.S. House Committee on Science asked for studies
proving the safety or effectiveness of the substances that are used in 90%
of the nation's fluoridation programs, the Environmental Protection Agency
responded that it could not identify ANY long term studies on the safety or
effectiveness of these chemicals, despite claims that it is one of the most
studied elements in the world. Moreover, research has confirmed over the
past few years that fluoridation of water presents a definitive danger, not
an advantage, to our health.
Why we are at risk
Over 50 years ago, when public policy
makers proposed fluoridation of drinking water, they presented arguments
that sounded valid to a public that was looking for a quick fix for tooth
decay, but would allow sugar consumption to continue by the pound. Many
communities rushed to add fluoride to their public drinking water, presuming
that the additive would be incorporated in the enamel of the tooth and
effectively resist decay. Now, that argument itself is decaying.
Policy makers, heavily influenced by
industry lobbyists, bought a bill of goods, and without proper toxicological
studies standardised what they considered to be an effective dose of
fluoride. The standard was based on a hypothetical average amount of
water that a child drinks each day. But they failed to consider the
effect of ingesting larger amounts, or to take into account other sources of
fluoride including the fluoride now commonly found in our foods.
According to the July 2000 cover story of
the Journal of the American Dental Association, any limited benefit
to be attributed to fluoride is a result of direct application to the
surface of the tooth, not ingestion; while, according to the largest
dental survey in the U.S. excessive ingestion of fluoride now affects two
thirds of the children in fluoridated communities, causing dental
fluorosis, a permanent scarring, in the form of white opaque spots,
staining, or mottling of the tooth and erosion of the enamel.
Just as significantly, fluoride has been
scientifically linked to serious adverse health effects and aggravation of
existing illnesses, and this is compounded when the source of fluoride is
hazardous waste from the phosphate fertiliser industry.
The actual substances used in 90% of the
nation's fluoridation programs are the residues captured from the Air
Quality Control scrubber systems of the fertiliser producers in central
Florida substances that can't be dumped into fresh water, buried in the
ground or even given away, at any dilution, unless anointed a "beneficial
product" intended for our drinking water.
Excessive ingestion of
fluoride now affects two thirds of the children in fluoridated communities.
This clever, but a less than ethical,
business ploy that forces toxic waste upon an unsuspecting population in the
name of public health, is thought by many to be just the tip of the iceberg.
According to material safety data sheets on
the offending substances (hydrofluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluorides),
these wastes contain not only fluoride, but also lead, arsenic and mercury,
at levels above our public health goals for these contaminants all of
them carcinogenic - and are dumped, untreated, into our drinking water.
Fluoride accumulates in calcium rich
tissues not only the bones and teeth, but also the brain, heart and
connective tissues. Furthermore, ingesting fluoride has been shown to
increase the transport of heavy metals across the blood brain and gut
blood-barriers. According to studies totalling more than 400,000 children in
three different states, the presence of the fluoride chemicals from the
phosphate fertiliser industry in the drinking water results in a doubling of
the incidence of the danger level of lead found in children's blood, which
is correlated to increased learning disabilities, hyperactivity, crime and
violence. .And a highly significant animal study, which would commonly use
dosages with 100 times the concentrations expected for humans, found an
increased incidence of aluminum in the brain from fluoride exposures, at the
same concentration as found in fluoridated drinking water, which resulted in
kidney disease and lesions in the brain similar to those of humans with
Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Hardy Limeback, head of the Department
of Preventative Dentistry at the University of Toronto, Canada, had once
been Canada's leading authority and long time promoter of fluoridation. Now,
he actively warns the public and health care professionals of the dangers of
fluoride, advising mothers never to make baby formula with fluoridated tap
water, and never to let children under three years of age use toothpaste
with fluoride. Similarly, in 1994, both the American Dental Association
and the American Academy of Pediatrics revised their recommendations to
limit the prescribed fluoride supplements for a child of 6 months to 3 years
of age to the amount found in one cup of fluoridated water, and ask parents
not to prepare baby formulas with fluoridated water.
Fluoride is long recognised as an enzyme
inhibitor, which can cause a range of undesirable side effects,
including the suppression of thyroid hormones. (In the 1920s, a common
treatment for a patient with an overactive thyroid was the addition of
fluoride to a bath to allow absorption of the fluoride through the skin.)
Fluoride also inhibits the production of melatonin and seratonin, both vital
to our health. Similarly, fluoride has health consequences for diabetics by
inhibiting the production of insulin. Of grave concern is the finding
reported in the British journal, The Lancet, that fluoride inhibits
or destroys acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme essential for proper
neurotransmitter function necessary for learning and memory.
Non fluoridated
Vancouver has a lower incidence of dental caries than Toronto, which has
fluoridated the public water supply for almost forty years.
Four reports published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association in the 1990's also correlated fluoridated
water with increased risk of hip fractures, especially with exposures
to women during their menopausal years, identified as a highly susceptible
"window of injury" for fluoride exposures. A University of Toronto study
indicates that residents of cities that fluoridate have double the fluoride
accumulation in their hip bones compared to the non fluoridated populations.
Comparing statistics on two Canadian cities, Toronto (which has fluoridated
the public water supply for almost forty years) and Vancouver, Dr. Limeback
provides documentation that non fluoridated 'Vancouver actually has a lower
incidence of dental cavities, thus further discrediting the fluoridation
anti cavity theory.
When questioned about the safety of
drinking fluoridated water, the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Disease, a branch of the National Institutes of Health,
acknowledges that a person who drinks large quantities of water should avoid
fluoridated water and drink bottled water. But that still doesn't tell
us the whole story.
Fluoride is already in our foods
A significant aspect of the excess fluoride
exposure problem goes back to the original assumptions of those who heavily
promoted fluoridation years ago: that the optimal amount of ingested
fluoride was 1 mg, and that the average child ingested 1 litre of water per
day (1 mg of fluoride per litre = 1 part per million, or 1 ppm). The
calculations did not take into account any higher consumption level the
margin of safety easily exceeded by merely drinking twice as much water as
the arbitrary average. The calculations also assumed that there were no
other sources of ingested fluoride.
Hindsight now confirms that the assumptions
were dead wrong.
New amendments to the Safe Drinking [Water]
Act require that risk assessments for toxic contaminants, such as fluoride
in public drinking water, take into account the total exposure from all
sources. All this leads to the largely unknown fact that there is already
fluoride in our foods and beverages enough fluoride to register above the
level acceptable by law in our water, or by common sense.
To answer an often asked question, few
plants will take up fluoride through the roots, with the notable exceptions
of high fluoride content in black and green teas; however, fluoride
absorption does occur through leaf systems. Fluoridated water use in food
manufacturing increases the presence of fluoride in beverages such as soda
and juices, as well as a long list of prepared foods, such as cereals.
Pesticides present another significant source of fluoride exposure. As a
result of fluoride based pesticide residues on produce, researchers are
finding that lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, raisins and other common foods are
also subject to levels even higher than found in fluoridated drinking water.
The commonly used pesticide, cryolite (containing both aluminium and
fluoride), is found at alarmingly high rates in foods that easily absorb
chemicals, such as potato skins, white grapes and strawberries. Commercial
iceberg lettuce, in addition to having little nutritional value, may contain
as much as 180 ppm of cryolite, raisins 55 ppm.
Ten years ago, a government toxicological
profile revealed that as a result of multiple fluoride sources such as
foods, beverages and oral care products, non fluoridated communities were
already receiving the l milligram per day of fluoride, and communities with
fluoridated water were ingesting three to seven times the recommended level,
far surpassing the original margin of safety.
Can you filter the fluoride out?
The fluoride ion is smaller than the water
molecule; so simple filtration devices will not remove fluoride. A more
expensive and elaborate system is needed, such as distillation or reverse
osmosis purification, which also requires more maintenance costs.
Unfortunately, the common reverse osmosis and distillation processes
available for home use can not produce enough water for taking a shower or
bath on demand, leaving your largest body organ, your skin, through which
you hydrate most effectively, open to daily assault. Even if you can remove
fluoride from your water at home, you will still be subject to ingesting
fluoride from foods served at restaurants or from prepared packaged foods,
because most manufacturers and restaurant owners do not opt to use these
expensive systems.
Labelling requirements for fluoride are
limited to products making a specific health claim for the fluoride, making
it almost impossible to easily determine total exposure to fluoride from all
sources. You may wish to avoid concentrated juices from fluoridated
communities, as the evaporation technique for removing the water, used in
other food processing as well, leaves all additives and chemicals behind in
the concentrate. Adding fluoridated water to reconstitute the juice will
increase exposure even further.
Fluoride from other sources
Toothpaste, of course, is a common source
of fluoride, and it is intentionally produced with higher concentration,
resulting in approximately 1 milligram of fluoride in a pea-sized drop of
toothpaste equal to the amount found in 1 litre of fluoridated water.
Check the label on your toothpaste.
With a warning to keep the product out of reach of children, and to contact
a Poison Control Centre if more than a dab is swallowed, why would a parent
risk allowing it in a child's mouth when studies show that a high percentage
will be swallowed? (Australia does not insist on
this warning - Editor)
Fluoride gel treatments from dentists
contain such high concentration (12,000 to 20,000 ppm) that, if absorbed
through the mouth, can cause nausea, and if accidentally swallowed, can even
cause death. Our saving grace is that the normal bodily response is to
reject the acutely toxic substance by vomiting.
Few people are aware of the presence of
fluoride through yet another vehicle intended to affect our body, commonly
prescribed drugs. Antidepressants and psychotropic drugs such as Prozac,
diet pills such as Phen-Fen (pulled off the market for heart valve disease),
and the so called "date rape" drug Rohypnol, as well as recently recalled
Baycol. The most commonly used anaesthetics for general surgery are also
fluoride based. And if you thought you had no exposures in your home or car,
Scotchgard was recently pulled from the market by 3M because of
proliferation of its fluoride compound.
Taking control
What can you do? Because fluoride is now
omnipresent, take steps to avoid ingesting fluoride in every way that you
can to reduce your intake. Be as informed as possible and join the ranks of
health conscious citizens and researchers who oppose mass medication through
our water.
- For more information, documentation,
fluoride content in foods and legal, political and grassroots activities
across the U.S., as well as updates on the Congressional investigation on
fluoride and the June 29, 2000 U.S. Senate hearing on Arsenic, Radon and
Fluoride. Contact: Jeff Green, National Director, Citizens for Safe
Drinking Water, 1010 University Avenue #52, San Diego, CA 92103, (800) 728
3833. greenjeff@cox.net
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