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By Fluoride
Action Network
98% Of Western Europe
Has Rejected Water Fluoridation. This
includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The predominant reason for Europe's rejection
is the belief that public drinking water is NOT the appropriate vehicle
with which to deliver medication to a population.
Fluoride Is Not An Essential
Nutrient, which means
that no human disease (including dental decay) has ever been linked to
a fluoride deficiency. (1)
The fluoride used to fluoridate
water is an industrial waste product from the phosphate fertilizer industry.
It is an unprocessed hazardous waste, contaminated with a number of toxins,
particularly arsenic.
Fluoridation adds between 0.1
and 1.6 parts per billion (ppb) Arsenic
to drinking water, and therefore violates the EPA's Maximum Contaminant
Level Goal for arsenic - which is 0 ppb. (2)
Hydrofluosilicic acid &
sodium silicofluoride, which are the chemicals used to fluoridate 91%
of fluoridated water in the US, have Never Been Tested for safety and
effectiveness.
According to a November 16,
2000 letter from the EPA, "to answer your question on whether we
have in our possession empirical scientific data on the effects of fluosilicic
acid or sodium silicofluoride on health and behavior, the answer is no."
Most dental authorities are
now conceding that there
is little, if any, benefit from swallowing fluoride, and that
fluoride's benefits (whatever they are) come from topical application.
When water fluoridation began
50 years ago, it was believed that fluoride needed to be ingested in order
to be effective. This is NO longer the view of the dental establishment,
which now generally concedes that fluoride's benefits are derived primarily
from topical
application. (3)
According, for instance, to
the US Centers for Disease Control, "Laboratory and epidemiologic
research suggests that fluoride prevents dental caries predominately after
eruption of the tooth into the mouth, and its actions primarily are topical
for both adults and children."
All fluoride products designed
to be ingested (e.g. fluoride supplements) are available by prescription
only. No fluoride products designed for ingestion have ever been approved
as safe or effective by the US Food & Drug Administration. (4)
By
Logical Extension Fluoridated Water Can Appropriately Be Classified As
An Unapproved Prescription Drug.
The dental community concedes
that fluoride is ineffective at preventing the most common type of dental
decay - pit & fissures.
Pit & fissure decay - which is the decay found in the crevices of
the chewing surfaces - accounts for upwards of 85% of dental decay now
experienced in the US. (5)
New evidence suggests
that fluoridation is either unnecessary or doesn't work. Cavities
have declined at similarly impressive rates throughout the entire western,
industrialized world over the past half century.
This decline has occurred irrespective
of a country's fluoridation status. Western Europe, which is 98% unfluoridated,
has experienced the SAME decline in cavities as the heavily fluoridated
US, and today enjoys the SAME low level of tooth decay. (6)
The largest dental survey
ever conducted in the US found virtually no difference in dental decay
between children living in fluoridated vs. unfluoridated areas.
The study, which was conducted
by the National Institute Of Dental Research (NIDR), found that the average
difference in tooth decay (0.6 tooth surfaces) between children living
in fluoridated vs unfluoridated areas amounted to LESS than 0.5% of the
128 total tooth surfaces in a child's mouth. (7)
Five peer-reviewed studies
published in the last 2 years have found that dental decay DOES NOT increase
when communities stop fluoridation. (8)
The rhetoric supporting fluoridation
is increasingly centered around the notion that fluoridation benefits
the neediest in society the most. This claim flies in the face of the
experience of most US inner cities over the past 50 years.
Despite the fact that nearly
all large US cities have been fluoridated for decades, dental decay is
currently rampant in virtually all poor urban areas.
One of the major dental health
problems experienced in poor communities is a debilitating condition known
as "baby bottle tooth
decay" which is also referred to as "early
childhood caries."
This condition, which results
from excessive consumption of sweetened liquids at a young age, is not
prevented by water fluoridation. (9) According to a study in Pediatric
Nursing "Data from Head Start surveys show the prevalence of baby
bottle tooth decay is about three times the national average among poor
urban children, even in communities with a fluoridated water supply."
Fluoride Is A Very Toxic
Substance, which
is why it is the active ingredient in a number of pesticides. Just 2 grams
of fluoride is enough to kill an adult, and just 500 mg is enough to kill
a child. (11) In the US, people have died, and many have become sick,
when faltering fluoridation equipment has pumped excess fluoride into
the water.
Poor nutrition exacerbates the toxic effects of fluoride exposure, which
is a further reason why it's wrong to target poor communities with fluoridation
(as poor nutrition is more prevalent in low income communities).
According to the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, "Existing data indicate that
subsets of the population may be unusually susceptible to the toxic effects
of fluoride and its compounds. These populations include the elderly,
people with deficiencies of calcium, magnesium and/or vitamin C, and people
with cardiovascular and kidney problems." (12)
Contaminated Food Chain
- Many of the processed beverages and foods sold in the US contain elevated
levels of fluoride due to the use of fluoridated water during manufacturing,
and the presence of fluoride pesticides.
Total fluoride exposure has
increased substantially since the early days of fluoridation. (13) When
fluoridation first began, exposure to fluoride from sources other than
fluoridated water, was minimal.
Today that is not the case.
People now receive fluoride
from a whole host of sources, including pesticide residues, fluoridated
dental products, mechanically deboned meat, fluoride air pollution, and
processed foods & beverages prepared with fluoridated water (e.g.
soda, juice, beer, cereal, etc).
It has now reached the point
where most people receive the "optimal" 1 mg/day of fluoride
(which fluoridated water was designed to deliver) without
ever drinking a glass of fluoridated water.
Despite the increase in total
fluoride exposure, the concentration of fluoride added to drinking water
(0.7-1.2 mg/L) as prescribed by the US Government, is still the same as
it was back in the 1940s.
Due to the increase in total
fluoride exposure, there has been a major increase in the rate of dental
fluorosis found among American children. According to the US
Government, approximately 1 in 3 children living in fluoridated areas
have dental fluorosis on at least 2 teeth. (14)
Dental fluorosis is the
first visible sign that fluoride has poisoned enzymes in the body.
Approximately half of the fluoride
we ingest each day accumulates in our bodies, primarily in the bones,
but also in soft tissues. (15)
High levels of naturally occurring
fluoride causes a crippling bone disease known as skeletal fluorosis.
According to UNICEF, skeletal fluorosis is endemic "in at least 25
countries across the globe" (16) with the problem particularly acute
in India, China and other developing countries.
Skeletal fluorosis comes in
varying degrees of severity depending on the level of exposure. The earliest
symptoms are characterized by joint pain that is difficult, if not impossible,
to distinguish from arthritis.
According to a review on fluoridation
by Chemical & Engineering News: "Because some of the clinical
symptoms mimic arthritis, the first two clinical phases of skeletal fluorosis
could be easily misdiagnosed [as arthritis]." The World Health Organization
states that "early cases [of skeletal fluorosis] may be misdiagnosed
as rheumatoid or osteoarthritis." (17)
It is estimated that approximately
40 million Americans suffer from arthritis, the most common type being
osteoarthritis.
Fluoride stimulates abnormal
bone development.
Clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal
of Bone and Mineral Research (18) report that high dose fluoride treatment
increases bone mass but that the newly formed bone is "structurally
unsound" (19). Thus, instead of reducing
hip fracture,
the studies found that high doses of fluoride increase
hip fracture.
There is concern that "low"
doses of fluoride, taken over long periods of time (e.g. fluoridated water),
may also increase the rate of hip fracture. Approximately 20 recent studies
have investigated the relationship between fluoridated water and hip fracture,
with approximately half of the studies finding an association. (20)
A 1995 study in the journal
Neurtoxicology and Teratology, found that fluoride accumulated in the
brain of rats and produced age-specific behavioral deficits typical of
most neurotoxic
agents. (21)
In the study, fluoride induced
damage to the hippocampal region of the brain. Damage to the hippocampal
region has been linked to hyperactivity and cognitive deficits. Based
on the results, the lead author of the study, Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, has
come out and advised against water fluoridation.
Five recent peer reviewed studies
from China have found an association between elevated fluoride exposure
and decreased IQs
in children - an effect that would be expected based on Mullenix's research.
(22)
In the late 1990s, a British
scientist discovered that fluoride accumulates to very high levels (avg
= 9000 ppm) in the crystallized tissue of the human pineal
gland.
A subsequent animal study found
that fluoride interferes
with the pineal gland's production of melatonin, a hormone
which helps regulate the onset of PUBERTY. In the study, animals dosed
with fluoride had reduced levels of melatonin metabolites in their urine
and had earlier onsets of puberty than the controls. (23)
Up until the 1950s, European
doctors used fluoride to reduce the activity of the thyroid
gland for people suffering from overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism).
(24) The daily dose of fluoride which people are now receiving in fluoridated
communities (1.6 to 6.6 mg/day) (25) actually exceeds the dose of fluoride
which was found to depress the thyroid gland (2.3 to 4.5 mg/day). (26)
Hypothyroidism
(under-active thyroid) is currently one of the most common medical problems
in the United States. Synthroid, the drug doctors prescribe to treat hypothyroidism,
was the fourth most prescribed drug in the US in the year 2000. Symptoms
of hypothyroidism include depression, fatigue, weight gain, muscle and
joint pains, increased cholesterol levels, and heart disease.
A recent study published in
the journal Brain Research found that 1 PPM fluoride in water facilitated
the uptake of aluminum
into the brain of rats, producing the type of brain tangles (amyloid deposits)
that are associated with Alzheimers disease and other types of dementia.
(27)
An epidemiological study published
in the December 2000 issue of the journal Neurotoxicology, found that
fluoridated water was associated with elevated levels of lead
in children's blood. (28)
The study's findings parallel
the findings of an earlier study published in the September 1999 issue
of the International Journal of Environmental Studies. (29) Lead in the
blood is associated with a variety of neurological problems, including
reduced intelligence, aggression and hyperactivity.
Dozens of laboratory studies
have found that fluoride is a mutagen
- a classification which frequently indicates that a substance is carcinogenic
(i.e. that it causes cancer).
(30) A cancer bioassay conducted by the National Toxicology Program found
that rats dosed with fluoride had a statistically significant increase
in bone tumors
(osteosarcomas), which were not found among the controls.
The initial review of the study
also reported that the fluoride-dosed rats had tumors of the thyroid,
oral cavity and rare tumors of the liver; however these tumors were later
downgraded under conspicuous and controversial circumstances. According
to Dr. William Marcus, the Chief Toxicologist at the EPA's Office of Drinking
Water, the downgrading of the tumors was politically motivated and not
scientifically defensible. (31)
A recent epidemiological study
conducted by a scientist from the US Public Health Service found that
female infertility
was associated with elevated levels of fluoride ( >3ppm) in drinking
water. The study concluded that more emphasis needs to be given to the
effects on health from total fluoride exposure - not just exposure to
fluoridated drinking water. (32)
In light of the recent research
indicating health risks from low level fluoride exposure, the Union of
Scientists and professionals at EPA headquarters has voted to oppose
fluoridation (33) and has called upon Congress to issue a "national
moratorium" on the fifty year old policy. According to the Vice President
of the Union, Dr. J. William Hirzy,
"In summary, we
hold that fluoridation
is an unreasonable risk. That is, the toxicity of fluoride is so great
and the purported benefits associated with it are so small - if there
are any at all - that requiring every man, woman and child in America
to ingest it borders on criminal behavior on the part of governments."
After years of overlooking
the problems with fluoride & fluoridation, the environmental community
is finally beginning to address the issue. In September of 2001, the Sierra
Club announced that:
There are now valid concerns
regarding the potential adverse impact of fluoridation on the environment,
wildlife, and human health. The Sierra Club therefore supports giving
communities the option of rejecting mandatory fluoridation of their
water supplies.
To protect sensitive populations,
and because safer strategies and methods for preventing tooth decay are
now available, we recommend that these safer alternatives be made available
and promoted."
Fluoride
Action Network January 2002
References
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