Facts
About Fluoridation You Did Not Know
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 epidemiological 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 on 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 cause 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."
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