Is Fluoride Safe for Human Consumption?
We’ve all seen it on TV a million times. This or that brand of toothpaste, made with fluoride! The wonder drug that’s going to save our teeth from cavities! If you hear it enough growing up, especially as an impressionable youngster watching children’s TV with its endless toothpaste commercials, you just might start to believe it.
We’ve all seen it on TV a million times. This or that brand of toothpaste, made with fluoride! The wonder drug that’s going to save our teeth from cavities! If you hear it enough growing up, especially as an impressionable youngster watching children’s TV with its endless toothpaste commercials, you just might start to believe it.
What the commercials don’t say is that fluoride was known in the early 1900s as an excellent rat poison. According to Robert Carleton, former scientist with the EPA, fluoride is more toxic than lead, and not quite as toxic as arsenic. It’s a waste product of many heavy industries—derived from the production of pesticides, fertilizers, aluminum, iron, steel, copper, lead, uranium, brick, cement and glass, among others.
Studies over the years have pointed to fluoride as a possible carcinogen, a bone-weakening agent and even a reason for decreased fertility among women. As the Oakland Tribune writes, a few grams of the stuff are enough to kill you.
And yet, most of us buy toothpaste with fluoride (it’s what our dentists usually recommend, after all). More ominously, two-thirds of the water supply in the United States is fluoridated, which some observers say is akin to forced mass medication.
Fluoride has been banned in many European countries because of possible health hazards. However, the United States government continues to push communities to fluoridate their water supply. A growing number of people think this has less to do with preventing cavities than with helping industry handle a toxic waste problem.
In 1998, Earth Island Journal ran an article by Joel Griffiths, titled "Fluoride: Industry’s toxic coup". Griffiths notes that fluorine is the most abundant of the highly toxic elements, such as arsenic, mercury and lead, found throughout the Earth’s crust. Ordinarily, only tiny quantities of these elements are found on the Earth’s surface, but industry mines huge amounts, especially of fluorine (most often in the form of calcium fluoride).
Fluoride emissions from the iron and copper industries was a problem as early as 1850, poisoning crops, livestock and people. In 1933, according to Griffiths, the world’s "first major air pollution disaster" struck when several thousand people became sick and 60 died in Belgium’s Meuse Valley. The accident was blamed on airborne fluoride emissions.
"It was abundantly clear to both industry and government that U.S. industrial expansion would necessitate releasing millions of tons of waste fluoride into the environment," he writes.
So in 1939, Gerald J. Cox, working for Alcoa (short for the Aluminum Company of America), proposed that fluoride be used to reduce cavities in children. After fluoridating lab rats, he concluded that fluoride reduced cavities and declared, "The case should be regarded as proved."
"The first public proposal that the U.S. should fluoridate its water supplies was made not by a doctor or a dentist, but by Cox, an industry scientist working for a company threatened by fluoride damage claims," Griffiths notes.
It was a brilliant piece of public relations, writes Griffith. "If fluoride could be introduced as a health-enhancing substance that should be added to the environment for the children’s sake, those opposing it would look like quacks and lunatics."
Industry was buoyant. Chemical Week, a publication for the chemistry industry, described the mood: "All over the country, slide rules are getting warm as waterworks engineers figure the cost of adding fluoride to their water supplies."
During World War II, aluminum production increased sharply for the war effort, as the material was used to produce fighters and bombers. Shortly after the war’s end, the federal government put its full weight behind water fluoridation.
Fluoridation: Does it Do Much Good?
Dr. John Colquhoun, the former principal dental officer for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, was one of fluoridation’s staunchest supporters—until he looked into the world-wide data on fluoridation’s effectiveness in preventing cavities.
It isn’t even clear that water fluoridation has much of an impact on reducing cavities. Colquhoun, the former principal dental officer in Auckland, became a critic of fluoridation when he examined worldwide data, and concluded that there is little or no difference in tooth decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated places.
In fact, Colquhoun notes, one 30-year study of 400,000 children in India shows that tooth decay increases as fluoride intake increases. Tooth decay, the team decided, "results from a deficiency of calcium and an excess of fluoride."
Weakened Bones, Bone Cancer and Lower IQs
In a paper titled "Why I changed my mind about water fluoridation", which appeared in the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Colquhoun reviews several studies that show possible health risks from consuming too much fluoride. In addition to his growing shock over the number of cases of fluorosis in his own fluoridated city, Colquhoun also became concerned by the apparent link between fluoridation and weakened bones.
"Common sense tells us that if a poison circulating in a child’s body can damage the tooth-forming cells, then other harm also is likely," he writes. "We had always admitted that fluoride in excess can damage bones, as well as teeth."
In 1990, the first study suggesting a link between fluoridated water and hip fractures in the elderly was published. "Hip fracture rates have increased dramatically, independently of the increasing age of populations," Colquhoun writes. "Seven other studies have now reported this association between low water fluoride levels and hip fractures."
Colquhoun adds that fluoridation may cause a rare bone cancer, called osteosarcoma, in young males. Osteosarcoma has "increased dramatically" among boys aged 9 to 19 in fluoridated areas of America, he says, but not in non-fluoridated areas. The New Jersey Department of Health has reported osteosarcoma rates three to seven times higher in the state’s fluoridated areas than its non-fluoridated areas, for example.
Fluoride Facts:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/08/how-you-can-help-end-fluoridation.aspx?e_cid=20111108_DNL_art_1
http://www.naturalchoice.net/articles/flouride.htm
Studies over the years have pointed to fluoride as a possible carcinogen, a bone-weakening agent and even a reason for decreased fertility among women. As the Oakland Tribune writes, a few grams of the stuff are enough to kill you.
And yet, most of us buy toothpaste with fluoride (it’s what our dentists usually recommend, after all). More ominously, two-thirds of the water supply in the United States is fluoridated, which some observers say is akin to forced mass medication.
Fluoride has been banned in many European countries because of possible health hazards. However, the United States government continues to push communities to fluoridate their water supply. A growing number of people think this has less to do with preventing cavities than with helping industry handle a toxic waste problem.
In 1998, Earth Island Journal ran an article by Joel Griffiths, titled "Fluoride: Industry’s toxic coup". Griffiths notes that fluorine is the most abundant of the highly toxic elements, such as arsenic, mercury and lead, found throughout the Earth’s crust. Ordinarily, only tiny quantities of these elements are found on the Earth’s surface, but industry mines huge amounts, especially of fluorine (most often in the form of calcium fluoride).
Fluoride emissions from the iron and copper industries was a problem as early as 1850, poisoning crops, livestock and people. In 1933, according to Griffiths, the world’s "first major air pollution disaster" struck when several thousand people became sick and 60 died in Belgium’s Meuse Valley. The accident was blamed on airborne fluoride emissions.
"It was abundantly clear to both industry and government that U.S. industrial expansion would necessitate releasing millions of tons of waste fluoride into the environment," he writes.
So in 1939, Gerald J. Cox, working for Alcoa (short for the Aluminum Company of America), proposed that fluoride be used to reduce cavities in children. After fluoridating lab rats, he concluded that fluoride reduced cavities and declared, "The case should be regarded as proved."
"The first public proposal that the U.S. should fluoridate its water supplies was made not by a doctor or a dentist, but by Cox, an industry scientist working for a company threatened by fluoride damage claims," Griffiths notes.
It was a brilliant piece of public relations, writes Griffith. "If fluoride could be introduced as a health-enhancing substance that should be added to the environment for the children’s sake, those opposing it would look like quacks and lunatics."
Industry was buoyant. Chemical Week, a publication for the chemistry industry, described the mood: "All over the country, slide rules are getting warm as waterworks engineers figure the cost of adding fluoride to their water supplies."
During World War II, aluminum production increased sharply for the war effort, as the material was used to produce fighters and bombers. Shortly after the war’s end, the federal government put its full weight behind water fluoridation.
Fluoridation: Does it Do Much Good?
Dr. John Colquhoun, the former principal dental officer for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, was one of fluoridation’s staunchest supporters—until he looked into the world-wide data on fluoridation’s effectiveness in preventing cavities.
It isn’t even clear that water fluoridation has much of an impact on reducing cavities. Colquhoun, the former principal dental officer in Auckland, became a critic of fluoridation when he examined worldwide data, and concluded that there is little or no difference in tooth decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated places.
In fact, Colquhoun notes, one 30-year study of 400,000 children in India shows that tooth decay increases as fluoride intake increases. Tooth decay, the team decided, "results from a deficiency of calcium and an excess of fluoride."
Weakened Bones, Bone Cancer and Lower IQs
In a paper titled "Why I changed my mind about water fluoridation", which appeared in the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Colquhoun reviews several studies that show possible health risks from consuming too much fluoride. In addition to his growing shock over the number of cases of fluorosis in his own fluoridated city, Colquhoun also became concerned by the apparent link between fluoridation and weakened bones.
"Common sense tells us that if a poison circulating in a child’s body can damage the tooth-forming cells, then other harm also is likely," he writes. "We had always admitted that fluoride in excess can damage bones, as well as teeth."
In 1990, the first study suggesting a link between fluoridated water and hip fractures in the elderly was published. "Hip fracture rates have increased dramatically, independently of the increasing age of populations," Colquhoun writes. "Seven other studies have now reported this association between low water fluoride levels and hip fractures."
Colquhoun adds that fluoridation may cause a rare bone cancer, called osteosarcoma, in young males. Osteosarcoma has "increased dramatically" among boys aged 9 to 19 in fluoridated areas of America, he says, but not in non-fluoridated areas. The New Jersey Department of Health has reported osteosarcoma rates three to seven times higher in the state’s fluoridated areas than its non-fluoridated areas, for example.
Fluoride Facts:
- Nearly 200 million Americans drink fluoridated tap water
- According to the CDC, 41 percent of American teenagers have dental fluorosis, a clear sign of overexposure to fluoride
- In the past 20 years, more than 250 communities across North America have rejected or ended fluoridation, largely due grassroots actions by citizens
- 97% of western Europe has chosen fluoride-free water
- Fluoride is the only chemical added to drinking water for the purpose of medication
- Fluoridated water is no longer recommended for babies
- Ingestion of fluoride has little benefit, but many risks
- The industrial chemicals used to fluoridate water may present unique health risks not found with naturally-occurring fluoride complexes
- Water fluoridation’s benefits to teeth have been exaggerated
- Due to other sources, many people are being over-exposed to fluoride
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/08/how-you-can-help-end-fluoridation.aspx?e_cid=20111108_DNL_art_1
http://www.naturalchoice.net/articles/flouride.htm
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