Another Study Links Fluoride to Lower IQ - #36

The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) has recently obtained the summary of a new Chinese study linking fluoride exposure to reduced intelligence in children. Incredibly, this is the 36th study to find an association between fluoride and reduced intelligence.  Although FAN has yet to translate the full study, a translation of the abstract reveals that the scientists not only examined the neurological impact of fluoride in water, but also the neurological impact of the total fluoride dose from all sources. According to the summary, the children in the high-fluoride community (0.57 to 4.5 ppm) had an average of 8 less IQ points than children from the lower fluoride community (0.18 to 0.76 ppm). When the authors controlled for other sources of fluoride in the children's diets, they found a significant "dose response" trend, meaning that children with higher total daily intakes of fluoride tended to have lower IQs than children with low fluoride intakes. The total daily doses ranged from 1 mg/day to 4+ mg/day -- a dose range that overlaps the doses that millions of American children now regularly receive. FAN obtained this study as part of its ongoing translation project which monitors, accesses, and translates critical studies from China and Russia that would otherwise never see the light of day in the U.S. As attorney Michael Connett explains below, FAN's translation project has already had a significant impact on the scientific debate, and we expect this impact will continue to increase in the months ahead. FAN's Translation Project By Michael Connett, JD If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? A similar question could once be asked about Chinese research on fluoride toxicity: For decades, Chinese scientists published studies on how fluoride impacts human health that -- because they were written in Chinese and published in Chinese journals -- were completely unknown and ignored by scientists in the U.S. and other fluoridating countries. In recent years, however, FAN has taken unprecedented steps to change this situation -- and in the process, has helped to change the scientific and public debate on water fluoridation. As someone who has been at the forefront of this effort, let me take a second to explain some of the background. In 2007, I conducted a comprehensive search of several online Chinese databases to find studies investigating fluoride's effect on the brain. Up until that time, it was believed that only about 5 studies had ever investigated fluoride's impact on IQ. It became apparent to me upon searching through the databases, however, that many other IQ studies had been conducted that had never before been cited in the western literature. At FAN, we take our job of broadening public awareness about fluoride seriously. Believing that knowledge of these studies would draw much needed attention to fluoride's adverse effects on the brain, FAN accessed, translated, and published ten IQ studies in the 2008 volume of the journal Fluoride. Although these studies had been published in China as far back as 1989, they had almost entirely escaped the attention of western scientists. Thanks to FAN's research, however, they had become available for all to see. One of FAN's guiding principles is that better information produces better results; that the more the public knows about fluoride, the wiser they will be in handling it in a safe and sensible manner. We were very gratified, therefore, when a team of Harvard scientists -- in a highly publicized review on fluoride and IQ earlier this year -- cited almost all of FAN's IQ translations, and provided 8 links to the FAN webpage. When Harvard scientists publish a study in a leading environmental health journal (Environmental Health Perspectives) and cite your organization's research no less than 8 times, you know you're doing something right! The 2012 Translations In the spring of this year, I decided to do another comprehensive review of the Chinese databases to see if I could find any additional studies on fluoride and IQ, as well as other effects. As with the previous effort, it didn't take long to realize that there was still a vast amount of research on fluoride's toxicity that had still not seen the light of day in the western world. So, once again FAN began accessing and translating these studies. In total, FAN accessed and translated eleven previously unknown studies on IQ, ten of which reported a reduction in IQ from fluoride exposure. All of these studies are now publicly available on the FAN website for all to see. As it now stands, FAN has translated 48 studies from Chinese and Russian into English. These studies provide extremely important data and insights on how fluoride affects human health. FAN has unearthed studies, for example, showing that fluoride can cause diabetes and osteoarthritis, alter thyroid hormone levels, reduce testosterone levels in males, damage fetal brain, alter behavior in infants, and cause skeletal fluorosis at fluoride levels below 1 ppm (the level added in water fluoridation programs).

Bottled Water NOT linked to More Tooth Decay, Dentists Admit

"There has been no research to show using bottled water causes tooth decay," reports American Dental Association spokesman Dr. Johnathan Shenkin in a Healthday.com article.

Dr. Burton Edelstein agrees. He is president of the DC-based Children's Dental Health Project and Columbia University dentistry professor who describes the increasing prevalence of tooth decay among young children as "alarming."

"[Today] one in 10 2-year olds, one in five 3-year olds, one in three 4-year olds and approaching half of 5-year-olds have visually evident tooth decay experience," he said, adding that "the consequences in terms of pain, infection, dysfunction and unmet treatment need are significant.” Edelstein told Healthday.com

No US child is fluoride-deficient. But up to 60% show signs of fluoride-overdose (dental fluorosis), Tooth decay rates are soaring despite 67 years of fluoridation, 57 years of fluoridated toothpaste, a glut of fluoridated dental products, and a fluoride-saturated food supply. 

The U.S. Surgeon General reports that excessive fluoride increases susceptibility to cavities.

To avoid crippling skeletal fluorosis, the Environmental Protection Agency sets 4 parts per million (ppm) or 4 milligrams per quart of water as a “safe” water level.. Many  Americans exceed that amount from all sources.

The Iowa Fluoride Study's principal investigator, Steven Levy, found that some babies ingest 6 milligrams fluoride daily. Furthermore, Levy found 90% of 3-month-olds consumed over their recommended fluoride levels. "There is no specific nutritional requirement for fluoride...,” Levy et al. admit.

Levy also found:

-- 77% of soft drinks had fluoride levels greater than 0.60 ppm
-- two ounces of baby chicken food provides baby's maximum dose
-- foods high in fluoride -- teas, dry infant cereals, dried chicken, and
seafood
-- grape juice, especially white, contains very high fluoride levels
-- 42% of juice and juice drinks tested revealed unlabeled fluoride levels
greater than 0.60 ppm
-- cereals processed in fluoridated areas contain from 3.8 to 6.3 ppm
fluoride

The USDA provides a database of fluoride contents of food
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html

Reports that bottled-water drinkers risk more cavities are
unsubstantiated. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Little research has been
done on the use of bottled water and risk of tooth decay, dental experts
concede. 

"For children's dental health measures, it was found that fluoridation rates were not significantly related to the measures of either caries or overall condition of the teeth for urban or rural areas." (West Virginia University Rural Health Research Center, 2012) 

"It may...be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood caries (cavities)," reports dentist Howard Pollick, University of California, and colleagues, in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

Even when fluoridated water is the most consumed item, cavities are extensive when diets are poor, according to Caries Research.

Burt and colleagues studied low-income African-American adults, 14-years-old and over, living in Detroit, Michigan, where water suppliers add fluoride chemicals attempting to prevent cavities. Yet, 83%of this population has severe tooth decay and diets high in sugars and fats, and low in fruits and vegetables.

"The most frequently reported food on a daily basis was [fluoridated] tap water," write Burt's research team. Second were [probably fluoridated] soft drinks and third were potato chips.

Tooth decay in fluoridated Detroit's toddlers' teeth is also shocking. Almost all of Detroit's five-year-olds have cavities; most of them go unfilled.

The scientific literature now tells us that ingesting fluoride does not reduce tooth decay so it’s no surprise that drinking fluoride-free bottled water is not linked to higher rates of tooth decay and that people who drink fluoridated tap water are not experiencing less tooth decay.

Death by Fluoride

A wee bit of fluoride makes teeth and dentists happy, we’re told. Dr. Happy Tooth’s smiley face turns into a frown when his favorite magic bullet is busted as a killer. Anything in large doses kills, bristles Drs. Drill, Fill & Bill, even Dihydrogen Monoxide, they often tease. Ha, ha, get it – water – H2O. Stop picking on fluoride, they say, you make us look bad, often invoking the movie “Dr. Strangelove.”

Few people know that fluoride maims and kills. Dentists wouldn’t want you worrying your little head off, and possibly scaring you away from twice-yearly insurance-paid-whether-you-need-it-or-not treatments and those horrible toxic doses (26,000 ppm) of fluoride varnish they paint on babies' teeth. Fluoride’s toxicity is downplayed-–or worse, never mentioned. That way everyone stays happy including organized dentistry’s biggest benefactors-- corporations that profit from fluoride and tooth decay , and the media and legislators supported by the same benefactors.

The following are stories organized dentistry and fluoride profiteers fail to mention:

a) A two-year-old Australian boy died after swallowing too many fluoride tablets(4).

b) A three-year-old Austrian boy died from swallowing too many fluoride tablets (5).

c) Three-year-old American boy died from ingesting, instead of expectorating, his dentist’s fluoride treatment (6).

d) Three dialysis patients died from fluoride poisoning at the University of Chicago Hospital when equipment meant to filter out fluoride from the water supply malfunctioned (7).

e) Fluoride killed an Alaskan man and poisoned 296 others after too much fluoride accidentally flowed into the public water supply (8).

f) Fluoride killed a 65-year-old kidney dialysis patient who became ill during a blood cleaning process after water supply workers left a fluoride valve for too long to allow toxic fluoride levels to flow into the public water supply (9) in Annapolis, Maryland.

g) A 51-year-old committed suicide by fluoridated toothpaste, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (1). They won’t release the who, what, where, when and why to us.

h) 47 children were accidentally killed by a cook who mistakenly made their egg breakfast sodium fluoride powder instead of powdered milk (14)

i) A Kentuckian died after accidentally given liquid fluoride to wash down a pill at an Annapolis drugstore

j) An accident involving transporting fluoridation chemicals, hydrofluosilicic acid, killed the driver who was doused with the chemical "First responders and members of the public had to be decontaminated, The officer who initially attempted to extract the truck driver from the cab on scene experienced significant health effects. http://fluoridealert.org/wp-content/uploads/fluorosilicic-fine-250000.ontario.pdf

k) A 33-year-old women committed suicide by ingesting sodium fluoride 
roach powder

l) In 2017,  9 patients died after water used in  dialysis treatment when fluoride concentrations of in the water were up to 260 times above the permitted level.

m) In 2020, a Tennessee water plant employee died when exposed to a hazardous atmosphere of chlorine gas when sodium hypochlorite (bleach) was accidentally hooked up to the fill line for hydrofluosilicic Acid (a fluoridation chemical). When the chemicals combined, it created toxic chlorine gas. 

These are cases where fluoride sickened and/or disabled people:

A) A 52-year-old women with a two-gallon, double-strength daily instant tea habit developed bone and joint pain and other abnormalities indicative of chronic fluoride toxicity or skeletal fluorosis. After breaking the tea habit her pain and discomfort alleviated. Tea is naturally high in fluoride and few doctors are trained to diagnose fluoride’s adverse effects (2).

B) Daily high-dose fluoride home therapy caused gastric distress, difficulty in swallowing, leg muscle and knee joint soreness, and general malaise in a patient, according to the Journal of the American Dental Association (3).

C) A 57-year-old Englishman’s misdiagnosed Paget’s disease (weakened bones) with osteoarthritis was finally correctly diagnosed as skeletal fluorosis caused by his long-term heavy tea-drinking habit. (x)

D) A 36-year-old Chinese woman’s ten-years of joint pain disappeared when she stopped drinking tea. (x)

E) French doctors identified 5 patients who developed bone softening (osteomalacia) from drinking tea. (x)

F) A woman's "arthritis" symptoms dissipated when she stopped her tea drinking and fluoridated toothpaste and was correctly diagnosed with skeletal fluorosis (New Zealand Medical Journal)

G) An accidental overfeed of fluoridation chemicals (hydrofluosilicic acid) sickened Sandy Utah residents, damaged pipes and lowered property values

Can toothpaste ingestion lead to fluoride toxicity?

There are three published cases of fluoride toxicity associated with toothpaste ingestion.** 

Case one describes osteosclerosis associated with toothpaste ingestion in a 45-year-old woman who complained of painful swelling of the fingers. Laboratory tests showed elevated fluoride levels in blood and urine. The woman admitted to excess and unusual use of toothpaste; she brushed her teeth 18 times a day and swallowed the toothpaste, because she liked the taste. She consumed a tube of toothpaste every two days, thereby swallowing 68.5mg of fluoride every day. The patient was asked to use toothpaste without fluoride; 16 weeks later the pain had ceased and laboratory tests showed massively reduced but still elevated fluoride levels in blood and urine (14). 

Case two describes a 52-year-old man with osteosclerosis and elevated fluoride levels. The man presented with severe neck immobility of seven-year duration and investigation revealed skeletal fluorosis. Due to the patient’s almost obsessive dental hygiene regimen, surreptitious ingestion of toothpaste was considered the most plausible fluoride source; he brushed his teeth using fluoridated toothpaste, before and after all meals (minimum six times daily) and kept a toothbrush at work. Within three months of removal of fluoride toothpaste, urine fluoride levels had dropped and were normal after nine years. Serum fluoride normalised within eight months. All arthralgias resolved within two years. After 8.5 years, bone fluoride was reduced but was still 10 times the reference value (15). 

Case three describes a 58-year-old woman who presented with a fracture in her foot. Radiographs showed marked osteosclerosis of the spine and pelvis. Initially fluorosis was not suspected but fluoride levels measured over two years after the initial fracture showed greatly elevated levels in the serum, bone and urine. Exploration of fluoride ingestion revealed that she had drunk approximately six cups of tea daily for the last five to ten years. During initial questioning about her use of fluoride toothpaste she described brushing her teeth three times daily and using a 100g tube of standard strength fluoride toothpaste weekly. However, subsequent discussion revealed that she brushed her teeth up to ten times daily. From her consumption of tea plus her tooth brushing routine she was estimated to be ingesting approximately 17 to 18mg of fluoride daily (16).

** https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/fluoride-toothpaste-what-are-the-dangers-of-chronic-ingestion-in-adults/  (Specialty Pharmacy Services)

Each year there are thousands of reports to Poison Control centers in the United States related to excessive ingestion of fluoride dental products (toothpaste, mouth rinses, and supplements).
Animals aren’t immune. Elk drinking naturally high fluoridated water in Yellowstone Park die a decade sooner than they should (3a). 

Kangaroos are poisoned by fluoride, too. Fluoride makes lesions grow on their bones, which renders them lame.

Documented cases of animals poisoned by fluoride include horses, chinchillas and alligators.

Cattle have been killed from industrial fluoride emissions

Many Americans fail to notice their fluoridated toothpaste carries this message: “WARNING: Keep out of the reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”

Dentists often downplay this warning protecting fluoride more than your children. But a leading toxicologist and fluoridation promoter, Gary Whitford, PhD, protected his own children from their toxic fluoride tubes by putting them out of their reach. See:    https://fluoridedangers.blogspot.com/2014/08/keep-fluoride-toothpaste-out-of.html Did your dentist ever tell you that?

Fluoride caused many industrial, occupational and environmental sicknesses and deaths also (10).

Natural fluoride cripples and maims too many people in the world who live on high naturally-fluoridated water supplies such as in Nalgonda, India (11).

In 1783,  an Iceland volcanic eruption killed 20-25% of the population from famine and fluorine poisoning, as well as 80% of sheep, and 50% of cattle and horses.

Symptoms of skeletal fluorosis, according to Chemical and Engineering News (13):

In the early clinical stage of skeletal fluorosis, symptoms include pains in the bones and joints; sensations of burning, pricking, and tingling in the limbs; muscle weakness; chronic fatigue; and gastrointestinal disorders and reduced appetite. During this phase, changes in the pelvis and spinal column can be detected on x-rays. The bone has both a more prominent and more blurred structure.

In the second clinical stage, pains in the bones become constant and some of the ligaments begin to calcify. Osteoporosis may occur in the long bones, and early symptoms of osteosclerosis (a condition in which the bones become more dense and have abnormal crystalline structure) are present. Bony spurs may also appear on the limb bones, especially around the knee, the elbow, and on the surface of tibia and ulna.

In advanced skeletal fluorosis, called crippling skeletal fluorosis, the extremities become weak and moving the joints is difficult. The vertebrae partially fuse together, crippling the patient.

Dr. A. K. Susheela, a leading fluoride expert, explains in a video why US physicians overlook fluoride as a possible cause of diseases commonly caused by fluoride. https://vimeo.com/54005591

References:
(1) American Association of Poison Control Centers, 2002 Annual Report, (Page 367)
http://www.aapcc.org/archive/Annual%20Reports/02report/Annual%20Report%202002.pdf
(2) J Bone Miner Res. 2008 “Skeletal Fluorosis from Instant Tea,” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18179362
(3) Controlling the fluoride dosage in a patient with compromised salivary function.
Journal of the American Dental Association. January 2005 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15693498 by Fred Eichmiller et al ( Eichmiller presented pro-fluoride information at Alderman Bohl’s fluoridation hearing as an employee of Delta Dental who made over $400,000 a year in 2010 )

(3a) “Too Much Fluoride Takes a Toll on Elk,” BY BECKY BOHRER, The Associated Press, February 13, 2004 http://forests.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=29346&keybold=water%20AND%20%20fluoride
(4) http://www.fluoride-history.de/burton.htm
(5) http://www.fluoride-history.de/huala.htm
(6) http://www.fluoride-history.de/kennerly.htm
(7) http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/accidents/chicago-1993.html
(8) “Acute fluoride poisoning from a public water system,”.
New England Journal of Medicine, January 1994 http://tinyurl.com/3l8bdt
(9) http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/accidents/annapolis.html
(10) http://www.fluoridealert.org/f-pollution.htm
(11) Indian villagers crippled by fluoride, by Omer Farooq, BBC correspondent in Hyderabad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2926049.stm
(13) CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWSAugust 1, 1988
Fluoridation of Water Questions about health risks and benefits remain after more than 40 years
Bette Hileman, http://www.fluoridealert.org/s-fluorosis.htm
(14) TIME Magazine, "Death by Fluoride" November 1942
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,766637,00.html
(x ) Case Reports by Cao and Yi in the Journal of Fluorine Chemistry (February 2008) “Tea and fluorosis:”

Beware Foreign Fluoride

Sodium fluoride is added to many US water supplies, including Sacramento, California, in a failed effort to reduce tooth decay in Americans who cook with and drink tap water. Fluoride is not added to purify the water.

"Crystalline sodium fluoride is no longer produced in the USA and now is only available from import manufacturers in China, Japan, and Belgium. It should be noted that Center for Disease Control (CDC) made strong recommendations that only US product be used due to quality control and efficient operation of the saturator system," according to the Director, Department of Utilities, Sacramento, California.

"The Japan and China manufactured supplies have been found to be of a lower quality, causing costly equipment problems and failures. Shipments of sodium fluoride often have damaged bags that are leaking product through punctures or failed seals as well," he reports.

"The movement of suppliers away from domestically produced sodium fluoride is adversely affecting the fluoridation feed equipment of our 28 wells, primarily due to clogged fluoride injector pumps. Much of the loss of ground water well production is due to fluoride related issues," he continues.

"Fluoridation is a very costly and labor intensive process and requires constant monitoring of fluoride concentrations to ensure proper dosages. The chemical is very corrosive, so all equipment that is used in the fluoridation process has a very short life expectancy and needs to be replaced frequently.; The crystalline sodium fluoride that is used at the 28 well sites not only causes the need for frequent equipment replacement, but also causes frequent and complex system failures.  Such system failures mean that, while wells are out of service and until the problem has been identified and resolved, the wells are not being used to deliver potable water to rate payers. Well shut downs also affect our ability to meet water pressure requirements which are mandated in Title 22," he continues.

Amesbury, Massachusetts, ended fluoridation when its Chinese fluoride clogged up the system with an unknown substance.

China has a history of contaminating food items for profit.  Why would we be buying China's fertilizer waste, sodium fluoride, and expect it to be safe? 


The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported  that Chinese authorities  discovered 15,000 cases of substandard food so far this year while shutting down 5,700 unlicensed food businesses.

The CDC says 3 types of  Fluoride Additives can be used for water fluoridation in the US:

• Fluorosilicic acid: a water-based solution used by most water fluoridation programs in the United States. Fluorosilicic acid is also referred to as hydrofluorosilicate, FSA, or HFS.
• Sodium fluorosilicate: a dry additive, dissolved into a solution before being added to water.
• Sodium fluoride: a dry additive, typically used in small water systems, dissolved into a solution before being added to water.

NSF International has the job of certifying fluoridation chemicals as safe and found 43 samples with detectable levels of arsenic



 

Dispensing With Fluoride, By Andrew W. Saul

As a child, there was nothing I liked about going to the dental dispensary, with the possible exception of the large tropical fish aquarium in the waiting room. This was a distraction to what was coming: three hours in a vast hall containing a double line of black dental chairs and a matching double line of white-clad dental students. And that, as a six-year-old, is where I first met fluoride on a regular basis. After a free cleaning and checkup (the reason my cost-conscious parents had me go there, and the reason it literally took three hours to complete), fluoride was applied to my teeth with a swab. I remember both the smell (acrid) and the taste (astringent). I actually looked forward to the fluoride treatment, simply because it was the last thing they did to me before I was allowed to leave. Did it work? Probably not. In addition to my regular topical fluoride treatments, I lived in a city with fluoridated water and was raised on fluoridated toothpaste. And I had a mouthful of amalgam by high-school graduation.

Controversy? What Controversy?

In the late 1970s, as a young parent, I became aware of the National Fluoridation News, published in the still largely unknown town of Gravette, Arkansas (pop 2,200). For a very small donation, I received a boxful of back issues by return mail. In addition to this generosity, what surprised me about the NFNews was the high caliber of its content. Most of the non-editorial articles were well referenced and the work of well qualified scientists. This was something of a poser, for as a college biology major, I had been thoroughly schooled in the two Noble Truths of Fluoridation: 1) that fluoride in drinking water would reduce tooth decay by 60-65% and 2) that anyone who disagreed with this view was a fool. Yes, I had seen the movie Dr. Strangelove, and yes, I knew how to read an ADA endorsement on a toothpaste label.

Not long after this, my penchant for reading toothpaste labels paid off. There it was, printed right on the back of the tube:

"Children should only use a 'pea-sized' portion of fluoride toothpaste when they brush."

I had two toddlers, and this caught my interest. Looking into it, I learned that small children swallow a considerable quantity of toothpaste when they brush, perhaps most of it.

Anyone who has watched television at all could not have failed to see toothpaste ads. They always showed the brush loaded, with decorative overhang tips flared out on each end. When "AIM" brand toothpaste first came out, I distinctly remember toothpaste being displayed in two or even three layers on the brush. The number of children that used the product so generously, and swallowed half of it, will likely remain unknown. As for me, I immediately switched my family to toothpaste with no fluoride in it. As for toothpaste labels, they rather quickly were re-written. They now read:

"If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately."

But all children swallow more than is used for brushing. The only question is, how much? The US Centers for Disease Control states:

"Fluoride toothpaste contributes to the risk for enamel fluorosis because the swallowing reflex of children aged less than 6 years is not always well controlled, particularly among children aged less than 3 years. Children are also known to swallow toothpaste deliberately when they like its taste. A child-sized toothbrush covered with a full strip of toothpaste holds approximately 0.75-1.0 g of toothpaste, and each gram of fluoride toothpaste, as formulated in the United States, contains approximately 1.0 mg of fluoride. Children aged less than 6 years swallow a mean of 0.3 g of toothpaste per brushing and can inadvertently swallow as much as 0.8 g." [1, emphasis added]

For children age 6 and under, that is an average swallow of a third of the toothpaste they use, and a possibility of inadvertently swallowing 80% or more. There is about a milligram of fluoride in a single "serving" of toothpaste. I am calling it a "serving" because fluoride in toothpaste is regulated as if it were a food, not a drug. How is this true? Adding even less than one milligram of fluoride to a single serving of children's vitamins instantly makes them a prescription drug. It is truly odd that fluoride toothpaste remains an over-the-counter product.

Into the Schools

When my children were in grade school, the local dental college (the people who brought us the dispensary I went to as a young boy) interested our school district in a research project. Our town's public water was under local control and unfluoridated, unlike the city nearby. So the idea was to administer fluoride rinses to schoolchildren, during the school day, and then count caries. We were asked to sign a permission letter, which emphasized likely benefits and glossed over any hazards. Remembering what youngsters did with sweet toothpaste, I made a guess that they'd swallow a saccharin-laced rinse about as well. We chose to not sign. But I did check the box to receive results of the study. It ultimately came in the form of a letter, saying that the results were disappointingly inconclusive: no evidence that fluoride rinses helped our unfluoridated-water-drinking community. I am unaware that the study was published.

That is not especially surprising. Shutting out access to balanced scientific discussion of fluoridation is alive and well. . . and taxpayer supported. Negative fluoride studies and reviews are hardly abundant on PubMed/Medline. One does not need to be a conspiracy theorist to observe that the US National Library of Medicine refuses to index the journal Fluoride. [2] Censorship is conspicuously aberrant behavior for any public library.

No Discussion

About 15 years ago, our town's public water supply was annexed by the nearby metropolis. Aside from a rate increase, the only other, barely detectable change to our bill was a one-time typed legend at the bottom of it that fluoride has now been added to the water. There had been no vote, and there had not even been any discussion. Communities coast-to-coast know that this is not at all uncommon. Four glasses of fluoridated tap water contain about as much fluoride as a prescription dose does. Not only is fluoridated water nonprescription, it is even more certain to be swallowed than toothpaste. Being over 6 years of age means better control over swallowing reflexes, thus limiting ingestion of fluoride from toothpaste. There is no such accommodation for drinking water.

Evidence-based medicine requires evidence before medicating. Fluoridation of water is not evidence-based. It has not been tested in well-controlled studies. Fluoridation of public water is a default medication, since you have to deliberately avoid it if you do not want to take it. A person's daily intake of fluoride simply from drinking an average quantity of fluoridated tap water, fluoridated bottled water, and beverages produced or prepared with fluoridated water can easily exceed the threshold for what your druggist would rightly demand a prescription for. Fluoride in toothpaste and mouth rinses also is medication. It may be intended as topical, but the reality is different. No matter how it may be applied in their mouths, young children are going to swallow it. Indeed, most of the public and the dental profession already have.

References:

1. Fluoride Recommendations Work Group. Recommendations for using fluoride to prevent and control dental caries in the United States. CDC Recommendations and Reports 2001;50(RR14):1-42. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5014a1.htm

2. http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n05.shtml If you want access to what the US taxpayer-funded National Library of Medicine refuses to index, you may read over 40 years' of articles from the journal Fluoride, free of charge, at http://www.fluorideresearch.org/ Scroll down to "Archives and Indexes,1968-2011."

Comment by Albert W. Burgstahler, PhD: Support for these views and conclusions is found in a recent review in Critical Public Health (2011:1-19) titled "Slaying sacred cows: is it time to pull the plug on water fluoridation?" by Stephen Peckham of the Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In his article, Peckham concludes that evidence for the effectiveness and safety of water fluoridation is seriously defective and not in agreement with findings of a growing body of current and previously overlooked research. For an abstract of this report, scroll down at: http://www.fluorideresearch.org/444/files/FJ2011_v44_n4_p260-261_sfs.pdf

This revised article originally appeared in Fluoride 2011, 44(4)188-190. It is reprinted with kind permission of the International Society for Fluoride Research Inc. www.fluorideresearch.org or www.fluorideresearch.com. Editorial Office: 727 Brighton Road, Ocean View, Dunedin 9035, New Zealand.

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org Readers may write in with their comments and questions for consideration for publication and as topic suggestions. However, OMNS is unable to respond to individual emails.

Yet, Another Embarrassing Fluoridation Birthday

Sixty-eight years ago, on January 25, sodium fluoride was slowly poured into Grand Rapids, Michigan’s public water supply to prove that fluoridation reduces children’s tooth decay. Five years into the experiment, things weren’t going as expected. Cavities declined equally in the non-fluoridated control city of Muskegon, too. So to blur the truth or prove their expectation, Muskegon was fluoridated also.

So what’s happening today?

Grand Rapids children are showing high rates of tooth decay and dental fluorosis. According to the Grand Rapids Press, one pediatric dentist said in 2007 “…we see children under the age of 2 with active decay…Rather than just a few cavities, we're seeing a lot of cavities. It's not unusual to see a child with 8 to 10 cavities."

America’s children are fluoride-overdosed with almost half of all adolescents  afflicted with dental fluorosis, white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth.  Tooth decay has increased in toddlers, untreated tooth decay is epidemic, more dental schools are opening and more dental professionals have been created.  Emergency rooms are flooded with patients in dental pain because 80% of dentists refuse to treat Medicaid patients and half of all Americans don’t have dental insurance.  Those that have insurance can’t afford the out-of-pocket expenses.  And Americans have died from the consequences of untreated tooth decay.

The US Department of Health and Human  Services and  the Centers for Disease Control and many other dental,  health and government agencies now recommend that infant formula NOT be mixed with fluoridated water to avoid dental fluorosis.  References:  http://www.FormulaFluoride.Webs.com.

The prestigious US National Research Council produced a fluoride report which reveals that fluoride, even at the low doses added to water supplies can be detrimental to the thyroid gland, kidney patients, people who drink high volumes of water and babies.  But it’s being ignored

. In 1990, the New York State Department of Health (DoH) published a study, “Fluoride: Benefits and Risks of Exposure,” alerting officials that fluoride can be harmful to  kidney 
patients, diabetics and those with fluoride hypersensitivity even at “optimal” levels.  But the advice went unheeded, research left undone and today’s claims of safety ring hollow. 


Kaminsky et. al report: "The available data suggest that some 
individuals may experience hypersensitivity to fluoride-containing 
agents” and " …individuals with renal insufficiency who consume large 
quantities of fluoridated water are at an increased risk of developing 
skeletal fluorosis.”  Research in these two areas were advised but 
never conducted. 

Further, dental fluorosis was reported in diabetics who consume large 
volumes of water containing 0.5 to 1.0 mg fluoride/liter, the latter 
equal to NYS’s fluoridated water supplies. 

Malfunctioning kidneys may not adequately filter fluoride from the 
blood allowing toxic fluoride levels to build up in and damage bones. 
Symptoms of skeletal fluorosis include bone pain, tenderness and 
fractures, according to the EPA. 

The American Dental Association admits in its Fluoridation Facts 
booklet "decreased fluoride removal may occur among persons with 
severely impaired kidney function who may not be on kidney dialysis." 

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) withdrew its fluoridation 
endorsement in 2007, with advice that “individuals with CKD [Chronic 
Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride 
exposure.”

The landmark 2006 National Research Council fluoride report stated, 
“Early water fluoridation studies did not carefully assess changes in 
renal [kidney] function...Several investigators have shown that 
patients with impaired renal function, or on hemodialysis, tend to 
accumulate fluoride much more quickly than normal." 

Bone changes in advanced kidney patients are similar to bone changes 
found in individuals with skeletal fluorosis, according to the 
Fluoride Action Network. This raises the possibility that some 
individuals with kidney disease are suffering from undiagnosed 
skeletal fluorosis. 

Seven New York City Council Members are sponsoring legislation to stop 
fluoridation in New York City NYC residents can lighten their 
toxic fluoride exposure by contacting Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Speaker 
Christine Quinn and their own Council Member to make sure they vote to 
stop the addition of fluoride chemicals into NYC’s water supply

Many more citizens and legislators are not buying into the false fluoridation information and ending this outdated,ineffective, health-robbing, money-wasting concept.  Many communities have stopped fluoridation and many more are considering despite the false information presented by the dental lobby.

We urge you to join them and demand that water fluoridation stop where you live. Educate your neighbors and then your legislators.  Informed people do not want fluoride in their water.

for more info http://www.FluorideAction.Net

http://www.Fluoridation.Webs.com

http://tinyurl.com/NewsReleases

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