Fluoridation News 1998

Lynn Landes, Director of Zero Waste America, says, "The Cancer Society has come under increasing criticism for focusing on cures and not on pollutants, which appear to be the major cause of most cancers. It looks like the Alzheimer's Association has adopted a similar strategy. As usual, the money to be made is in the prescription, not prevention.

ISFR publishes quarterly reports in Fluoride on the biological, chemical, ecological, industrial, toxicological and clinical aspects of inorganic and organic fluoride compounds. Fluoride provides a forum for differing scientific points of view. Back issues of Fluoride are being published on the new web site.

ISFR Conference: Breakthroughs in Vitamin Treatments for Chronic Fluoride Poisoning

September 3, 1998

The twenty-second conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research was held in Bellingham, Washington from August 24 to 27, 1998. Several papers presented at the conference described how vitamins can be used to reverse the damage that fluoride causes. We usually think of fluorosis as a permanent damage to bones or teeth. Fluoride can also damage other parts of the body. Damage to the soft tissues, such as liver, kidneys, and reproductive organs is reversible with vitamins.

In laboratory experiments with mice, fluoride damaged the tissues and cellular structures of ovaries and uterus. The scientists showed a series of microphotographs of the tissues they studied. The sequence of photographs showed the tissues being progressively damaged as the mice became intoxicated with fluoride. When the mice were given vitamin C and calcium supplements and fluoride was not put in their water anymore, the tissues became repaired almost to the original state of good health.

Fluoride impairs the production of free radical scavengers such as glutathione. Fluoride impairs the function of enzymes which prevent lipid peroxidation. These enzymes include glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase. Fluoride accumulates in ovaries.

Fluoride interferes with male fertility as well. In an experiment with male mice, a larger proportion of the sperm became abnormal because of fluoride ingestion. The sperm lost their motility or died. When the mice were given vitamin C and calcium and no fluoride, they significantly recovered.

In another experiment with mice, Vitamins E and D repaired the damage which fluoride did to liver and kidneys. Fluoride caused the glomeruli, those tiny blood vessels in the kidneys for removing waste, to atrophy. In the liver, fluoride caused fatty deposition and the death of cells. Vitamin E was beneficial because it is an anti-oxidant. Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphorus so that their optimal concentrations will be maintained in the blood. This optimal concentration supports the metabolic activity of various tissues. Vitamins E and D were effective after fluoride was removed from their diet.

In an experiment with rats, fluoride impaired the growth rate, but the rats which were given beta-carotene and superoxide dismutase supplements had a faster growth rate. Fluoride causes lipid peroxidation which is counteracted by beta-carotene and superoxide dismutase.

Corporate Power is Being Misused to Undermine the Preservation of Human Resources

August 28, 1998

The twenty-second conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research was held in Bellingham, Washington from August 24 to 27, 1998. Dr. Lennart Krook presented his findings that the official safe levels for fluoride in dairy cattle are toxic. He is a veterinarian at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Fluoride is toxic to bone resorbing cells and causes a decline in milk production which can bankrupt farmers in areas where there is fluoride air pollution. Fluoride accumulates in offspring. Fluoride causes smaller teeth and receding gums. In the article, Fluoride: Commie Plot or Capitalist Ploy?" in Covert Action Quarterly, Fall, 1992, Joel Griffiths describes a case of fluoride air pollution. Fluoride from aluminum smelters in upstate New York settled on the farm lands of Indian reservations in New York and Canada. The cows were crippled with skeletal fluorosis. Their teeth crumbled to the nerves and they starved. Some gave birth to stunted calves and then died.

Agencies such as the EPA and the NAS are responsible for setting effective standards for air pollution abatement. The limit for fluoride air pollution in New York is four times higher in New York than the limit in Canada. The cows in New York are just as susceptible to fluorosis as the cows in Canada. Dr. Krook suggests that there is a technology conspiracy. Polluter industries place their people on the standards setting committees for agencies which are responsible for protecting the environment. He recommends reading William H. Rodgers, Corporate Country, Rodale Press, for the details.

Cost/benefit analysis is a typical tool that is sometimes used to justify pollution on the grounds that the the need for profits outweighs a social value for a clean environment. Farmers have a right to keep their farms productive even if their farms are down wind of aluminum smelters. Pollutions standards are supposed to prevent the neccesity of suing for the loss of income and damage to property caused by pollution. Stuffing the standards committees with personnel favorable to polluters is a way of undermining attempts to prevent pollution.

Masters and Coplan, in a presentation at the ISFR conference in Bellingham, Washington, showed statistical evidence that the acid fluorides commonly used for fluoridating mumicipal water systems cause corrosion of lead from metal pipes and plumbing fixtures. The lead goes to the brain of children who drink this water. The lead damages the brain so that they become more likely to use cocaine and commit violent crimes. The cost of crime has a significant economic impact. A corporation is only one component in the total economic system. Components like the justice system, which do not produce anything, still cost money to operate.

ISFR Conference: Fluoridation and Lead from Water Pipes Causes Higher Violent Crime Rates

August 27, 1998

The twenty-second conference of the International Association for Fluoride Research was held in Bellingham, Washington from August 24 to 27, 1998. R.D. Masters and M. Coplan presented their findings on lead and silicofluorides. Lead is a heavy metal which damages neurons and deregulates neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. These are essential for normal impulse control and learning. Without sufficient impulse control, there is a greater tendency for people to commit violent acts. Metal water pipes and brass plumbing fixtures are a significant source of lead. Two chemicals which are widely used in fluoridation, hydrofluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride, are acids which leach lead into tap water. This causes a higher level of lead in children's blood indicating that more lead is going to the brain. Cocaine use and violent crime rates are higher in the communities which have these silicofluorides in the water than in the communities that do not. Even when the black population is considered separately, there is still significantly more cocaine use and violent crime in the communities with the silicofluorides in their tap water.

ISFR Conference: Newly Discovered Toxic Interaction of Fluoride and Aluminum in Tap Water is the Death Knell of Fluoridation

August 26, 1998

Many older papers claiming that the concentration of fluoride in public water systems is so small that we can be sure it does no harm have been published in scientific journals. New research, reported at the twenty-second conference of the International Association for Fluoride Research on August 25, 1998, has uncovered a fatal flaw in the research design of experiments with laboratory rats. It was the custom for laboratory experiments about fluoride toxicity to be done using sodium fluoride in distilled water for the rats' drinking water. It was presumed that if sodium fluoride at very low levels in distilled water did not harm the rats then fluoride in tap water must be safe.

Now, scientists have found that there is a toxic chemical reaction with aluminum and fluoride even at very low levels just like they put in the water. K. Jensen and coworkers found that when fluoride and aluminum combine to make AlF₃ at very low concentrations in water, aluminum gets into the brain and kidney more easily. The accumulation of aluminum in the brain results in damage to the neurons thus resulting in an Alzheimer's-like condition with memory loss. Alum is commonly used for processing water for municipal water systems. This leaves small amounts of aluminum in the water which combine with fluoride.

ISFR Conference: Dr. Mullenix Presents More Evidence that Fluoride Damages the Brain

August 25, 1998

Presentations of scientific research at the twenty-second conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research (ISFR) began today. The highlight of the day was Dr. Mullenix's report that her laboratory studies that fluorine damages the brain. The toxic effect of fluorine in the brain is relevant to childhood leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow which causes excess production of white blood cells The treatment for leukemia causes the cancer cells to go to the brain. Drugs must be used to kill the cancer cells in the brain if the treatment is to be successful. Prednisoline and dexamethasone have been used for this purpose. The molecular structures of these two drugs is almost the same. Dexamethasone has one fluorine atom in each molecule and prednisolone does not. Dexamethasone has become the drug of choice because it is more powerful. However, children who were treated with dexamethasone and who already had mediocre IQ lost ten more IQ points after treatment with dexamethasone. These children also grew more slowly, had narrower skull shapes and their teeth stopped developing.

In her latest laboratory studies, Dr. Mullenix found that dexamethasone impaired the behavior of rats in a way that is equivalent to hyperactivity in humans. Dr. Mullenix pioneered a computerized technology for these studies. Video cameras record the activity of rats at specified intervals. The activities of the rats are classified and then the sequence of activities can be compared. The rats on the dexamethasone had "dispersed" sequences. This means that their behavior sequences did not follow the usual patterns of healthy rats. The disrupted patterns of activity are reminiscent of hyperactivity in children.

Dr. Mullenix is in the Pscyhiatry Department at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Another presentation at the ISFR conference showed photographs of microscopic brain damage of rats which drank water with sodium fluoride (NaF). Dr. Chubek and co-workers found that the rats on the fluoridated water for 21 days had the highest concentrations of NaF and had brain cells that were smaller and mishapen. The myelin, a substance which surrounds certain axons and nerve fibers, was swollen:

"A neuropathological study and computerized morphometric analyses revealed revealed a marked shrinkage of cerebellar granular and Purkinje cells, perivascular myelin swelling, and astroglia reaction, especially in the white matter of brains in the NaF-treated animals. Neuronal and myelin changes appeared to be more pronounced ... "

The ISFR conference is being held in Bellingham, Washington. These conferences are held once every two years.

Seattle Rain: The Marketing Concept is Embraced by a Public Water Utility

July 7, 1998

On June 22, 1998, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution for the Seattle Public Utilities to study the feasibility of bottling Seattle's drinking water for sale. The proposed name for the bottled water is Seattle Rain. Councilwoman Margaret Pageler said that Seattle's water is pure enough to bottle. Pageler was quoted as saying, "A lot of us have gone to the store and seen people pay exorbitant amounts of money for bottled water and we ask: Is this really better than what we can get out of the tap?" The City Council perceives the demand for bottled water as a fad. Seattle Public Utilities may have to raise money to pay for a $70 million dollar plan to restore habitats for wild salmon in the Cedar River Watershed. Councilman Peter Steinbrueck was quoted as saying, "If we could get all the people who buy bottled water from other cities, states or countries to buy pure Seattle water we'd have more than enough to finance the restoration of the watershed." The theory is that water coming out of the treatment plant is purer than water that has passed through the pipes.

The bottled water market is definitely growing. Bottled water sales have been growing at 9 percent per year. This is faster than soft drink sales are growing. In 1996, bottled water sales were almost $3.4 billion. Soft drink sales were about $30 billion. Bottled Spring water has no calories, no additives and no sugar.¹

There is a variety of reasons why people choose to avoid tap water. Some say it's the taste. One might reasonably infer that if the water tastes bad it may contain heavy metals from old pipes or chemical pollutants that people read about in the newspapers. Ordinary chlorination has failed to stop outbreaks of kryptosporidium. Sports bottles are a convenient substitute for soft drinks when people are away from home. People who do not own their own homes may have to rely on bottled water because they can't install heavy duty water purifiers.

A telephone survey in Toronto, Canada found that 73 percent of the respondents were concerned about chemical pollutants in tap water. 35 percent obtained at least 50 percent of their drinking water from an alternative source such as water filters or bottled water.³

A survey in Iowa found that 81 percent of homes use public water and 19 percent use private well water. 26 percent use some bottled water and 11 percent use a filtration system.⁴

Even people who do not have much money avoid tap water. A survey of patients at two community health centers in Rhode Island in 1994 found that 55 percent used only bottled water for drinking. 59 percent of households with children did so. Most of the patients were on public assistance or uninsured. 52 percent of children on public assistance were getting bottled water. They do not know the fluoride content, but they judge the water by its taste or on what they have heard about tap water.⁵

Most brands of bottled water contain little or no fluoride. A survey in Houston, Texas revealed that most bottled waters are well below 0.3 parts per million fluoride.⁶ The fluoride content in 83 percent of bottled water brands in an Iowa survey was less than 0.16 parts per million.⁷

The concentration of fluoride in tap water is no longer a reliable indicator of how much fluoride people are getting. Fluoride is in dental products such as toothpaste. Fluoride gets into foods and beverages which are processed with water in a fluoridated town and then shipped to market in an unfluoridated town. Bottled water generally has little or no fluoride, but there are exceptions. Almost none of the bottled water brands list the fluoride content on the label. Fluoride may be removed by some water purifiers, but not others.⁸

As more people avoid using tap water for drinking and cooking, the pro-fluoridation political activists fret that people are not getting their fluoride. It seems that the more discriminating consumers who would more likely oppose fluoridation of tap water would rather vote with their pocket books. Dental public health specialists pursue their fantasy that fluoridation can deliver a controllable daily dose while consumers are opting for ways to take control of the quality of their water in a direct and more individuated way.

I grew up in Seattle. They used to have good water. I know people who bought home water purifiers because Seattle's supposedly pure water made them so sick they just couldn't stand to use it any more -- and they don't have old metal pipes in their house.

Combination of Fluoride and Aluminum has Unforeseen Effects in Drinking Water

June 25, 1998

In two recently published experiments with rats, low amounts of aluminum fluoride and sodium fluoride in drinking water caused brain cell neurotoxicity. This research is reviewed in an editorial and abstracts in the May, 1998 issue of Fluoride magazine. Fluoride is published by the International Society for Fluoride Research.

It is a common practice to treat public drinking water with alum, which contains aluminum. Dr. Bruce Spittle commented:

"It appears that a complex interaction may occur between fluoride and aluminium so that when both are present in rats' drinking water, at low concentration, 0.5 ppm of trivalent aluminium ion and 1 ppm of fluoride ion, they combine to form aluminium fluoride, AlF₃, which has the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain, and also to become deposited in the kidneys. When 2.1 ppm of sodium fluoride is present in the drinking water of rats, corresponding to 1.1 ppm of sodium ion and 1 ppm of fluoride ion, the fluoride ion appears to be able to combine with aluminium from the food resulting in a similar entry to the brain and kidneys but with some points of difference. When the fluoride is present with larger amounts of aluminium, such as 5 ppm of trivalent aluminium and about 10 ppm of fluoride or 50 ppm of trivalent aluminium and about 100 ppm of fluoride, the resulting overt toxicity is less."

One of the surprising findings of these experiments is that aluminum fluoride in such small concentrations is more toxic than much larger concentrations. This is known as a paradoxical effect.

The citations for the aluminum fluoride toxicity research are:

JA Varner, KF Jensen, W Horvath and RL Isaacson, "Chronic Administration of Aluminum-Fluoride or Sodium-Fluoride to Rats in Drinking Water: Alterations in Neuronal and Cerebrovascular Integrity," Brain Research, 784, 284-298, 1998. Reprints: Julie A. Varner, jvarner@lineberryresearch.com.

RA Isaacson, JA Varner and KF Jensen, "Toxin-Induced Blood Vessel Inclusions Caused by the Chronic Administration of Aluminum and Sodium Fluoride and Their Implications for Dementia," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 825, 152-166, 1997. Reprints: Robert L. Isaacson, isaacson@binghamton.edu.

One might consider whether caution would be preferable to a trade off which can only be measured by uncertain statistics. For a review of this policy debate, see The Precautionary Principle in the Related Topics subdirectory of the Environment directory of Fluoride Issues.

Safety of Fluoridation Questioned After U.S. Government Coverup Comes to Light

April 1, 1998

A five person task force has been appointed to review the safety of fluoridation in Calgary, Alberta. City Alderman Jon Lord is reported by the Calgary Sun, March 21, 1998, to have said, "Are we growing kids with brain damage so they can have good teeth?" He was referring to neurotoxicology research by Dr. Phyllis Mullenix and co-workers which was published in 1995. A Calgary resident, Elke Babiuk, was denied admittance to a task force meeting. The task force spokeman, Dr. Read Seiner, said that their scientific review was not intended to be an open forum.

Dr. Mullenix was fired from her prestigious position at Forsyth Institute because her research proved that sodium fluoride caused damage to the nervous system of rats and was published in a respected scientific journal in 1995. Over the years, other great scientists who made impartial searches for the truth like she did were harassed or demoted in various ways. The real purpose for the reckless promotion of fluoridation was the fear of the U.S. intelligence cultists that there would be a public outcry against fluoride pollution from atomic bomb manufacturing. The supporting facts for these conclusions have recently been reviewed in The Winds, a magazine published on the World Wide Web. The review article, "Did Government Approve Citizens as Toxic Waste Sites?" is currently archived at www.thewinds.org/archive/medical/fluoride01-98.html.

After reading this article, one might conclude that the evidence that fluorides are harmful to the brain has been covered up for many years by a combination of cynical intelligence agencies and incompetent science research managers who act like Luddites.