Fluoride Toxicity

DEFINITIONS:
Caries: Cavities
Dentifrice: Toothpaste
Fluoride: any combination of elements which contain the fluorine (F-) ion.
Fluorosis: a condition caused by an excessive intake of fluorides in drinking water, characterized mainly by mottling of the enamel of the teeth, although the skeletal bones are also affected.
Mottling: see fluorosis
Neurotoxin: Something toxic to nerves and nerve tissue (i.e. brain, spinal nerves, peripheral nerves)

Poisons and Antidotes (Textbook) For treatment of fluoride ingestion: Administer limewater (calcium carbonate), calcium chloride solution or milk in order to bind as much fluoride ion as possible, followed by gastric lavage with any of the above fluids. For hydrofluoric skin burns, wash with cold water and administer magnesium oxide.

TOXICITY OF FLUORIDE:

Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products 5th Ed.

• Fluosilicic Acid: Other concentrations are approved to fluoridate municipal water supplies, harden cement, to preserve wood and for other industrial purposes. Concentrated solutions are intensely corrosive on skin and mucous membranes but less corrosive than (HF) hydrofluoric acid.
• Fluoride: Sodium fluoride and sodium fluosilicate were once employed widely as insecticides (ant, roach and beetle powders) and occasionally as rodenticides.
• Fluoride is a "general protoplasmic poison," but it is not possible yet to described in detail the mechanisms by which it produces death. At least four major functional derangements are recognized: (1) enzyme inhibition, (2) hypocalcemia, (3) cardiovascular collapse and (4) specific organ damage. Inhibition of one or more of the enzymes controlling cellular respiration and glycolysis may result in critical biochemical defects.
• In addition to cardiovascular, neuromuscular and gastrointestinal derangements, acute fluoride poisoning causes major adverse effects on two other organ systems, the brain and the kidneys. The more critical dysfunctions are those of the brain. Toxic signs occasionally include headache, excessive salivation, nystagmus and dilated pupils.
• …some victims of fluoride poisoning are anuric at death.
• If renal function is not seriously impaired, it [fluoride] is excreted in urine.

US Dept. of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration

Hydrofluosilicic acid (fluosilicic acid) is classified as a corrosive material…It is highly toxic and extremely corrosive by skin contact and inhalation.

Hazardous and Toxic Effects of Industrial Chemicals In children, mottling of the dental enamel may occur from increased water concentrations.

Clinical Toxicology

• One tenth milligram of fluorine per kilogram body weight per day is probably sufficient to produce chronic poisoning.
• The use of fluoride-containing poisons against agricultural pests, and of phosphate rock as fertilizer contaminates the top soil. Plants store the fluorine in their tissues as a possible source of poisoning in man and animals. DeEds calculated that 90,000 tons of fluorine are added to the top soil of farm lands annually.
• In epidemics due to fluorine-containing water, the principal symptom is mottling of the tooth enamel. This tooth lesion is characterized by various degrees of brittleness or absence of the enamel, and it is found only in individuals who have been exposed to poisoning before the elaboration of the enamel of the unerupted teeth. The teeth are often dull white, they are pitted and eroded and the enamel-free regions are discolored.
• …it is well established that various enzymes are inactivated or inhibited by very small amounts of fluoride.
• Fluoride is excreted in the urine and to some extent in milk, so that infants may be chronically poisoned by suckling from a chronically poisoned mother.
• In chronic poisoning, it is important to stop the continued ingestion of fluorine compounds. …The teeth must receive special care.

Fluoride Toxicity and Muscular Manifestations: Histopathological Effects in Rabbit (Fluoride, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1989)

The results of the present investigation indicate that fluoride can cause extensive damage to the skeletal muscle in fluorotic rabbits which is directly proportional to the dosage of fluoride administered. Furthermore, these experiments provide a plausible explanation for the marked muscular weakness.

The Physiological and Toxicological Characteristics of Fluoride (J Dent Res)

• The American Association of Poison Control Centers annually compiles data supplied by participating centers which serve approximately 50% of the US population. Based on these data, it can be estimated that the number of reports involving fluoride made to poison control centers increased from 7700 in 1984 to 11,600 in 1986. Nearly 90% of the reports involved children…About 2% of the reports involved "adult vitamin" products; 37% involved "pediatric vitamins"; 61% involved sources of fluoride other than vitamins. Since they are the most widely available sources of large quantities of fluoride, the latter group would be largely represented by dental products for home use - products such as dentifrices, mouthrinses, and supplemental tablets. Thus, it may be concluded that the over-ingestion of these products occurs on a frequent basis.
• …the quantities of fluoride contained in some dental products exceed the PTD (probable toxic dose) for small children. For example, the PTD for a 2-year old child of average body weight (11.3 Kg) is 57 mg. This quantity is contained in 57 g (2 ounces) of a 1000 ppm fluoride dentifrice, 38 g of a 1500 ppm dentifrice, 248 mL of a 0.05% sodium fluoride mouthrinse, 57 1.0-mg fluoride tablets, and only 4.6 mL of a 1.23% APF gel.
• …of the fluoride which is introduced into the mouth with each use of a dentifrice or mouthrinse, an average of about 25-30% is ingested; that the range of ingested fluoride is from less than 10% to nearly 100%, and the fraction swallowed is inversely proportional to age, so that younger children ingest more. In effect, therefore, an unintended fluoride "supplement" is taken with each use of dentifrice, mouthrinse, or any other product designed for topical application, regardless of the fluoride concentrations of drinking water or other dietary components.

Beneficial Effects of Ascorbic Acid and Calcium on Reversal of Fluoride Toxicity in Male Rats (Fluoride Vol. 26, No. 1, 45-56, 1993.) #16 (30 references)

• Fluoride is a cumulative poison under conditions of continuous exposure to sub-acute doses. Thus the absorption of relatively small quantities of fluoride causes chronic intoxication. Earlier work from this laboratory has revealed that administration of low doses of sodium fluoride to mice and rats altered the structure and function of some of their soft tissues and reproductive organs. Fluoride treated rabbits manifested the same changes.
• The chronic fluoride intoxication seems to alter muscle function and to damage muscle cells.
• Fluoride, even at low concentrations, inhibits a number of important enzymes and biochemical processes including the activity of adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase).

Hip Fractures and Fluoridation in Utah's Elderly Population (JAMA, Vol. 268, No. 6, 8/12/92)

Fluoridation of water supplies was initiated prior to long-term studies on its effect on bone density. Recent studies suggest that fluoride accumulates with age and may reach toxic bone levels in a person's lifetime (at a water content of 0.97 ppm of fluoride).

Letter from John Remington Graham - Attorney, to Evangeline Winkler (4/25/95)

Judge Anthony Farris presided over the trial in the case of Safe Water Foundation v. City of Houston, District Court of Texas, 151st Judicial District, No. 80-52271. On May 24, 1982, Judge Farris entered his findings of fact on the record of the case. His main findings were as follows:

"That the artificial fluoridation of public water supplies, such as is contemplated by [Houston] City Ordinance No. 80-2530, may cause or may contribute to the cause of cancer, genetic damage, intolerant reactions, and chronic toxicity, including dental mottling, in man; that the said artificial fluoridation may aggravate malnutrition and existing illnesses in man; and that the value of said artificial fluoridation is in some doubt as to the reduction of tooth decay in man."

HYDROFLUORIC ACID (HF) TOXICITY:

Acute Fluoride Poisoning from a Public Water System (New Eng J of Med, 330(2) 1994)

Fluoride and hydrogen ions combine in the stomach to form hydrofluoric acid, which causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Fluoride has a direct toxic effect on intracellular metabolism that includes the inhibition of glycolytic enzymes and cholinesterases.

Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products 5th Ed.

• Hydrofluoric acid warrants consideration because it is a very hazardous form of fluoride. Some commercially available rust removers contain dangerous quantities of hydrofluoric acid in solution.
• …fluoride is readily absorbed from the alimentary tract, but even 2% solutions of NaF kill mucosal cells and may result in severe corrosive gastroenteritis. In part this corrosiveness is due to a toxic action on mucosal capillaries and is seen even after parenteral administration. Most of the mucosal erosion, however, occurs in the stomach, where gastric acid converts ionic fluoride to hydrofluoric acid (HF).
• Because ingested NaF is converted to HF in the stomach, the vomitus is generally irritating and sometimes corrosive; it can injure the esophagus, mouth, lips and eyes. In one case the vomitus was shown to be capable of etching glass.
• The ingestion of an estimated 1.5 gm of HF produced sudden death without gross pathologic damage. On the other hand, the repeated ingestion of small amounts of HF has resulted in moderately advanced fluoride osteosclerosis in man. Thus, HF is capable of inducing the systemic manifestations of both acute and chronic fluoride poisoning. It possesses an additional hazard, however, because of its intense corrosiveness.
• (with tissue contact) Healing is delayed, and necrotic changes may continue to occur beneath a layer of tough coagulated skin to produce deep penetrating ulcers.

Studies of Human Gastric Mucosa After Application of 0.42% Fluoride Gel #5; (J Dent Res 69(2):426-429, 2/90)

• Petechiae and erosions were found in the mucosa in seven of the ten patients. The histopathological evaluation revealed changes in nine of ten patients, with the surface epithelium as the most affected component of the mucosa. The present study clearly shows that a treatment with a F gel of rather low F concentration may result in injuries to the gastric mucosa.
• In some cases, the mucus-containing intercellular vacuoles were reduced in size, and focal hemorrhages within the epithelium occurred.
• In the acidic environment of the stomach, more than 90% of the ingested F will be in the form of HF (hydrofluoric acid), because of the low pH of the gastric juice. The formation of HF is probably the reason for the mucosal injuries observed.

Hazardous and Toxic Effects of Industrial Chemicals, 1979

• …hydrofluoric acid, and its salts are used in production of organic and inorganic fluorine compounds such as fluorides and plastics; as a catalyst, particularly in paraffin alkylation in the petroleum industry; as an insecticide; and to arrest the fermentation in brewing. It is utilized in the fluorination processes, especially in the aluminum industry, in separating uranium isotopes, in cleaning cast iron, copper, and brass, in removing efflorescence from brick and stone, in removing sand from metallic castings, in frosting and etching glass and enamel, in polishing crystal, in decomposing cellulose, in enameling and galvanizing iron, in working silk, in dye and analytical chemistry, and to increase the porosity of ceramics.
• Fluorides are used as an electrolyte in aluminum manufacture, a flux in smelting nickel, copper gold, and silver, as a catalyst for organic reactions, a wood preservative, fluoridation agent for drinking water, a bleaching agent for cane seats, in pesticides, rodenticides, and as a fermentation inhibitor. They are utilized in the manufacture of steel, iron, glass, ceramics, pottery, enamels, in the coagulation of latex, in coatings for welding rods, and in cleaning graphite, metals, windows and glassware.

Clinical Toxicology

Hydrofluoric acid, used in glass-etching and other industrial processes is sometimes spilled upon the skin, with resulting slowly healing ulcers.

Contact of hydrofluoric acid with the skin causes deep, undermined, slowly healing ulcers.

THOSE AT RISK TO FLUORIDE:

Fluoride Blamed in Dialysis Death (Chicago Tribune, 7/31/93)

• Three women died and six other kidney patients suffered an allergic reaction after they underwent dialysis July 16th at the U. of Chicago dialysis center.
• The excess fluoride caused heart failure in the three who died because it interfered with the body's electrical system which makes the heart beat, said Susan Phillips, hospital vice president.

The Case Against Fluoridation (Illinois Issues, 1/90)

• No one can dispute the fact that fluoride is a poison.
• People at special risk are pregnant women, infants on formula, the undernourished, and those with kidney impairment, excessive thirst or an allergy or intolerance to fluoride.
• In recent decades there has been a great increase in fluoride contamination due to airborne industrial emissions, the occult fluoride in many medications and the use of fluoride-containing fertilizers, pesticides and dentifrices. It is irresponsible to increase this environmental burden by deliberately adding fluoride to water systems throughout the country.

Toxicological Profile for Fluorides, Hydrogen Fluorine, and Fluorine (F) - prepared for: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry - USPHS (4/93)

• 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.
• Because fluoride is excreted through the kidney, people with renal insufficiency would have impaired renal clearance of fluoride. Fluoride retention on a low-protein, low-calcium, and low-phosphorus diet was 65% in patients with chronic renal failure, compared with 20% in normal subjects.
• People on kidney dialysis are particularly susceptible to the use of fluoridated water in the dialysis machine.
• Impaired renal clearance of fluoride has also been found in people with diabetes mellitus and cardiac insufficiency. People over the age of 50 often have decreased renal fluoride clearance. …This decreased clearance of fluoride may indicate that elderly people are more susceptible to fluoride toxicity.
• Poor nutrition increases the incidence and severity of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis. …Calcium deficiency was found to increase bone fluoride levels in a two-week study in rats.

New Evidence on Water Fluoride and Bone Fragility (Fluoride Vol. 25, No. 1, 1992)

Children excrete fluoride less efficiently than adults, so retain even more in their bones. Fluoridation since the 1950's has increased the fluoride intake of millions of today's old people for up to half their adult lives. An unanswered question is: what will have been the effect on the bones of today's children by the time they reach old age?

Stress Fractures of the Lower Limbs in Osteoporotic Patients Treated with Fluoride (J Bone Min Res, Vol. 5, Suppl. 1, 1990)

• True osteomalacia existed in only two patients with mild impairment of renal function. This points out the harmful effect of even mild renal failure in fluoride-treated patients.
• …Fluoride therapy for osteoporosis should be cautiously managed and must be avoided in patients with impaired renal function.

Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products 5th Ed.

If renal function is not seriously impaired, it [fluoride] is excreted in urine.

Stress Fractures of the Lower Limbs in Osteoporotic Patients Treated with Fluoride (J Bone Min Res, Vol. 5, Suppl. 1, 1990)

True osteomalacia existed in only two patients with mild impairment of renal function. This points out the effect of even mild renal failure in fluoride-treated patients.

SOURCES OF FLUORIDE:

Tacoma Public Utilities; Letter from Bob Myrick - Water Quality Coordinator (5/22/92)

For 1992: Sodium fluoride for our well's supply is imported from Japan. Sodium silicofluoride for our river supply is imported from Belgium.

Fluoride Chemical is 'Hazardous Waste' - Makers say acid should not be in environment (The Derry Journal [Derry, Ireland] (Friday, 11/1/96)

• The acid which will be added to Derry's water supplies as part of the fluoridation process is so dangerous that European producers say it should never be released into the environment. Safety data sheets, forwarded by the Belgian chemical company Rhone Poulenc to Derry pure water campaigners show that fluosilicic acid should only be disposed of as "hazardous waste."
• …In the event of spillage, the Accidental Release Measures state: "DO NOT let this chemical enter the environment. DO NOT breath gas.
• "Prevent any contact with food products. Prevent any contact with hot surfaces."
• "Mark out the contaminated area with signs and prevent access to unauthorized personnel. Warn of danger."
• "Shelter from vapors by keeping upwind. Stop the leak and if possible, any contact with skin and clothing."
• "Food or food packaging which has been in contact with the product must be destroyed."
• The warning about not letting the chemical into the environment is repeated in the regulations concerning the disposal of the product.
• "Dispose of this product as hazardous waste," it states.
• Rhone Poulenc's safety regulations about the chemical run to a total of 11 pages.
• Company spokesperson C. Smalle said, however, that the company had never exported the product either to Britain or Ireland.
• …According to pure water experts, Europeans refer to its use in water supplies as "Mad Anglo-Saxon Disease."
• In a recent overview of the implications of fluoridation for the Derry area, the Pure Water Association warn that serious spills and leaks of fluosilicic acid do occur.
• Spokesperson T.J. Moore said: "The main risk factors appear to be the high corrosivity of fluosilicic acid, failure of the storage tank and sometimes also of the containment area (usually made of concrete), and human error. There is also the risk of tank failure and of road accident while the chemical is being transported by road tanker to the water treatment works."
• "There have been over 50 reported spills of this chemical in the USA alone. How many have gone unreported?"

Byproduct from a Byproduct (Pennsylvania Tribune Review, Sun., 9/29/96)

(With regard to fluoride) …It's now imported from nations where its use is illegal. The critics contend that the original motivation for promoting fluoridation was two fold: (1) Industry's need to rid itself of an unfortunate byproduct from making of aluminum, (2) Some very optimistic and marginal research.

Toothpaste Dangers - Fluoridated toothpaste's contain extremely high concentrations of fluoride (Newspaper; unsure which city)

If the brush is covered with a "ribbon" of paste, up to 0.5 mg of fluoride can be absorbed in one brushing. If eaten all at once, a tube of toothpaste will kill a small child.

In Sweden, fluoridated toothpaste is labeled: "Not for use by children under six." When fluoride is swallowed in small amounts on a daily basis, whether it's in water, food or toothpaste, it accumulates in the body in the same way as lead, causing damage to soft tissue and bone.

LEAD AND PIPE CORROSION:

Letter from William L. Marcus, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. - Board Certified Toxicologist (4/19/94)

…Lead poisoning for unknown reasons has a racial component. Children who are black or Hispanic given the same exposures as white children absorb significantly more lead. …This means that the level set by the EPA is marginally safe for white adults, but unsafe for African American or Hispanic children. Children absorb proportionately more lead than do adults. From birth to 3 months when the central nervous system is most vulnerable, babies absorb 4-8 times the amount of lead as adults, and consider that they drink 8 times as much water, is a disaster in the making.

Allied Chemical - General Chemical Division (Stat. Sheet)

Fluosilicic acid (hydrofluosilicic acid): Water Chemicals Codex: Purity requirements - Analyses of available grades of fluosilicic acid show the presence of arsenic and lead.

Sodium Fluoride: Water Chemicals Codex: Purity requirements - Analyses of available grades of fluosilicic acid show the presence of arsenic and lead.

Fredrick Post (Fredrick, Maryland; Thurs. 2/3/94)

Lead levels in town water have decreased significantly since town officials stopped adding fluoride, commissioners reported at Wednesday's meeting. They also voted to officially ban the use of fluoride.

Why are Medical Researchers Ignoring the Probable Cause of Alzheimer's and Concentrating on a Cure Instead? (Richard G. Matthew)

Gene Mesco, a graduate student at the University of California Berkeley, found that when fluoride combines with aluminum, it forms aluminum fluoride, a bioactive substance that tends to mimic certain phosphate groups which the blood-brain-barrier allows into the brain. Tests done at two universities and a lab in Wisconsin have shown that fluoridated water, when boiled in an aluminum utensil, concentrates up to 600 times as much aluminum in the water as unfluoridated water boiled in the same utensil. The British medical journal Lancet reported that people face a 50% greater risk of getting Alzheimer's when the level of alum in the water is over 0.11 ppm. Apparently nobody has connected these studies. It's sad that there is so much knowledge out there and the bits and pieces don't always come together.

Third Study Links Fluoride Ingestion to Brain Damage (Sarasota Eco Report; 12/95)

• It was stated in the study published in Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 1995, that: "Hyperactivity and cognitive deficits are generally linked with hippocampal damage, and in fact, the hippocampus is considered to be the central processor which integrates inputs from the environment, memory, and motivational stimuli to produce behavioral decisions and modify memory." Isaacson's studies also found that low levels of aluminum fluoride created irrecoverable memory loss in rats similar to Alzheimer's Disease which is also associated with the hippocampal region of the brain.
• Factors like heavy-metal fluoride complexes such as known neurotoxin's: lead-fluoride and mercury-fluoride that are found in water fluoridation agents were not addressed.
• …It is known that fluorides introduced into water supplies cause leaching of lead, copper and iron from water pipes increasing the volume and potentiating the adverse neurotoxic effects of these pollutants.
• When a fluoride ion combines with another element, the total toxicity of the two can become greater than the sum of the individual components. This means that if a child is exposed to what is considered a safe level of lead, a much lower exposure of lead-fluoride could cause the child to exhibit lead poisoning symptoms.
• …Plasma fluoride levels of as low as 0.026 ppm were the cause of brain damage in rats.
• …No research has been commissioned by the USEPA with the actual products used to fluoridate the water (fluosilicic acid or sodium fluorosilicate) or, more importantly, the combinations of exotic fluorides created from the addition of water treatment chemicals.

The EPA, Lead, and Your Drinking Water (Tacoma Public Utilities)

• Lead builds up in the body over many years and can cause damage to the brain, red blood cells and kidneys. The greatest risk is o young children and pregnant women. Amounts of lead that won't hurt adults can slow down normal mental and physical development of growing bodies.
• …Lead in drinking water, although rarely the sole cause of lead poisoning, can significantly increase a person's total lead exposure, particularly the exposure of infants who drink baby formulas and concentrated juices that are mixed with water. The EPA estimates that drinking water can make up 20% or more of a person's total exposure to lead.
• Lead is unusual among drinking water contaminants in that it seldom occurs naturally in water supplies like rivers and lakes. Lead enters drinking water primarily as a result of the corrosion, or wearing away, of materials containing lead in the water distribution system and household plumbing. These materials include lead-based solder used to join copper pipe, brass and chrome plated brass faucets, and in some cases, pipes mad of lead that connect your house to the water main (service lines).

FOOD SOURCES OF FLUORIDE:

How to Avoid Fluoride (Tacoma Fluoride Alert)

• Concern among infant formula manufacturers led to their voluntary agreement (in 1980) to remove fluoride from the water used to manufacture infant formulas.
• …Some tea leaves are notoriously high in fluoride, and even tea made in distilled water can result in a beverage containing 1-2 ppm of fluoride or more.
• Ready to eat cereals such as corn flakes and grape nuts are notoriously high in fluoride.
• It has been found that the use of cheap, fluorine-containing fertilizers can result in a 6 to 12 fold increase in dietary fluoride.

Fluoride in Food (newspaper article; unsure of which paper) #26

• In commercial food processing, fluoridated water is used directly from the public water supply, without removing the fluoride.
• …A 15 oz. can of chicken and noodles was found to have over 4 mg of fluoride. Twelve ounces of carbonated soda may contain 1 mg of fluoride. A ready-to-feed infant formula tested at 3.9 mg fluoride per liter, or 0.9 mg per 8 oz. feeding.
• …In 1991, the USPHS reported that individuals can be exposed to 5 mg per day [fluoride] and more where water supplies are fluoridated.

Anglesey Fluoridation Trials Re-examined (Fluoride, Vol. 22, No. 2, 4/89)

Careful consideration of all available data indicates that the amount of fluoride ingested daily in foods and beverages by adult humans living in fluoridated communities currently ranges between 3.5 and 5.5 mg.

Cytogenetic Effects of Gaseous Fluorides on Grain Crops (Fluoride, Vol. 26, No. 1, 23-32, 1993)

Atmospheric pollution of fluoride from a non-ferrous industrial plant has been studied for its effect on the frequency of chromosome aberrations in root tips and shoot tips of wheat and barely. The percentage of mutations in the meristematic cells of plants growing in polluted areas was 2-6 times higher than in the control and the spectrum of chromosome aberrations showed changes. The testing of hydrogen fluoride for its mutagenic activity by fumigation of barley seedlings showed that the mutation rate was linear with dose. It was found that the cytogenic effects of gaseous fluoride on grain crops was correlated with the fluoride content in plant tissue.

Interaction of Fluoride Ions with Milk Proteins Studied by Gel Filtration (Fluoride, Vol. 25, No. 4, 171-174, 1992)

In this study, the authors concluded that fluoride is bound in milk by calcium, not protein.

Clinical Toxicology

Fluoride is excreted in the urine and to some extent in milk, so that infants may be chronically poisoned by suckling from a chronically poisoned mother.

HIP FRACTURES:

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

The current annual cost to the US health care system for acute and convalescent care for patients with hip fractures is more than $9.8 billion. That's an average of $35,000 per patient.

New Evidence on Water Fluoride and Bone Fragility (Fluoride, Vol. 25, No. 1, 1992)

Clearly the evidence now strongly suggests that low fluoride doses over long periods as well as high doses for short periods can damage bones, making them more liable to fracture. Our belief that the amount accumulated from fluoridated water would be insignificant is now discounted by the new evidence. The situation may well worsen as people reach old age after spending greater proportions of their lives ingesting low fluoride doses.

Hip Fractures and Fluoridation in Utah's Elderly Population (JAMA, Vol. 268, No. 6, 8/12/92)

We found an increased rate of hip fracture in men and women who wee exposed to fluoride in the drinking water at 1ppm for approximately 20 years in Utah.

Water Fluoridation and Hip Fracture (JAMA, Vol. 266, No. 4)

…We recently reported the ecological association of discharge rates for hip fracture and water fluoride levels in 39 county districts in England. …We found a significant positive correlation between fluoride levels and discharge rates for hip fracture. This relationship persisted for both women and men.

Regional Variation in the Incidence of Hip Fracture - US White Women Aged 65 Years and Older (JAMA, Vol. 264, No. 4, 7/25/90)

There is a weak positive association between the percent of county residents who receive fluoridated water and hip fracture incidence in the unadjusted analysis that is strengthened after adjustment. …The results from the ecological regression analysis suggest that soft and fluoridated water, poverty, reduced sunlight exposure, and rural location all increase the risk of hip fracture.

Fluorine Concentration in Drinking Water and Fractures in the Elderly (JAMA, Vol. 273, No. 10, 3/8/95)

The risk of hip fracture was significantly higher when water fluorine concentration was higher than 0.11 mg/L (ppm). …Thus, adjusting for major individual risk factors, this study suggests a deleterious effect of fluorine in drinking water on the risk of hip fractures, even for moderate concentrations of fluorine, and no effect on other kinds of fractures.

Spontaneous Hip Fractures in Fluoride-Treated Patients: Potential Causative Factors (J Bone Min Res, Vol. 5, Suppl. 1, 1990)

Since our earlier report of spontaneous femoral fractures affecting 5/16 postmenopausal osteoporotics treated with NaF and Ca, there have been similar reports from five countries. …Thus although bilateral hip fractures may occur in severe untreated osteoporosis, the high prevalence of bilaterality of NaF-induced fractures, in this and other series, the association in time between the bilateral fractures, and their association with an early increase in bone turnover, suggest a metabolic, i.e. NaF-induced, cause.

Stress Fractures of the Lower Limbs in Osteoporotic Patients Treated with Fluoride (J Bone Min Res, Vol. 5, Suppl. 1, 1990)

The clinical course was favorable in all patients who stopped fluoride, although 5 patients who continued the treatment had either completion of femoral neck stress fractures to hip fractures, or recurrent stress fractures, or both. Fluoride appears to be a key factor in the pathogenesis of stress fractures, and may be associated with increased trabecular resorption in some treated patients.

Increased Incidence of Hip Fracture in Osteoporotic Women Treated with Sodium Fluoride (J Bone Min Res, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1989)

…The observed number of hip fractures in the fluoride-treated group was 10 times higher than that expected in unselected women of the same age, as calculated from the Rochester hip fracture incidence data or compared to the other tow treated osteoporotic groups. In a previous report, on the incidence of hip fractures in 418 fluoride-treated osteoporotic women, the incidence rate was 3.4 times higher than expected in women of the same age in Rochester, Minnesota.

CANCER:

Fluoridation and Cancer - The biology and epidemiology of bone and oral cancer related to fluoridation (Fluoride, Vol. 26, No. 2, 83-96, 1993) backed by 87 references

• Numerous studies have shown that fluoride causes genetic damage (28 references), at levels as low as 0.5 ppm in cell cultures and at exposures as low as 1.0 ppm in the drinking water. It is generally agreed that substances which cause genetic damage are also likely to cause cancer. Since the level of fluoride used to fluoridate public drinking water is 0.7-1.2 ppm, individuals living in fluoridated areas may suffer an increased risk of genetic damage and cancer.
• More recently researchers have shown that increasing levels of fluoride increased the incidence of melanotic tumors in fruit flies. In patients receiving fluoride to treat their osteoporosis, fluoride was shown to transform white blood cells into cells "suggestive of retculoendothelial malignancy." Others have since found that fluoride transforms normal cells into cancer cells, and that it promotes and enhances the carcinogenicity of other cancer-causing chemicals.
• Studies by Proctor and Gamble scientists showed that the incidence of precancerous growths in oral tissues increased as exposure to fluoride increased. They also concluded: "There is clearly a compound [fluoride]-related increase in osteomas in both male and female mice." In addition, they tabulated bone cancers and tumors in rats fed fluoride, but not in untreated rats.
• …it can be seen that as exposure to fluoridation increased, so did the incidence rate of the oral cancer. These data, which show a 30-50% increase in the cancer incidence rate of the oral cavity and pharynx in fluoridated areas, are far more serious than the bone cancer data. Nationally, they translate into 6000-9000 additional cases of oral and pharyngeal cancer per year in the USA as a result of fluoridation. Additionally, the laboratory data supporting fluoride-induced oral tumors and cancers are far more convincing than the data on bone cancer.
• …The New Jersey Health Department, out of concern that fluoridation might be linked to increased rates of osteosarcoma, studied osteosarcoma rates in New Jersey and found male osteosarcoma rates 3-8 times higher in fluoridated areas. It is interesting to note that they changed the title of their report from "A Brief Report on the Association of Drinking Water Fluoridation and the Incidence of Osteosarcoma among Young Males" to "An Epidemiologic Report on Drinking Water and Fluoridation" within a month after its publication.
• …Newburgh, New York, was one of the first cities in the US to be fluoridated. In 1956, eleven years after fluoridation was instituted, Caffey, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, noted cortical defects in the bone X-rays of 13.5% of the children living in fluoridated Newburgh, compared to only 7.5% in the neighboring nonfluoridated town of Kingston. The difference was statistically significant and substantive. Dr. Caffey had already noted that these bone defects were strikingly similar to those of osteogenic sarcoma, otherwise known as osteosarcoma.
• …Since fluoride induces the transformation of fibroblasts into fibrosarcomas, one might also expect it to induce the transformation of osteoblasts into osteosarcomas. Biologically, it is reasonable that fluoride, while causing bone cancer in males, might not cause bone cancer in females. Fluoride-linked bone cancer is noted in males at a period of time in their lives when they are shutting off bone growth by a process (the production of testosterone) that takes longer than the way in which females shut off bone growth (estrogen's). By taking advantage of these differences, fluoride could easily induce osteosarcomas in males and not in females. In fact, studies show that 1 ppm fluoride depresses testosterone synthesis in vitro.
• …An increase of 10.3 fluoridation-linked cancer deaths per 100,000 population per year over the period 1953-1968 is observed.

Conclusions

From the analyses presented in this report, we conclude that:

1. The preponderance of evidence shows that fluoridation is causing an increase in bone cancer and deaths from bone cancer in human populations among males under age 20.
2. The increase in bone cancer attributable to fluoridation may all be due to an increase in osteosarcoma caused by fluoride.
3. The preponderance of evidence shows that fluoridation is causing an increase in oral cancer among human populations.
4. Since fluoride has been linked to bone and oral cancers in animals and humans, its biochemistry and its ability to inhibit the DNA repair enzyme system, to accelerate tumor growth rate, to inhibit the immune system, to cause genetic damage in a number of different cell lines, and to induce melanotic tumors, fibrosarcomas, hepatocholangiocarcinomas, and other tumors and cancers, strongly indicate that fluoride would have a generalized effect on increasing cancers overall.
5. According to our estimates, over 10,000 cancer deaths are caused each year in the US by fluoridation; this supports the conclusion that fluoridation is causing other types of cancer in humans.

Effects of Fluoride on Immune System Function (Complimentary Med Res Vol. 6, No. 3, 10/92)

• Fluoride is one of the most toxic inorganic chemicals in the Earth's crust, but it is believed that at a concentration of 1ppm, or 1m g/mL in public water supplies, and at the concentrations used in dental preparations, it is both safe and beneficial to teeth. However, with increasing experience, doubts about both safety and efficacy have arisen. While there is evidence of harm to the stomach, kidneys, thyroid, bones and teeth at higher concentrations, evidence for harm at concentrations around 1m g/mL is controversial. A possible link between fluoridation of public water supplies and an increase in the cancer death rate has been debated for over 20 years and there is now no doubt that fluoride can cause genetic damage.
• …concentrations of fluoride of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 20.0 ppm significantly inhibit the ability of leukocytes to migrate after incubation for 3 hours at 37° C.
• The immune system is our first line of defense against attack whether from the outside from bacteria, viruses and other parasites, or from within, from the spontaneous generation of potentially cancerous cells. Any agent which affects the ability of the immune system to function efficiently either by a direct toxic effect or by interfering with the release of cytokines will tend to reduce the resistance of the population to infection as well as increasing the susceptibility to cancer and immune depressed states such as the post-viral fatigue syndrome and AIDS. The effect on individuals already suffering from such immune-depressed conditions is likely to be serious.
• All recent large-scale surveys have shown minimal benefits to teeth from fluoridation programs. On the other hand, chronic exposure to fluoride at 1ppm could have a long-term detrimental effect on the general health of the population. Over the past 20 to 30 years there has been a substantial and unexplained rise in a number of conditions such as allergy, auto-immune diseases and the post viral fatigue syndrome. The common factor in these conditions is an alteration in the efficiency of the immune system.

Inhibition of Migration of Human Autogenous and Allogenic Leukocytes by Extracts of Patients' Cancers (Cancer Res, Vol. 31, 798-802, 6/71)

Tumor production of cytotoxic substances may prevent interaction between tumor cells and immunologically competent leukocytes. This has been clearly demonstrated in vitro, and such an occurrence in the cancer patient would impair the body's defenses against the tumor. (Note: fluoride is a cytotoxin)

Fluoridation and Bone Cancer (Fluoride Vol. 26, No.2, 1993)

The NTP (National Toxicology Program) fluoride/cancer study of rats and mice found a statistically significant dose-related increase of osteosarcoma incidence in male rats and, in addition, found fluoride correlations with thyroid follicular cell adenomas, oral and nasal squamous dysplasia, a rare type of liver cancer (hepatocholangiocarcinoma), and, as might have been expected, extensive osteosclerosis.

Time Trends for Bone and Joint Cancers and Osteosarcomas in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program National Cancer Institute (Fluoride, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1993)

When restricted to persons under age 20, the rates for bone and joint cancers in both sexes rose 47% from 1973-80 to 1981-87 in the fluoridated areas of Seattle and Iowa and declined 34% in the non-fluoridated areas. For osteosarcomas in males under 20, the rates increased 79% in the fluoridated areas and decreased 4% in the non-fluoridated areas.

BLOOD F-LEVELS/ BRAIN DAMAGE:

Summary of Statement to the Health and Welfare Committee - The Kansas State Senate - 2/28/96, Concerning Proposed Legislation to Mandate Further Fluoridation (by Albert W. Burgstahler, Ph.D.)

In agreement with recent (1995) neurotoxicological studies in rats, Chinese scientists have found lower IQ levels in children from long-term exposure to fluoride water, especially if they exhibit dental fluorosis.

Studies on Alterations in Brain Lipid Metabolism Following Experimental Fluorosis (Fluoride, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1992)

In this study on rabbits, there are appreciable changes in the brain lipid metabolism induced by fluoride. They are similar to the disorders known as "lipid storage diseases." Lipidosis is a disorder of lipid metabolism leading to abnormal fat accumulation in body tissues particularly in the liver and brain. …Hyperlipidemia may occur due to enzymatic defect, the inability of brain to degrade the lipid in the body.

Fluoride inhibits many enzymes involved in lipid metabolism - e.g. lipases, phospholipases which are capable of hydrolyzing the fatty acids from phospholipids.

Interaction of Fluoride Ions with Milk Proteins Studied by Gel Filtration (Fluoride, Vol. 25, No. 4, 171-174, 1992)

In light of the above studies, the results established by Duff seem to bear out the idea that fluoride is bound in milk by calcium rather than by proteins.

Fluoride Concentrations in the Human Placenta and Maternal and Cord Blood (Am J Obstet Gynecol, Vol. 119, No. 2, 5/15/74)

…fluoride diffuses passively across the placenta. …Gedailia found fluoride concentrations in maternal blood and fetal bone to be higher in communities in which the drinking water contained greater concentrations of fluoride. …According to the results of this study, maternal and cord fluoride concentrations show a direct relationship.

TOOTHPASTE:

Poisons and Antidotes

…new research suggests that children under age 2 should brush without toothpaste; those between ages two and five should be given toothpaste no larger than a pea and required to rinse their mouths thoroughly after brushing.

Hazards Lurk in Toothpaste Tube - Enumclaw sisters' illness traced at last to chemicals (The News Tribune, 4/5/94)

• Doctors worked for weeks to find the source of 5-year old Crystal Mustonen's nightly bouts of nausea and vomiting. They gave the Enumclaw girl a complete series of gastrointestinal tests. She likewise endured a barium enema.
• Then Crystal's 3-year old sister Samantha started throwing up too.
• […The children's father linked the vomiting to the children brushing their teeth. The girls used Bubble Gum flavored Crest Sparkle]
• The specific toothpaste is likely not to blame, said Terri Bonck, a Mary Bridge Children's Hospital pharmacist and poison control specialist. Rather, the culprit s fluoride. "If the kids are sucking on the tube, that's enough to make them vomit," she said. "It's the fluoride itself - it's very irritating to the stomach." Probably just an ounce or so of toothpaste swallowed would be enough to make a 2- or 3-year-old vomit, she said.
• "This is pretty common, unfortunately, because of the amount of fluoride in the toothpaste, Bonck said. "In poison centers across the US, it's a pretty common call."
• Jim Schwartz, spokesman for Cincinnati-based Proctor & Gamble, which makes Crest, stated, "They [toothpastes] do cause stomach upset and will lead to vomiting if it's consumed; it's an effect of these ingredients." "An important safety message to parents is to urge them to supervise their children when they brush," he said. "It's something all parents should do when using over-the-counter-medicine, like toothpaste."
• Schwartz speaks from experience: One of his 3-year-old twin daughters recently suffered the same experience as Crystal Mustonen. "Our own kid swallowed some toothpaste and threw up," he said.
• Many parents might not know toothpaste can make children sick to their stomachaches, said Chris Martin, spokesman for the ADA in Chicago. "It's like anything, dosage is important," Martin said. "…You've got to make sure these products are treated carefully, locked away and kept out of the reach of kids." "It's just not treated as you'd treat kitchen cleanser, but we wish parents would treat it like that."

J Dent Res, February, 1990, pg. 546

…we know that by the age of 18 months, approximately 75% of children brush or have their teeth brushed with a fluoride dentifrice; that the average quantity of dentifrice or mouthrinse involved per use contains 1.0 mg of fluoride, although the range is from 0.1 to over 3.0 mg; that, of the fluoride which is introduced into the mouth with each use of a dentifrice or mouthrinse, an average of about 25-30% is ingested; that the range of ingested fluoride is from less than ten percent to nearly 100%, and the fraction swallowed is inversely proportional to age, so that younger children ingest more. In effect, therefore, an unintended fluoride "supplement" is taken with each use of dentifrice, mouthrinse, or any other product designed for topical application, regardless of the fluoride concentrations of drinking water or other dietary components.

Afraid to Drink the Water? (letter from Frances Frech, 11/15/96, Population Renewal Office, Kansas City, MO)

• A recent report from ABC News stated that people are becoming more and more afraid of the public water supply and are turning to the bottle kind. The report said that last year (1995) sixty-four million Americans got sick from tap water.
• …About 2/3 of the nation's water supplies are treated with fluoride products, described by the U.S. Public Health Service as insecticides, rodenticides, and fungicides. In addition, fluoridated toothpastes and mouth rinses are spit into bathroom sinks all over the country to end up in the waste water.
• Before this water can be discharged into rivers and lakes, it must be treated to remove raw sewage and solid wastes. The fluoride, however, is not removed. Some of it, at least, will go into the aquatic environment where it can kill the fungi which would have destroyed pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium.

The Physiological and Toxicological Characteristics of Fluoride (J Dent Res)

…of the fluoride which is introduced into the mouth with each use of a dentifrice or mouthrinse, an average of about 25-30% is ingested; that the range of ingested fluoride is from less than 10% to nearly 100%, and the fraction swallowed is inversely proportional to age, so that younger children ingest more. In effect, therefore, an unintended fluoride "supplement" is taken with each use of dentifrice, mouthrinse, or any other product designed for topical application, regardless of the fluoride concentrations of drinking water or other dietary components.

FLUOROSIS:

The Physiological and Toxicological Characteristics of Fluoride (J Dent Res, Vol. 69, 2/90))

• There is a growing body of evidence which indicates that the prevalence and, in some cases, the severity of dental fluorosis is increasing in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated regions in the U.S.
• …This trend is undesirable for several reasons: (1) It increases the risk of esthetically objectionable enamel defects; (2) in more severe cases, it increases the risk of harmful effects to dental function; (3) it places dental professionals at an increased risk of litigation; and (4) it jeopardizes the perception of the safety and, therefore, the public acceptance of the use of fluorides.

Letter from George Glasser to John Zapp - Exec. Director of the ADA (4/16/96)

• It was established in 1942 that as little as 1ppm of fluorides would cause from 10-20% dental fluorosis (a permanent condition indicative of fluoride toxicity) in the exposed population. Today, the incidence of dental fluorosis ranges from 40% to 84% of the children in fluoridated areas. While the USPHS and USCDC are aware of these figures, they have failed to adequately warn the public. And while those US government agencies and the ADA classify the condition (dental fluorosis) as a cosmetic effect, it is an adverse side-effect caused by fluorides for which there is a duty to warn.
• …With regards to duty to warn the public of adverse effects, dereliction of these duties by the ADA could be construed as criminal negligence since there is foreseeability and knowledge of injury from the intake of low levels of fluorides via drinking water.

Study Suggests Too Much Toothpaste Causes Fluorosis (Am Dent Assoc, 1995)

"Fluorosis is a sign that fluoride is working." Said Dr. Heber Simmons, Jr., a pediatric dentist in Jackson, Miss., and an ADA consumer advisor. "And while it can be treated, we'd like to help parents prevent it as much as possible."

A Photographic Study of Enamel Defects Among South Australian School Children (Australian Dent J, 34(5):470-3, 1989) #35

In 1982, a study involving 854 South Australian primary school children in fluoridated areas suggested that children with lifelong exposure to water-borne fluoride at a level of 1 ppm showed an increased prevalence of enamel defects.

Disfiguring, or "White and Strong?" (Fluoride 23(3) 1990)

• In 1983, when Principle Dental Officer in Auckland, I stated in a letter to the Director-General of Health: "The evidence now suggests that the provision of fluoride to children is out of control, with many children suffering the effects of toxic levels of intake." I suggested that water fluoridation be discontinued. The evidence was later published. Dental fluorosis, the diffuse, symmetrically arranged tooth mottling which is a manifestation of fluoride intoxication, affected 25% of children in fluoridated central Auckland. Visible fluorosis of front teeth affected 10%, and 3.6% had discolored or pitted fluorosed enamel. It was suggested that either of the last two categories of the condition could be described as "disfiguring." In the non-fluoridated areas only 5% of the children had the condition - very mildly except for the few who had been given fluoride tablets.
• …According to fluoridation proponents, this sign of fluoride intoxication is only a "cosmetic defect," not a health hazard.
• …Officially collected School Dental Service data from the six main, largely urban, population areas showed that in non-fluoridated Christchurch children has dental health comparable to that in the five other main population centers, which are fluoridated, in fact, slightly more children were free of dental decay in Christchurch, and the number of decayed, missing and filled teeth differed by only a small fraction of a tooth.
• …When fluoridation was introduced it was predicted that only 10 to 12 percent of children would have dental fluorosis, so mild it would be "detectable only on close expert examination." Could not other adverse effects have been similarly underestimated? Concern should center on degree of toxicity rather than on amount of "cosmetic impairment." The claim that only tooth-forming cells are damaged by fluoride is extremely implausible, contrary to common sense, and can be disputed on scientific grounds. There is evidence of more general harm.

Prevalence of Dental Mottling in School-aged Lifetime Residents of 16 Texas Communities (Am J Pub Health, 75(1) 1985)

The prevalence of moderate mottling is increased with fluoride level in the community drinking water.

LACK OF BENEFIT FROM FLUORIDE:

Is There a Dental Benefit from Water Fluoridation (Condensed from - Fluoride, 27(1) 13-22, 1994)

• A study of the dental health of 26,000 elementary school children in Tucson, Arizona, concluded that there is no obvious relationship between fluoride levels in drinking water and tooth decay. This startling conclusion was made in a study commissioned by the mayor and town council, who were considering switching from groundwater to Colorado River water to supply the city of 600,000. A new treatment plant would have to be built and the health department wanted the water fluoridated.
• …The study showed how overly simplistic it is to look at fluoride levels and tooth decay, but not at other variables affecting dental health. When fluoride levels were compared with rates of tooth decay, the committee found that tooth decay increased significantly with increasing concentration of fluoride. About 10% of children in the school with 0.1 ppm fluoride in the water had tooth decay. Over 45% of the children in some schools with 0.8 ppm had tooth decay.

Fluorides and the Decline in Tooth Decay in New Zealand (Fluoride, 26(2) 1993)