Fluoride risks?

My partner is very strongly against fluoridation.

On the ethical side I don't believe we should be forced to be fluoridated against our will but I'm sure practical arguments can be found if we assume fluoridation is a good thing.

Is it a good thing?

In the past I have read some of the contradictory research and it is easy to find defects in the analyses and conclusions whether in the pro or con as it is a difficult and complex subject.

In the end I came to the Scottish verdict''not proven''.

That was a while ago and I wonder about the current opinions of people like Jackie, George etc

Thanks

Alex

Alex - A few years ago, I heard an extremely informative teleconference on this topic and I typed my notes into a post for this forum titled: Hydrate Safely - What's in Your Water?

You can read it at this link along with comments from afib readers.
<[www.afibbers.org];

I spent 22 years in the dental profession giving fluoride treatments and recommending the daily use of fluoride-containing toothpastes and rinses and after hearing Dr. Kennedy, I was totally appalled at the intentional ignoring of the detrimental side effects of fluoride use. I felt so guilty for my ignorance on the topic... totally brainwashed; just following the herd mentality. I vowed to do one of my 'awareness' posts to help keep the information alive. I'm glad it's still available in the archives for your reading.

Be sure to visit the websites listed as other reading resources.

[www.ahealedplanet.net]

Fluoridation: A Horror Story

Excerpt:

John Yiamouyiannis, in his influential 'Fluoride and the Aging Factor', described how the fluorine ion disrupts enzyme activity and attacks DNA and protein. In his theories, backed up by research, the fluorine ion particularly disrupts hydrogen bonds. When chemicals are dumped together, the elements that have a higher bonding affinity will “steal” the bonds from other elements. Fluorine forms the smallest negatively charged ions of all the elements, and that small size allows them to go where larger ions cannot. Those fluorine ions can get into the nooks and crannies of larger molecules, such as enzymes and DNA, and wreak biological havoc. Those fluorine ions disrupt weaker bonds in those larger molecules, damaging or destroying the original substance, disabling its biochemical usefulness. The fluorine ion acts similarly to “free radicals” in the body, with its net electrical charge interfering with biochemical reactions. That is how the fluorine ion harms or kills people.

Update to the Hydrate Safely post referenced in the previous post on fluoride risks.

It’s important to be on top of this information so I’m updating and adding to the original post “Hydrate Safely – What’s in Your Water?” by including some very excellent and recent clips from articles plus a brief overview of the fluoride toxicity from a cancer-causing perspective…as well as comments about another common chemical in water, Chlorine’s toxic byproducts.

The US Government recently stated fluoride causes splotchy teeth and called for an investigation to lower levels in water, although it’s not clear how quickly that will be acted on or enforced.
Hmmmm… this is not new news, but it is interesting that, finally, someone is at least taking a look… I’ll comment about splotchy teeth later on. Some municipalities are pushing this along faster by enacting their own laws about fluoridation in their water. It’s about time!

Jan. 7, 2011 ATLANTA – In a remarkable turnabout, federal health officials say many Americans are getting too much fluoride, and it's causing spots on children's teeth and perhaps other, more serious problems.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans Friday to lower the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years, based on a fresh review of the science. [news.yahoo.com]

Jan. 11, 2011, EPA Moves to Ban Pesticide that Leaves Fluoride Behind. [www.scpr.org]

I was helping a person research cancer prevention recommendations. In the book, “Outsmart Your Cancer,” the sections on environmental cancer triggers caught my eye…especially the chlorine byproducts and fluoride notations.

Key notes and excerpts follow. We must be aware. All too often, the harmful side effects of exposure to these toxins are either downplayed or covered up.

Quotes and notes are from ‘Outsmart” and an article published in Townsend Letter, January 2011, by Gary Null, PhD “Fluoridation: Medicating our Water – Part 3… (see references)

Modern living exposes us to cancer-causing factors… including
insufficient dietary nutrition, environmental pollutants and life-style choices.

Five Big Environmental Cancer Triggers
1. Chlorine byproducts
2. Fluoride
3. Asbestos
4. Fiberglass
5. Nuclear radiation

FLUORIDE
Governmental statements and community actions to ban fluoride completely from water supply is in the news. “The controversy seems to only on a political level since the science indicates fluoride is an extremely hazardous substance to everyone’s health I many ways.”

“Dean Burk PHD, former chief chemist of the National Cancer Institute was quoted as saying: ‘In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer deaths and causes them faster than any other chemical.” Even Proctor and Gamble (Crest toothpaste) presented studies to the US Public Health service that showed fluoride to be a cancer causing agent “at the lowest concentrations used.”

Adding to the information in the referenced post… Hydrate Safely, What’s in Your Water?, an important point is the type of fluoride used in initial dental health studies versus the type of fluoride put into our water and toothpaste. The original tooth decay prevention tests used calcium fluoride or dietary fluoride. Calcium fluoride is the type found naturally in water and plants. But one type of fluoride from industrial waste that is added to public water supplies and dental products is sodium fluoride (NaF) and this is highly toxic…and amounts to about 10% of fluoridated water. Clinical toxicology organizations list sodium fluoride as more toxic than lead poisoning. The public was fooled into thinking fluoride was safe.

The most commonly used fluoride compound for public drinking water treatment is sodium silicofluoride or fluosilicic acid known as silicofluorides (SiFs). It’s estimated that 140 million Americans drink water treated with this compound. Yet the safety of SIFs has never been tested, nor have they been approved by the FDA. Research published in the December 20000 issue of the journal, Neutrotoxicology, warns that public drinking water treated SiFs, is linked to higher uptake of lead in children.

Even in communities that do not have fluoridated water, the effects of fluoridation are everywhere because fruits and vegetables not grown in a fluoride-free community are shipped to supermarkets. Fluoride is often added to artificial fertilizers and pesticides. This brings up the fact that even organically grown foods might be irrigated with fluoridated water. Fluoride gets washed into the soil and absorbed by the roots of food plants.

Drinking common commercial beverages such as sodas, juices, beer and wine may offer fluoride exposure since they may have been made with fluoridated water.

Chromosome damage to cells can occur at fluoride amounts as low as one parts per million or 1.0 ppm… examples of fluoride content in common food and beverage products

Diet Coke 2.6 ppm
Beer, Wine 15 ppm
Gerber’s First Year’s Juices 3 ppm
Kellogg’s Fruit Loops Cereal 2.1 ppm

Dental fluorosis can occur when developing teeth are exposed to more than 1.0 ppm. The fluorosis is not only unsightly, but often the teeth are mal-formed and are therefore can be weak in structure.

Splotchy teeth or dental fluorosis. Dental fluorosis was noted over 50 years ago in communities where the natural fluoride content in spring or well water was high. Residents there had brown, mottled, splotchy tooth enamel, although a very low incidence of dental decay. Depending on the degree of dental fluorosis, these teeth are typically very strong and decay resistant. Some needed cosmetic treatment and others with malformed cusps as in molars, needed to be crowned to preserve structural integrity… that wasn’t a common occurrence.

In my years of dental hygiene practice, I saw plenty of dental fluorosis in children treated with prescription fluoride as advised by the American Dental Association as a standard of care for those living outside municipalities where the water was not treated with fluoride. It soon became evident that these children were receiving fluoride from the Rx tablets and additionally, drinking beverages including reconstituted juices made with fluoridated water so were undoubtedly exceeding the recommended 1 ppm dose. As pointed out by Dr. Kennedy in the original “Water” post, this not only affects teeth but has an impact on bone health as well…so long term, these children may have bone issues as adults.

As a note of interest, my DDS employer’s three children were all given Rx fluoride; yet one was very prone to decay even though she had traces of fluorosis on her front teeth.

Dr. Null points out in his Fluoridation article several key points for consideration:

1. Lead isn’t the only metal that interacts with fluoride in a toxic combination. Aluminum is another. He details the concerns over the connection between fluoride, aluminum and the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. Aluminum is often added to drinking water as a flocculating agent by the same agents who oversee fluoridation. One deadly combination that results is aluminum tetrafluoride and the body reacts to that as if it were a phosphate ion capable of triggering G proteins which are water-soluble substances (ie hormones, neurotransmitters and growth factors) that transmit messages from the outside to the inside of cells. This aluminum tetrafluoride can switch on G proteins without hormones, neurotransmitters or growth factor present.

2. Fluoride affects the pineal gland – located between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The pineal secretes melatonin and affects sleep cycles, jet lag, hibernation in animals, immunity and the onset of puberty. One study found the pineal glad attracts fluoride and thereby interferes with melatonin’s functions. In this study, pineal autopsies showed extremely high concentrations of fluoride averaging 9000 ppm and going up to 21,000 ppm. (keep in mind 1 ppm or less is recommended as “safe” for water standards) The study suggests that people with insomnia may have the fluoride accumulation. Another study found that the lower the levels of melatonin, the earlier-than-usual onset of puberty which is rising at alarming rates. Another comparison found girls in a fluoridated community were reaching menstruation five months earlier on average than those in unfluoridated communities. Premature menstruation is associated with a variety of ills including breast cancer and obesity…in fact, the American Journal of Public Health (2001) fins early maturation nearly doubled the odds of being obese.

3. Animal studies finds that fluoride undermines fertility.

4. Several studies link fluoride exposure to adverse effects on intelligence…dating back to the infamous 1944 secret Manhattan Project…and current studies in China demonstrating diminished intelligence (IQ) by degrees of dental fluorosis in children.

5. Fluoride is a potent enzyme poison and can cause genetic damage.
Another ah ha! moment: Fluoride is found to interfere with magnesium.
And fluoride is found to bond easily and strongly with hydrogen which strikes at the very heart of biology. One researcher (Connett) says….”It’s a huge red flag to be extremely careful about introducing fluoride to any living system.”

6. Fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function, especially the thyroid gland that regulates growth and metabolism. Sperm cells were found to display a significant increase in mutation after being treated with fluoride.

Dr. Null notes that… “while critics argue that only high doses cause such effects, studies suggest that even a supposedly “safe” concentration of 1 ppm of fluoride added to drinking water can interfere with critical biological functions.”

Partial list of countries that banned and or discontinued fluoridation..
(dates not verified)
Sweden – 1971
Norway, Germany – 1975
Holland – 1976
Denmark – 1977
France – 1980
Finland 1992
Hungry – stopped ‘60’s
China – banned
Austria - rejected
Belgium - rejected
UK – banned 2009

All Councils in Northern Ireland have rejected fluoridation
Italy, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg have rejected water fluoridation.
Less than 2% of Europeans drink fluoridated water and studies show people in Europe with the best teeth do not have fluoridation.

Let’s hope the US does more than just talk and study after 30 years of watching this problem unfold.


Thanks to the popularity of UTube video clips, you can listen to some very brief comments by Dr. David Kennedy… I hope you will visit here and experience his wisdom and candor.

Truth 2 Power – Water Fluoridation – David C. Kennedy, DDS [www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

He says: The FDA has never approved ANY substance containing fluoride to be swallowed intended for the purpose of preventing tooth decay.

Question to the FDA: Is fluoride a drug?
Response: Any substance used to prevent disease…man or animal… is considered a drug…subject to the regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

Fluoride has never been legitimately approved as a water additive.


CHLORINE
Chlorine byproducts rank up there with pesticides and herbicides as huge threats to public health…mostly because people aren’t the least bit aware of it. The same is true with chlorine byproducts. Treating water with chlorine has purifies our water and keeps us healthy by reducing disease from waterborne microbes. Paper mills use chlorine for bleaching and the plastics industry uses chloride to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC plastics).

Initially, chlorine was thought to be safe because under controlled lab conditions, it harmlessly breaks down into salt and water. While chlorine in its pure form does not cause cancer in lab animals, byproducts that result from industrial uses of chlorine are a problem.

[Incidentally Alan Gaby, MD, comments that it is easy to get rid of the harmful effects of chlorine in water… just by boiling or adding a pinch of vitamin C to the water to offset the high and harmful pro-oxidant effects.
…or just use water that is not chlorinated. We go out of our way to take 12,000 different types of antioxidants and then we consume huge amounts of a liquid every day that contains a powerful pro-oxidant – chlorine.]

In 1974, scientists discovered that chlorine-treated public water combined with organic material (from plant and animal sources) to form byproducts in the water called ‘organochlorines’ or chlorine byproducts.

Chlorine combined with organic material is extremely toxic. Water sources from lakes, reservoirs and rivers pose a greater problem than well-water sources with much less organic material (algae, leaves and other plant materials) to which the chlorine can combine.

Organochlorine compounds are not found naturally anywhere in the world but once combined as a byproduct of water chlorination, they are not only toxic, they are also extremely stable and do not break down in nature for hundreds of years.

The bad news is that organochlorines are easily absorbed into the bodies of virtually all animals and tend to accumulate over time in fat cells. With enough exposure, they can produce birth defects, reproductive disorders, immune system breakdown and cancer. Harmful for the animal, undoubtedly, but definitely harm for the individual consuming that animal as a food source.

A form of organochlorine, trihalomethanes, has been extensively studied. Epidemiological studies show that the number of years a person drinks water with certain levels of trihalomethanes directly correlates with increased risk of bladder and rectal cancer.

Organochlorines are not just in the water we drink. Everyone has been exposed to organochlorines. High levels are in swimming pools and enters through the skin. We inhale them from fumes near the surface levels of swimming pools and hot tubs. By opening the dishwasher, we can inhale them from the steam/vapor that comes from the volatized soap and water released in the steamy mist. Organochlorines are released into the air from laundry detergents combining with organic material in clothes laundered in municipally-treated water. Because of their prevalence and persistence in the environment, most all humans and almost all animals and marine life have been contaminated with organochlorines.

People considered to be average Americans were found to have 177 different organochlorines in their bodies…found in fat cells, mother’s milk, semen, blood and breath. Organochlorine molecules are shaped like our human hormone molecules and can easily slip into cells in place of hormones… pointing to the alarming, escalating increase in infertility.

Most chlorine byproducts do not come from public water supply but from a family of organochlorines called dioxins which is the single-most carcinogenic type of manmade chemical known to science. The EPA considers dioxin to be 300,000 times more potent as a carcinogen than DDT. No level of dioxin is considered safe.

Digoxins from which we get our exposure are released into the environment by
--Industrial incineration of chlorinated wastes
--Industrial production of plastics
--The paper production industry

…and the big factor:
The food we eat because of dumping into streams and waterways where dioxins are easily absorbed by fish and food crops irrigated with that water. It then bioaccumulates up the food chain into beef, dairy products, chicken, pork, fish, eggs. The most concentrated amounts of dietary dioxin are found in beef and dairy products. In the paper industry, it is found in paper milk cartons where it leaches into milk and in bleached coffee filters.

Something to think about.

Add this to your mental notes about Hydrate Safely – What’s in Your Water?


Jackie


References
Outsmart Your Cancer
Tannya Harter Pierce, MA MFCC
Thoughtworks Publishing
© 2009
www.OutsmartYourCancer.com

Fluoridation: Medicating our Water – Part 3
Gary Null, PhD
Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients January 2011
Subscriptions $51/year [www.townsendletter.com]

Jackie
Your clip lists the UK as having banned fluoride in drinking water; sadly this is not true. Just a few days ago I heard a report that a region in south east England is being threatened with the introduction of fluoride in their water supply. There has been a referendum there with a large majority being against, the councils there are against it but the regional health authority insists on pressing ahead with it. It is a battle in progress.
Peter

Hello Alex, are you there?

Earlier you wrote:

"In the past I have read some of the contradictory research and it is easy to find defects in the analyses and conclusions whether in the pro or con as it is a difficult and complex subject." "In the end I came to the Scottish verdict ''not proven''. "That was a while ago and I wonder about the current opinions of people like Jackie, George etc."

I hope you picked up on the lengthy, comprehensive, very interesting article by Wade Frazier posted in reply: [www.ahealedplanet.net]

Here are a few quotes from credible types, in the section "Compulsory Fluoridation: An Industrial Tale" <[www.ahealedplanet.net]> (but please read the full text).

"Fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons, probably because of their capacity to modify the metabolism of cells by changing the permeability of the cell membrane and by inhibiting certain enzyme systems. The exact mechanism of such actions is obscure." - Journal of the American Medical Association, Sept 18, 1943. (before the propaganda steamroller really got going in 1947)

"The fluoride ion exerts its toxic effect by inhibiting the action of many enzyme systems." - Hugo Theorell, M.D., Nobel Prize winner for his research in the field of enzyme chemistry.

"We ought to go slowly. Everybody knows that fluorine and fluorides are very poisonous substances and we use them in enzyme chemistry to poison enzymes, those vital agents in the body. That is the reason things are poisoned; because enzymes are poisoned, and that is why animals and plants die." - James B. Sumner, Director of Enzyme Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Cornell University, and a Nobel Prize winner for his work in the field of enzyme chemistry.

"The data indicated that drinking water with as little as 1 PPM shortened the life span of mice an average of nine per cent. This was true whether death was due to cancer or non-cancerous diseases. The only notice proponents of fluoridation gave to this work was to discredit it as much as possible. ... In experiments where the drug was added directly to suspensions of cancer tissue before inoculation into eggs or mice, sodium fluoride stimulated the growth of cancer tissue in concentrations of one part in more than 20 million. Scientists at Cambridge University (British Medical Journal, Oct 26, 1963) discovered that concentrations of sodium fluoride as low as one part in ten million inhibited the growth of a culture of human tissue. ... the growing weight of scientific evidence that water-borne fluorides, even at 1 PPM, have toxic possibilities must finally be recognized." - Alfred Taylor, Ph.D., Clayton Foundation, Biochemical Institute, University of Texas, Austin Texas, 1965.

"The terrifying conclusion of the studies was that fluorine greatly induced a cancer tumor’s growth. If doctors and the public can be made aware of this catastrophe, fluoridation shall end quickly. It will someday be recognized as the most lethal and stupid "Health Program" ever conceived by the mind of man, witch doctors and blood-letters not excepted."

"In 1969 the country of Sweden intended to fluoridate their water supply due to the strong advice of Professor Yngve Ericsson, a Swedish dentist who was also the senior representative on the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Fluoridation. However, it was then found that Professor Ericsson coincidentally was the holder of two highly-profitable patents on fluoride toothpaste!" - Alfred Taylor, June 13, 1970 the Gothenburg Post (Sweden); August 5, 1970 the News Register (Sweden); and May 1, 1970 Norsk Folkehelselag (Norway).

"In 1978, the West German Association of Water and Gas Experts rejected fluoridation for legal reasons, and because ‘the so-called optimal fluoride concentration of 1mg/liter is close to the dose at which long-term damage to the human body is to be expected.’" - Chemical and Engineering News, August 1, 1988.

I will enjoy your comments!

Erling

PS, interesting facts:

The sodium/potassium pump - Na+/K+ATPase - is the enzyme that generates the electrical potential for the functioning of our 'metabolically active' cells. The enzyme poison 'ouabain' on an arrow can bring down a hippo: [en.wikipedia.org]. Also interesting on this page is that 'digoxin' acts in the same way. Dysfunction of the Na/K pump in AF is important to consider. Do you drink fluoridated water? - not an idle question...

Erling

Erling - thanks for re-emphasizing this . It's important to read these indepth articles.

Peter - Sorry that it isn't true about fluoride in the UK and thanks for the correction. I was working from several lists and one was a bit sketchy; I should have spent the time to verify.

I did note that "Ireland has one of the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world. Compared to Northern Ireland, where the water is fluoride free, the level of hip replacements in the Republic is almost 12 times higher.
In 1996, 25 out of 26 councils in Northern Ireland voted against fluoridation of their drinking water.

Here in the US, hip replacements are big business.

Fluoride awareness is very important.

Jackie

Hello Alex, and all -

Somehow I wound up looking into the fluoridation story again, and landed on the following. I have long known this chilling fact - I lived teen years under Nazi occupation, a witness to the Holocaust.

[truth11.com]

Quote:

"At the end of the Second World War, the United States Government sent Charles Eliot Perkins, a research worker in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pathology, to take charge of the vast Farben chemical plants in Germany.

"While there he was told by German chemists of a scheme which had been worked out by them during the war and adopted by the German General Staff.

"This was to control the population in any given area through mass medication of drinking water. In this scheme, sodium fluoride occupied a prominent place.

"Repeated doses of infinitesimal amounts of fluoride will in time reduce an individual’s power to resist domination by slowly poisoning and narcotizing a certain area of the brain and will thus make him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him. “Both the Germans and the Russians added sodium fluoride to the drinking water of prisoners of war to make them stupid and docile."

Best wishes!

Erling

[www.fluoridealert.org]

Our thyroids have receptors for iodine, unfortunately they can't tell the difference between that halogen and others such as fluorine and chlorine.

In a state of iodine deficiency, which is almost universal, they absorb the poisonous halogens. Result is thyroid problems which are associated with afib.

William

Thanks William -

- the halide bromine will also supplant iodine in the thyroid hormone molecule (ref. Jerry Tennant, MD, Healing is Voltage). I wonder if bromine is still being used as a 'dough conditioner' for breads and other 'baked goods' etc . . . ?

Russell Blaylock MD, neurosurgeon, professor of medicine:

"Avoid all forms of fluoride, since it damages antioxidant enzymes, increases free radical production, damages DNA repair enzymes, suppresses immunity, produces skeletal and dental fluorosis and hypothyroidism, and produces extensive brain cell injury."

Blaylock Wellness Report May 2004