On this collection, we discover the contentious findings surrounding fluoridation of the U.S. public water provide and reply the query of whether or not water fluoridation poses a threat and what we must always do about it.
Beforehand: A cavity epidemic made water fluoridation appear to be a public well being miracle, however the analysis that adopted offered a combined image of advantages and dangers.
Analysis has revealed fluoride has each useful and dangerous results in individuals and animals however most of the extra vital findings of potential hurt are strongly debated.
One of many extra contentious findings linked water fluoridation to most cancers, a declare that has been largely discounted, although others haven’t been so simply forgotten.
Fluoride has been proven to lower the prevalence of dental caries, however fluoride critics argue that water fluoridation may not be the best method to defend the general public from cavities.
It’s now acknowledged by dental researchers that fluoride’s major profit comes from topical software and that it doesn’t must be swallowed to stop tooth decay. An October 1999 Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) report states that laboratory and epidemiologic analysis findings had dispelled the sooner perception that ingesting fluoride resulted in stronger enamel. It asserts that fluoride results “primarily are topical for each adults and youngsters.”
And whereas making use of fluoride to enamel topically has been proven to be useful, there’s a massive rising physique of scientific analysis carried out over many years that hyperlinks ingesting fluoride with dental and skeletal fluorosis and a variety of well being results together with injury to the mind, disruption of the endocrine system (thyroid gland, pineal gland, and glucose metabolism), and kinds of cancers.
The Science
“When consumed in faucet water, fluoridation chemical compounds discover their approach all through all the physique. It’s not solely possible, it’s inevitable that we are going to pay the value via unexplained illnesses and elevated medical prices,” Clint Griess, creator of “One thing within the Water,” wrote in an electronic mail to The Epoch Instances.
The extremely criticized analysis of Dr. Dean Burk (1904–1988), a former chief chemist on the Nationwide Most cancers Institute, carried out within the Seventies and ’80s linked fluoridation of the general public water provide to most cancers.
Burk wrote in his final scientific paper, “It’s concluded that synthetic fluoridation seems to trigger or induce about 20-30 extra most cancers deaths for each 100,000 individuals uncovered per yr after about 15-20 years,” cited the Berkeley Essig Museum of Entomology Collections.
In a Sept. 21, 1977, congressional listening to, Burk and his colleague John Yiamouyiannis mentioned the findings of their research on the hyperlink between water fluoridation and most cancers.
One of many research introduced in contrast most cancers loss of life charges of 10 of the biggest fluoridated cities to 10 of the biggest un-fluoridated cities yr by yr. The monitoring began within the cities earlier than fluoridation started and located that the most cancers loss of life fee for each teams of cities previous to fluoridation was for essentially the most half equivalent.
The research discovered that most cancers loss of life charges confirmed a drastic enhance in fluoridated cities across the time the fluoridation program started, whereas the most cancers loss of life fee enhance within the non-fluoridated cities didn’t considerably enhance.
In an interview with NCRV, a Netherlands-based broadcasting firm, Burk urged the federal government to deliver a immediate finish to the bogus fluoridation of public water provides.
Burk’s work has been sharply criticized, and later research challenged the hyperlink between fluoride and most cancers. He was and nonetheless is focused by fluoridation proponents who say he did not right for age, intercourse, race, and most cancers web site distribution in a few of his research. Regardless of this, Burk’s work was largely liable for the termination of fluoridation within the Netherlands, the Berkeley Entomology Collections famous.
Previous to Burk’s work, an identical report within the 1955 New England Journal of Drugs confirmed a 400 % enhance in thyroid most cancers in San Francisco throughout the interval that the town had fluoridated consuming water, reported Gladys Caldwell and Dr. Philip Zanfagna of their 1974 e book “Fluoridation and Reality Decay.”
The most cancers hyperlink stays contentious and the CDC and others maintain that different research have disproven the hyperlink. That features a analysis evaluation printed in 1983 within the Bulletin of the World Well being Group that claimed the assertion was misguided.
Additionally, the CDC cites a evaluation by Howard F. Pollick that states, “Research by which people acquired doses considerably increased than the optimum fluoride consumption for lengthy durations of time confirmed no unfavorable impression on thyroid perform.”
Sadly, there was conflicting science round fluoride and contentious findings proceed to emerge. That has been notably true in the case of fluoride’s potential neurological results.
Fluoride and the Mind
In October 1996, Phyllis Mullenix spoke at a Fluoride Discussion board at Clark College in Worchester, Massachusetts, on her analysis and groundbreaking research on fluoride.
Mullenix has a doctorate in pharmacology with a specialty in neurotoxicology and accomplished a post-doctorate at Johns Hopkins Faculty of Public Well being in environmental medication.
After a profession at each the division of psychiatry at Kids’s Hospital in Boston and the division of neuropathology at Harvard Medical Faculty, she took a place on the toxicology division on the Forsyth Dental Analysis Institute, the primary toxicology division established in any dental analysis establishment on the planet.
In her lecture, Mullenix recounts that Dr. Jack Hein, the director of the institute, was suspicious that most of the dental merchandise have been presumably inflicting neurological points.
Mullenix was tasked with making use of a brand new computer-based screening expertise she developed to have a look at the environmental impression and the neurotoxicity of merchandise which are utilized by dentists and the dental neighborhood. Fluoride was the primary substance she studied.
In 1995, she printed her groundbreaking research linking fluoride with injury to the central nervous system within the peer-reviewed journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
Her research on the consequences of fluoride on rats discovered three primary conclusions, Mullenix recounted within the 1996 discussion board.
First, “there was no query that conduct was susceptible to fluoride,” no matter a really brief publicity when younger, prenatal, or early postnatal “all you wanted was 2 or 3 days publicity to this [fluoride] and it induced a everlasting change in conduct when the animals grew up,” she mentioned.
In case you took all the opposite exposures away aside from that one publicity, it was sufficient to “completely change the conduct,” Mullenix mentioned.
The second main discovering within the research was that the consequences diverse with age she mentioned. If the rats have been uncovered prenatally, the conduct change noticed was hyperactivity and when rats have been uncovered as weanlings or adults they displayed what the scientists referred to as “sofa potato syndrome,” or hypoactive conduct, much like power fatigue.
The third main discovering was that “fluoride accrued within the mind, and that is very totally different than what the literature had mentioned earlier than.” The literature up thus far mentioned that it didn’t get into the mind and it doesn’t bioaccumulate, “and we all know that that is unsuitable,” concluded Mullenix.
In her research, the fluoride-exposed females had double or triple the quantity of fluoride within the hippocampus areas of the mind in comparison with the management.
The mind’s hippocampus is a part of the limbic system and performs essential roles in short- and long-term reminiscence, spatial reminiscence that permits navigation, and emotional conduct.
There was important debate across the findings of Mullenix’s research within the scientific neighborhood though the 2006 NRC report concluded that “the committee agrees there are difficulties with decoding the outcomes of the research, however these difficulties don’t warrant dismissal of the outcomes.”
The CDC’s Stance
The Epoch Instances reached out to the CDC with questions on security and their assist of the present water fluoridation program. The CDC pointed to the Nationwide Toxicology Program’s (NTP) “NTP Monograph on the State of the Science Regarding Fluoride Publicity and Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Well being Results: A Systematic Evaluate.”
The NTP Monograph was carried out by an exterior evaluation board and has been a supply of controversy within the ongoing lawsuit in opposition to the EPA as inside CDC emails obtained via the Freedom of Info Act by plaintiff legal professional Michael Connett confirmed authorities businesses interfered with its launch.
The report was lastly made public on March fifteenth beneath an settlement reached within the ongoing lawsuit and a public assembly is about for Could 4th the place the Board of Scientific Counselors might be presenting its conclusions and suggestions.
“We assist this course of and sit up for seeing their remaining report, which is probably going to assist reply quite a few your questions,” the CDC responded.
The 2006 NRC Report
The Protected Ingesting Water Act requires periodic reassessment of rules for consuming water contaminants. Due to this, the NRC committee on Fluoride in Ingesting Water was beforehand charged by the Environmental Safety Company (EPA) with reviewing toxicologic, epidemiologic, and scientific information on fluoride, in addition to publicity information on orally ingested fluoride from consuming water and different sources (ie. meals and dental-hygiene merchandise).
This evaluation resulted within the 2006 scientific report of the EPA’s requirements of fluoride in consuming water by the Nationwide Analysis Council (NRC).
Their process was to independently consider the scientific foundation of the EPA’s set consuming water requirements, which have been set at a most contaminant stage aim (MCLG) of 4 mg/L and a secondary most contaminant stage (SMCL) of two mg/L. The MCLG and the SMCL have been set in 1986.
The CDC presently helps a water fluoridation stage of 0.7mg/L, the focus really useful by the Public Well being Service.
The enforceable most (MCLG) is 4.0 mg/L. This most is supposed to guard in opposition to skeletal fluorosis. The secondary most (SMCL) is 2.0 mg/L, which is supposed to guard in opposition to reasonable to extreme dental fluorosis. The secondary commonplace isn’t enforceable however requires programs to inform the general public if the typical ranges exceed it.
The NRC fluoride committee was requested to establish information gaps and to make suggestions for future analysis meant to higher inform the MCLG and SMCL to guard kids and others from adversarial well being results.
Of their analysis, the NRC committee discovered gaps within the data on fluoride that prevented the committee from making some judgments in regards to the security or the dangers of fluoride at concentrations of two to 4 mg/L.
The committee urged the scientific neighborhood to rigorously conduct extra analysis on publicity to fluoride particularly endocrine results and mind perform and really useful that the EPA ought to “replace the chance evaluation of fluoride to incorporate new information on well being dangers and higher estimates of complete publicity (relative supply contribution) for people.”
The committee additionally urged the EPA to think about vulnerable subpopulations, uncertainties, and variability of their evaluation.
The NRC evaluation of neurotoxicity and neurobehavioral results of fluoride acknowledged that based mostly on “data largely derived from histological, chemical, and molecular research, it’s obvious that fluorides have the power to intrude with the features of the mind and the physique by direct and oblique means.”
They famous that “fluorides additionally enhance the manufacturing of free radicals within the mind via a number of totally different organic pathways. These modifications have a bearing on the chance that fluorides act to extend the chance of creating Alzheimer’s illness.”
The committee assessed research that reported IQ deficits in kids uncovered to fluoride and mentioned that regardless of the research missing ample element, the committee felt that the consistency of the outcomes appeared important sufficient to warrant further analysis on the consequences of fluoride on intelligence.
Learn Half 1 – The Renewed Scientific Opposition to Water Fluoridation
Learn Half 2 – Uncovering the Variations: Why Pure Fluoride and Artificial Fluoride Are Not Created Equal
Learn Half 3 – Fluoride: A Miracle Treatment for Cavities, a Poison, or Each
Subsequent: “As a rep of CDC, to my data, we don’t have any data about that,” Casey Hannan, CDC oral well being director, mentioned when requested by Connett in a deposition whether or not the CDC has any information from the printed literature that will outline the tolerable higher fluoride consumption for neurotoxic results on kids.
Views expressed on this article are the opinions of the creator and don’t essentially mirror the views of The Epoch Instances. Epoch Well being welcomes skilled dialogue and pleasant debate. To submit an opinion piece, please observe these tips and submit via our kind right here.
