Fluoride was a
teeth damaging natural water pollutant way before it was a cavity-fighting
water supply additive. New research questions the safety and efficacy
of fluoride and fluoridation. Dentists
wondered why, in the early 1900's, in pockets of the Southwest
USA, many residents' teeth were permanently stained yellow, brown
or black, some just had white blotches, some were crumbling. They
called it "Colorado Brown Stain." The culprit - high
levels of tasteless, odorless fluoride in drinking water, from
2 - 13 parts per million (ppm), which also irrigated crops the
locals ate.
These ugly, sometimes
deformed, teeth were unusually cavity-free. Since fluoride stained
teeth, dentists assumed fluoride also prevented decay. "Colorado
Brown Stain" became known by the more scientific term, dental
fluorosis. Unfortunately, dentists overlooked what's obvious today,
even to a layperson. They failed to factor in the calcium, magnesium
and other teeth strengthening minerals also in the water supply.
During an era when
doubting government was anti-American, when public health heroes
of the day were idealists who believed they were saviors of their
people, fluoridation began in the late 1940's. One part per million
fluoride added to "fluoride deficient" water supplies,
reduced decay by 70% without unwanted fluorosis public health
officials promised. Holding the paternalist values of their time,
they believed mothers couldn't be trusted to give their children
their daily fluoride dose in pill form so they prescribed it into
the drinking water. Children up to nine years old would benefit,
they told us. Fluoride incorporated into their developing teeth
to erupt with a shield against decay as long as they consumed
1 milligram fluoride daily via approximately one quart of 1 ppm
fluoridated water.
Children, who didn't
live in fluoridated communities, were (and still are) prescribed
fluoride supplements - a drug marketed before safety testing was
required by the Food and Drug Administration.
At its inception,
fluoridation, or these supplements, was virtually children's only
fluoride source. Now over 62% of US water supplies are fluoridated
and so are the foods and beverages grown, bottled and manufactured
with that water. There's a glut of fluoridated dental products
on the market, both over-the-counter and by prescription. Fluoridated
pesticide residues remain on foods, medicines contain fluoride,
and air is polluted by fluoride from industry.
Instead of bringing
tooth decay rates down to that enjoyed by early Southwesterners
who ate produce from their own gardens, children's dental fluorosis
rates have steeply increased. Yet, tooth decay is still a major
problem for malnourished or poorly nourished Americans.
New research proves
old-time dentists' premise was wrong. Fluoride's possible benefits,
if any, are topical. So there's no good reason to swallow fluoride
or put it into the water supply.
The old dogma is
beginning to unravel. British researchers report in the British
Medical Journal that fluoridation studies are flawed. A Canadian
Government report found fluoridation does more harm than good.
A US National Institutes of Health Panel found most tooth decay
studies, including hundreds on fluoride, scientifically invalid.
Even UNICEF, the organization that protects children, reports,
"more and more scientists are now seriously questioning the
benefits of fluoride, even in small amounts."
What's more unbelievable
is that the chemicals most used to fluoridate drinking water are
silicofluorides, contaminated waste product of industry, that
were never safety tested on humans or animals. Meanwhile we are
conducting a massive toxicological experiment. Our children are
the test subjects
Silicofluorides
are linked with children's increased lead absorption. Studies
link fluoride chemicals to bone fractures, lowered IQ, thyroid
dysfunction, cancer, allergies and more.
And the American
Dental Association is working on a new and improved cavity fighter,
even better than fluoride - calcium and phosphate - the minerals
they overlooked in the early 1900's.
Carol S. Kopf
is a freelance health writer who has written for many publications,
including Reuters Health, WebMD.com, Onhealth.com, and Newsday.
She has a BS in Biology and a master's in Science and Environmental
Reporting. As President of the Levittown Safe Water Association,
she spearheaded a campaign that ended 29 years of fluoridation
in her town in 1983. Carol can be reached via email at caru@earthlink.net.
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