| My son, who nearly died in infancy after being fed soy infant formula for one week, will carry a legacy of fluoride toxicity throughout his life—dental fluorosis, severe and chronic gastroenteritis and bone problems.
R.L., San Diego, CA
Aluminum—the most abundant metal in the earth's crust— is distributed all over the world, but has no known useful biological function and is toxic to most plants and animals. |
| NOT THINKING STRAIGHT
Before it shows up as tooth mottling or skeletal fluorosis, fluoride exposure affects the nervous system. In fact, fluoride may play a role in the epidemic of ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities and other brain dysfunctions so prevalent today.4146
Because the blood-brain barriers of fetuses and newborns are permeable and their brains still developing and growing, they are particularly vulnerable to fluoride toxicity. Brain tissue acquired from aborted fetuses in high fluoride areas of China has shown poor differentiation of brain nerve cells and delayed brain development. |
| FLUORIDE TOXICITY dental and mental fluorosis luorine is a pale yellow, highly toxic, extremely reactive and corrosive gas. In nature, fluorine is found combined with minerals and known as fluoride. Commercial production of fluorine began after World War II, prompted by the requirements of the atomic bomb. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry lists fluoride as among the top 20 of 275 substances that pose the most significant threat to human health.13
Yet fluoride is promoted as a healthy mineral needed to prevent cavities. |
| At that point, fluoridated drinking water, toothpaste, supplements and fluoride containing foods became the key factors in fluorosis.32
In communities where the drinking water is fluoridated, ingestion can easily exceed levels that even fluoridation supporters consider "optimal." Samuel J. Fomon, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, and the lead researcher on hundreds of studies concerning infant formula, concedes, "Prolonged exposure to high intakes of fluoride during infancy is much more common now than in the past."33
Hardy Limeback, Ph.D., D.D.S. |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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 Skeletal fluorosis is a debilitating condition that occurs when fluoride accumulates in bones, making them extremely weak and brittle. According to Dr. Limeback, the earliest symptoms of the condition are mottled and brittle teeth. "In Canada, we are now spending more money treating dental fluorosis than we do treating cavities," he says.
Dr. Levy adds that dental fluorosis is the one toxic side effect of fluoride that even its proponents acknowledge as real. |
Tanya Harter Pierce
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 Not only does public water fluoridation not protect teeth, it has now been officially linked to dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, increased hip fractures, increased infant mortalities, lowered IQ, increased hyperactivity in children, and cancer. Numerous studies have proven that fluoride can cause damage to chromosomes in concentrations as low as one part per million, and one part per million is the average target level used in fluoridating public water supplies. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 At a water fluoride level of 1 part per million (or 1 mg per liter), roughly 13% will have fluorosis to an aesthetically concerning degree.13
Some scientists have concluded that water fluoridation is associated with an increased risk of bone tumors,14 although most others disagree.15
FOLIC ACID
What is it?
Folic acid is a B vitamin needed for cell replication and growth. Folic acid helps form building blocks of DNA, the body's genetic information, and building blocks of RNA, needed for protein synthesis in all cells. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler
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 Skeletal fluorosis is abnormal hardening of bones and is associated with arthritic pain, weakness, joint stiffness and occasionally nerve damage and paralysis. Intakes of 20-80 milligrams daily of fluoride for ten to twenty years are considered necessary for significant fluorosis to occur. This is equivalent to intakes of 72-285 milligrams daily of sodium fluoride. No evidence of skeletal fluorosis nor any other signs or symptoms of fluoride toxicity have been noted in about seven million adult U.S. |
Earl L. Mindell, RPh, PhD with Virginia Hopkins, MA
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| Some 30 percent of children in fluoridated communities have fluorosis, a malformation of tooth enamel that causes discoloration (usually chalky white patches) and brittleness. This is a permanent change in the teeth that has also been associated with abnormal bone structure.
Advocates of putting fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash argue that it is not swallowed, and therefore not ingested. However, fluoride is absorbed through the mucous membranes of the mouth, and young children do not have control over their swallowing reflex. |
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Lisa Y. Lefferts and Anne Witte Garland
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| Cancer aside, if children get too much fluoride, they can get dental fluorosis, or mottled and discolored teeth. According to the EPA, assuming average dietary levels of fluoride, up to 1 ppm in water won't cause dental fluorosis.
Be sure your children are getting enough fluoride, but not too much. Find out how much fluoride is in your tap water (see page 132) or bottled water (ask the manufacturer). Teach your children to rinse thoroughly after brushing their teeth, and not to swallow toothpaste. |
Ralph Golan, M.D.
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 It is well accepted in the scientific community that excessive fluoride can cause dental fluorosis, a condition that has symptoms ranging from mild discoloration or mottling to darkened, pitted, brittle teeth that are very sensitive to fracture. Another consequence of fluoride toxicity is skeletal fluorosis, an abnormal bone and joint condition ranging from biochemical changes in the bone to a crippling disease.
Why should we fluoridate our water when the benefits are questionable and the risks are real? |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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| In Canada, we are now spending more money treating dental fluorosis than we do treating cavities," he says.
Dr. Levy adds that dental fluorosis is the one toxic side effect of fluoride that even its proponents acknowledge as real. "This condition reliably occurs whenever a large enough and long enough exposure to fluoride and its associated compounds occurs during the period when tooth enamel is actively forming," he says. "Teeth can become mottled and spotted, discolored, pitted, or even completely disfigured, depending upon the degree of fluoride exposure. |
Tanya Harter Pierce
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| In fact, it often causes damage to the teeth in the form of "dental fluorosis," which results in mottled, yellowish teeth for life.
Clinical toxicology organizations list sodium fluoride as more toxic than lead poisoning. Even Proctor and Gamble, the makers of Crest toothpaste, have admitted that the fluoride in a family-sized tube of Crest could, if ingested all at once, be enough to kill a small child! |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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 TABLE 4.1 would be deferred to the USPHS and state health departments, who would assure a trusting public that no studies existed indicating a problem with small concentrations of fluoride being added to water. Of course, this was—and continues to be—a bold-faced lie. Even by the 1960s there was significant scientific evidence indicating that, even at the low levels proposed by fluoridationists, the substance is toxic to humans. |
Ruth Winter, M.S.
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 The Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association also expressed opposition to an FDA proposal to mandate disclosure of the net fluoride content in OTC dentifrice products as a means of preventing dental fluorosis (caused by an excess intake of fluoride) in young children. The trade association insisted that there is no current scientific evidence to indicate that fluorides in dentifrices can contribute to dental fluorosis. No known skin toxicity. See also Stannous Fluoride. |
Sheldon Saul Hendler
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| No evidence of skeletal fluorosis nor any other signs or symptoms of fluoride toxicity have been noted in about seven million adult U.S. residents who lived for several generations in areas where the natural fluoride concentration in the drinking water was 2 to 10 milligrams per liter.
High doses of sodium fluoride (40-70 milligrams daily) used therapeutically even for long periods of time are unlikely to cause skeletal fluorosis. However, those who do take these doses may suffer from gastrointestinal symptoms, such as heartburn, and from pains in the feet and ankles. |
Dr. John Yiamouyiannis
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 Bone disorders (skeletal fluorosis) and arthritic pains resulting from fluoride in the drinking water have also been reported in the United States.
In 1943 and 1953, researchers from the United States Public Health Service examined the health status of the residents of Bartlett, Texas to see whether the 8 parts per million fluoride in their drinking water was affecting their health. They found that the mortality rate in Bartlett, Texas was over three times as high as the mortality rate in the neighboring town of Cameron, which contained a much smaller amount of fluoride (0. |
Arthur C. Upton, M.D.
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| People living near manufacturing areas can be exposed to low levels of fluorides continually or to large amounts in cases of industrial accidents (neighborhood fluorosis).
Oral fluoride supplements, fluoridated water, and fluoride-containing toothpastes are used to prevent tooth decay and have not caused adverse effects at such low dosages.
Routes of Exposure: Inhalation and ingestion. |
| Inhaling or ingesting more than 6 mg of fluorine daily in industrial dusts, insecticide, or excessive amounts of fluoride in the water causes fluorosis: weight loss, brittle bones, weakness, fatigue, malaise, joint stiffness, severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and discoloration of the teeth.
OSHA/NIOSH Standards: The federal standard (PEL) for inorganic fluorides is a TWA of 2.5 mg/m3. The exposure limit for fluorine is 1 ppm; fluoride salts, 2.5 mg/m3; boron trifluo-ride, 1 ppm; bromine pentafluoride, 0.1 ppm; carbonyl fluoride, 2 ppm; chlorine trifluoride, 0. |
Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.
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| Anyone wanting to follow up on the psychiatric effects of fluoride may want to refer to "What Looks Like a Neurosis May be a fluorosis," (Forman, 1963).
Long term, latent or tardive effects are beginning to appear with Prozac. The type of "burn out" seen with stimulant type drugs is being reported regularly in conjunction with Prozac. At this point I have four people within four blocks of my home who have lost their jobs because of physical and mental disability after using Prozac at least two years. |
Attaining Medical Self SufficiencyDuncan Long
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| Over time people who have high concentrations of this mineral in their water develop a mottling of the enamel of their teeth, a condition known as fluorosis. However this is rare and normally only seen in areas where the water supply contains excess natural fluorides.
Prevention of Cavities
There have been a few improvements over the years that have reduced the number of cavities most people experience. In addition dentists have developed several techniques that have also helped out. One of these is topical fluoride application to the teeth (as noted above). |
Marie-France Muller, M.D., N.D., Ph.D.
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 Amounts higher than this are harmful and carry a risk of making the bones too fragile or too dense or of imparting a characteristic pigmentation of the teeth known as fluorosis. Ideally, fluorine should be taken as a component of naturally mineralized water, where it is in balance with all other colloidal trace elements. |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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| Levy adds that dental fluorosis is the one toxic side effect of fluoride that even its proponents acknowledge as real. "This condition reliably occurs whenever a large enough and long enough exposure to fluoride and its associated compounds occurs during the period when tooth enamel is actively forming," he says. "Teeth can become mottled and spotted, discolored, pitted, or even completely disfigured, depending upon the degree of fluoride exposure. |
Dr. John Yiamouyiannis
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| More than half of some of the teeth had crumbled away as the result of dental fluorosis. When asked whether she thought this constituted an adverse health effect of fluoride, the ADA spokesperson replied, "No," claiming the crumbling away of over half of one's tooth is not a health problem but merely a cosmetic problem.
The Environmental Protection Agency's National Drinking Water Advisory Council didn't buy the American Dental Association's story, refused to recommend raising the MCL and came close to recommending that it be lowered. |
| As devastating as the visible effects of dental fluorosis might appear, these damaged teeth are merely a reflection of the metabolic disturbances of soft tissue cells referred to as ameloblasts and odontoblasts. These teeth then become a permanent record that tooth-forming cells were poisoned during tooth development. There is no question that disruption of collagen, while not always visible, occurs in the teeth of all children drinking fluoridated water or taking fluoride supplements. Furthermore, many soft tissue cells do not produce collagen. |
| The 1983 Physicians' Desk Reference cautions: "Dental fluorosis [mottling] may result from exceeding the recommended dose. In hypersensitive individuals, fluorides occasionally cause skin eruptions such as atopic dermatitis, eczema, or urticaria. Gastric distress, headache, and weakness have also been reported. These hypersensitive reactions usually disappear promptly after discontinuation of the fluoride."
Many American physicians have observed these fluoride-induced diseases in their everyday practices.
Dr. William P. |
Ralph Golan, M.D.
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| Another consequence of fluoride toxicity is skeletal fluorosis, an abnormal bone and joint condition ranging from biochemical changes in the bone to a crippling disease.
Why should we fluoridate our water when the benefits are questionable and the risks are real? Why should we fluoridate when there is a general consensus that the amounts of fluoride considered to be toxic are only a fraction higher than the "anticavity" amounts considered to be safe? |
Dr. John Yiamouyiannis
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| Lennart Krook, Dean of Postgraduate Research at Cornell University examined the cattle on Cornwall Island and published his findings in the April 1979 Cornell Veterinarian and reported:
"Chronic fluoride poisoning in Cornwall Island cattle was manifested clinically by stunted growth and dental fluorosis to a degree of severe interference with drinking and mastication. Cows died at or were slaughtered after the third pregnancy. The deterioration of cows did not allow further pregnancies. |
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