Fluoride in our water
On their May 21 ballot, Portland voters get the chance to choose whether or not their tap water will have fluoride added.
Though only Portland residents may vote, much of the surrounded metro area will be affected as well. That includes Gresham, Tigard and Tualatin, where residents receive Portland-supplied drinking water.
As defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fluorides are salts that form when the element Fluorine combines with minerals in soil or rocks. For several decades in the U.S., they have commonly been added to a city’s water supply to help prevent tooth decay.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started recognizing water fluoridation as a safe way to prevent tooth decay 65 years ago. In fact, the CDC even named the idea as one of the great public health achievements of the 20th century.
Reaction from MHCC students was mixed, however.
“As long as it doesn’t taste bad, I’m okay with it being there, especially if it helps our teeth,” said first-year student Rodney Allen.
No matter how well the government dresses up fluoridation, there are still many rumors circulating about the safety of people drinking fluoridated water, as noted by others on campus.
First-year Hailey Cromoga said, “I heard that it is really bad for you, something like it helps the teeth but may attack and hurt our bodies.“
According to some critics, fluoride is highly toxic and should be avoided wherever possible. Research cited this week in the Oregonian finds increased health risks when fluoridated water is passed through lead plumbing, which is still used in many older Portland-area homes.
“Well, think about it,” Cromoga said. “They (health experts) don’t want us swallowing toothpaste, but they want us swallowing fluoride?”
The CDC website says the amount of fluoride introduced in domestic water supplies is not large enough to cause any harm to the body. It reports that numerous tests show that its only effect is help the teeth, and no more.
But Allen wondered aloud, “Would it be good for the teeth after drinking the recommended eight cups of water (daily), or maybe even more?”
The CDC has done no such study on fluoridated water to date, however.
“No matter what is true or what isn’t, because of these rumors, I wouldn’t want my loved ones drinking it,” said Cromoga, unconvinced.
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the bottom line is that any chemical supplementation in a public water system violates a patient’s right to consent of medication.
it’s public… if i don’t want it in my water (regardless of what it is) you don’t get to put it in.
supplementation of anything, vitamins or other chemicals, is only safe when considered on an individual basis.
Fluoride and the Environment – Short Video, Updated http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EOKfZDeWDw (7:05) The science about fluoridation and the environment, updated with data about the Tualatin River. For greater depth, check out the long version. This was made by Howard Patterson, a local Biologist who has a Masters in Environmental Management, and a Professional Certificate in River Restoration, who worked for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and the West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.
3) Liability
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has never approved fluoride compounds for ingestion in the U.S. The FDA has written that fluoride is not a mineral nutrient and has labeled fluoride in water an uncontrolled use of an unapproved drug. In 1966, the FDA banned the sale of fluoride compounds intended to be taken internally by pregnant women. And yet, industrial fluoride is consumed by the general public in those 70% of all districts that artificially fluoridate water.
No Federal agency accepts liability for the unnatural fluoride infusions, The FDA wrote that added fluoride is a contaminant for regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA considers intentionally added fluoride a water additive, accepts no authority for its regulation, allows states and cities to fluoridate, but offers assistance in the use of chemicals certified by the private organization the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). The NSF denies liability for use of fluorides and does not publicly disclose all safety or effectiveness data for its use as a water additive nor does it perform toxicity testing. NSF labels fluoride in water a contaminant, as does the EPA, except when added purposely as an “additive”. But additives are chemicals that treat water for sanitation, not to treat humans through internal ingestion. Chemical supplier data sheets also place liability on the end user.
The CDC endorses the practice but shuns liability and regards fluoride in water as a supplement ingredient for teeth, which only the FDA is authorized to regulate. Water districts rely on state health departments for safe conditions of use but these departments are under the CDC and also refuse liability and assign liability to the cities and local authorities themselves who appear the least knowledgeable on the potential biological impacts of fluoride exposure on consumer health.
(2)
Unlike skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle requires extracellular calcium ion from the bloodstream to couple electrical excitation of the cell membrane with contraction of cardiac muscle fibres. Each time the heart contracts, calcium fluxes into the heart cells from the extracellular fluid. When the heart relaxes, the calcium is pumped back out of the cell allowing the fibrils to relax. Lowered extracellular calcium ion levels block contraction of the heart. Fluoride ingestion causes decreased activity of the free calcium ion with blockage of heart contractions.
A fluoride ion solution made in soft or distilled water has a higher chemical activity or chemical potential compared to the activity of the ion at the same concentration when accompanied with calcium or magnesium in solution. Industrial fluoride in drinking water can cause GI distress in human subgroups because fluoride converts to HF in the stomach. As HF, fluoride gains entry into the bloodstream. Even at low concentrations, HF can aggravate and prevent healing of ulcerated tissue. In the acidic environment of the stomach, 96% of fluoride is present as HF. Lower concentrations of HF can cause pain without visible damage. Human case studies proved that abdominal discomfort occurs from drinking 1 ppm artificially fluoridated water. In a careful placebo controlled double blind clinical study, 1 ppm fluoridated water caused GI discomfort in 7% of subjects. The more elderly the person with slower gastric mucosa turnover, the more likely symptoms can develop. In the presence of ulceration or gastric carcinoma, industrial fluoridated water must be avoided.
Fluoride at any concentration forms abnormal inter-atomic hydrogen bonding (H+- -F-) and disrupts normal intermolecular hydrogen bonding (H+- -N or H+- -O) in water and macromolecules. It is a general enzyme inhibitor in some cases at 0.2 ppm , the blood level reported in residents of 1 ppm fluoride water areas.
Assimilation of industrial fluoride from water into the bloodstream in humans can be seemingly well-tolerated for long time periods because bone efficiently traps the fluoride to minimize exposure to soft tissues. Bone is the final resting site for 95% of all retained fluoride.
Fluoride accumulates from consumption in a 1 ppm fluoride water region, in the absence of other known sources, to 2,500 mg/kg in two years and to 3-4,000 mg/kg lifetime. Bone weakening occurs around 3,500 mg/kg. Before bone weakening occurs, the abnormal incorporation of fluoride that is irreversible affects calcium whole body metabolism.
Fluoride ion has no functional purpose in the normal cell, when present it binds to calcium and magnesium ions affecting their chemical activity. Since fluoride is not a normal bodily component, there are no endocrine mechanisms to mobilize fluoride from bone after binding.It is not surprising that fluoride cannot be removed from bone. As an insidious poison, it can affect calcium homeostasis as it accumulates during lifelong exposure.The accumulation can slowly progress from bone weakening to arthritis-type bone pain and, in some regions of the world with high endemic fluoride in water, to total immobility.
Once fluoride enters the bloodstream and then bone tissue, its chemistry is pathologic since the fluoride has entered the sanctity of a living organism. As bone becomes loaded with fluoride over the lifetime of exposed individuals the continuous consumption of fluoride with reduced binding sites available in bone can cause accumulation in soft tissues, including brain in ligaments, tendons, and aorta. Fluoride from consumption in water is found in all tissues but concentrates in bone, thyroid, aorta, kidney, and pineal gland in the Brain.
Long term exposure appears to decrease IQ in children even from natural fluoride in water. Alum used as a clarifying agent in public water systems produces residual aluminum ion (~0.05 mM). Fluoride complexes with aluminum in the acidic stomach and is assimilated. Binding of aluminum to abnormal brain proteins in Alzheimer’s and in mammals that causes pathologic effects indicates caution in consuming aluminum fluoride from water in the presence of brain abnormality. There are no cures for either bone fluorosis or brain degeneration.
Systemic fluoride at sub-acute levels incorporates into atherosclerotic plaque in coronary vessels of cardiovascular disease patients directly revealed with PET scans in a study at the Veterans Administration Healthcare Center, Los Angeles. Fluoride is accumulated by the aorta and concentrations increase with age that reflect calcification that occurs in this artery [16], again the extent determined by water hardness and all sources of fluoride exposure. Chronic ingestion of sub-acute concentrations of fluoride from drinking water weakens heart muscle in animal studies and can cause alterations in heart function in humans. Per capita cardiovascular deaths increased after Grand Rapids, MI and Newburgh, NY began industrial fluoridation (U.S.P.H.S. Congressional Record, Mar 24, 1952). 1,059 heart disease deaths yearly occurred in 1948 in Grand Rapids, MI after 3 years of fluoridation but 585 yearly before fluoridation; N.Y. News, Jan 27, 1954 reported after 9 years fluoridation in Newburgh NY 882 heart deaths per 100,000, 74% above the National average. Increased incidence of EKG abnormalities was reported to occur in patients having tooth fluorosis in high natural fluoride areas.
WOW- this News just published, some scary stuff !
Physiologic Conditions Affect Toxicity of Ingested Industrial Fluoride
Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Volume 2013, Article 43940 2013 by Richard Sauerheber, B.A. Biology, Ph.D. Chemistry, University of California,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/43940
Here is a summary of the main findings, to view the article in its entirety please access the link above.
Synthetic industrial fluoride compounds lack calcium and are listed toxic substances. The fluoride compounds, sodium fluoride NaF and fluorosilicic acid H2SiF6, added into municipal water for human ingestion purposes are synthesized artificially by industrial reaction and have been used as rodenticides, insecticides, and pediculicides, with acute oral lethal doses in experimental animals comparable to arsenic and lead. Controlled human clinical trials for safety and effectiveness have never been completed with water treated with either sodium fluoride or fluorosilicic acid.
Fluorosilicic acid is not a source for fluoride in any natural water supply. The use of fluorosilicic acid introduces substances that do not belong in normal fresh water supplies. Its infusion adds three substantial ingredients that are not components of pristine fresh drinking waters namely fluoride, silicic acid and sodium unlike natural fluoride in water which is always accompanied with calcium dissolved salts.
Industrial fluoride added to drinking water forms intact corrosive hydrofluoric acid under acidic conditions that prevail in the stomach of man and animals. Ingested fluoride from water enters the bloodstream as an artificial component, not a normal constituent, and disrupts inter-molecular hydrogen bonding and forms inter-atomic hydrogen bonding. Fluoride influences calcium homeostasis. Calcium homeostasis or calcium metabolism is the mechanism by which the body maintains adequate calcium levels.
The decision to infuse industrial fluoride compounds into public water supplies to permeate the blood and organs of consumers with fluoride as an ingested dental prophylactic was an error that resulted in serious consequences. Insidious effects that can occur on musculoskeletal, neurologic, renal, reproductive, and endocrine systems from long-term ingestion of fluoride in water emphasize the seriousness of fluoridation particularly in soft water regions lacking antidote calcium.
Toxicity of Industrial Fluorides The fluoride that is absorbed into the bloodstream arises chiefly from public water supplies. But substantial amounts are assimilated also from foods, toothpaste , mouth rinses, some bottled waters and fluoridated drugs. Fluoride is not a normal constituent of the mammalian bloodstream, It has no nutritive value or physiologic function but has been believed by some to be useful for teeth based on an initial correlation with natural calcium fluoride in drinking water. Calcium fluoride CaF2 is found in natural minerals and is not labelled toxic. Natural fluoride is accompanied with antidote calcium to prevent acute lethality and reduce chronic toxicity. Blood-borne fluoride regardless of source is neurotoxic and should be avoided from any source by individuals with neurologic conditions such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease.
Natural calcium fluoride is considered insoluble while Industrial synthetic fluorides are fully soluble and are all toxic calcium chelators. Calcium chelators are molecules that bind calcium and cover the ion in a way that it is no longer available for cellular metabolism. Industrial fluorides are completely absorbed by the body but natural fluoride minerals (CaF2) are poorly absorbed. Soft waters with low calcium levels allow more efficient absorption of fluoride while hard water regions are more protected from fluoride assimilation. Fluoride toxicity thus depends on its environment.
Although large populations are reported to safely consume 1 ppm fluoride in water for long periods of time, this is when it exists naturally as calcium fluoride at this level.The assimilation of ingested fluoride is drastically minimized by calcium ion in the gastrointestinal tract. This would suggest that individuals with higher blood calcium would be more resistant to fluoride toxicity and individuals with lower blood calcium levels would be less resistant to fluoride toxicity. The reported adverse consequences of adding fluoride lacking calcium into public water supplies include effects on man, animals, and the environment. Ingested industrial fluoride incorporates chiefly into bone with an ion exchange process that is irreversible and thus not physiologic.
Fluoride associates with positive charged ions in particular aluminum, calcium, and iron. Thus, its toxicity depends on the environment in which it resides.
Fluoride tends to associate with and bind calcium ion. Calcium is concentrated throughout the body including teeth, bones, ligaments, aorta, skeletal muscle, and brain. The most crucial physiologic function requiring calcium that is sensitive to industrial fluoride at acute levels is the beating heart.(continued below)
The “research” about lead pipes was probably just another rumor. The minor amount of acidity added by fluorosilicic acid would be adjusted for BEFORE water leaves the water treatment plant.
Fluorosilicic acid also breaks down into water, a bit of sand (silica), and fluoride ions BEFORE it leaves the water treatment plant, so all the people would get is a few more fluoride ions in tap water. These fluoride ions are exactly like those already found in ground water.
So some want you to rely on the government to specify a drug (Hexafluorosilicic acid) for you to be forced to take. It is the only drug on the market not tested and approved as safe and effective for human consumption ( in the USA) by the FDA.
50% of fluoride consumed is retained in the body, in the bones and in the brain resulting in cancer, thyroid & pineal gland damage, broken hips from brittle bones, lowered IQ, kidney disease, arthritis and other serious health problems.
Fluorosilicic acid (FSA), which is added in minute amounts to community water, is not the responsibility of the FDA. FSA adds a few fluoride ions to water.
Fluoridation comes under the EPA, and the EPA considers it safe for people and the environment.
High doses of fluoride, like those found in toothpaste, are under FDA authority. Just like small levels of another nutrient mineral calcium in community water are under the EPA, but high doses of calcium (like those used to manage, for example, heart rhythm) are under the FDA.
Six systematic reviews (the gold standard in science) have reviewed thousands of studies and found fluoridation safe and not associated with any medical problems.
The “gold Standard” in scientific research is the double blind controlled clinical trial. According to CDC, it si impossible to evaluate fluoridation using controlled trials, so the research is substandard
see: Community Water Fluoridation
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5014a1.htm
you mean the same respectable EPA that ran the Minerals Management fiasco?… there is zero reason TO trust the government when it comes to something a doctor should be telling you whether you need or not…