Fluoride may or may not be beneficial to tooth health. If it is, then shouldn't it be just in toothpaste, and not also in drinking water? What we swallow goes through our organs, notably the kidneys.
The issue of tooth health aside, is it worth these health risks and potential harm to our organs when we ingest the toxic waste?
Here are just some of the potential health threats from fluoride in our diets and our water: arthritis, skeletal fluorosis, thyroid dysfunction, and kidney damage. Immunosuppressed individuals should not drink fluoridated water.
Arthritis Symptoms and Fluoride
“It’s well-known in the endemic fluorosis areas that the first sign of skeletal fluorosis is aching joints,” according to Dr. Hardy Limeback, Professor of Dentistry, U of Toronto, a member of a 2006 National Research Council panel on fluoride toxicity, and former President of the Canadian Association of Dental Research, in an interview segment in the brilliant and thorough 28-minute video, Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation
“Fluoride causes symptoms identical to arthritis.” According to Dr. Robert Carton, Past President of the EPA union, in an interview in Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation.
“Early stages of [skeletal fluorosis]… may be misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis,” according to the World Health Organization’s 1970 report, Fluoride and Human Health (pp. 238-249)
Thyroid Disfunction and the Role of Fluoride
Fluoride was used to suppress thyroid function in hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid) patients in Europe in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Some studies show that the so-called “trace amounts” found in municipal drinking water is enough to suppress the thyroid. This is not good news for healthy adults, nor is it good news for hypothyroid patients (people whose thyroid functions are already underactive).
According to Dr. William Hirzy, Vice President of the EPA Union in the Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation video, “The large number of people who have hypothyroidism, underactive thyroid, may very well be related to the fact that there is so much fluoride in the environment.”
“A hypothyroid individual should definitely be concerned about drinking fluoridated water because it would take a very serious clinical condition and it could make it even worse,” warns Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, PhD, the former Head of the Toxicology Department of the Forsyth Dental Center in Boston, a world-renowned dental research institution affiliated with the Harvard Medical School. (Interview segment in Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation video).
Low thyroid function is a contributor to depression in many people.(1).jpg)
Kidney Disease Patients at Risk to Accumulate Fluoride in the Body
Kidney patients generally drink more water but are unable to flush toxins very well, including fluoride.
According to Dr. Kathleen M. Thiessen, PhD. in genetics, "There were papers in the 1970s describing skeletal fluorosis in kidney patients, partly because of the high consumption of water and partly, probably, because of the reduced clearance of fluoride." (July 29, 2006 interview concerning her review of the toxicological literature on fluoride with Micheal Connett of Fluoride Action Network)
Immunocompromised Should Drink Pure Water
If fluoride is a neurotoxin, then it is reasonable to assert that infants, elderly, and the immunocompromised should not be drinking fluoridated water. Fluoride is not safe for anyone to ingest, especially the questionable amounts of untreated toxic waste that is added to the drinking water at the city level.
Virtually no studies have been conducted on the connection of fluoride and immune functions. However, "from an immunologic standpoint, individuals who are immunocompromised ... could be at greater risk of the immunologic effects of fluoride.” p 258, Review of 2006 USNRC report on Scientific Review of EPA's Standards of Fluoride in Drinking Water (National Research Council)
More Info on Fluoride
To find out more about who is at risk from fluoridated water, where fluoride comes from, and other health risks of fluoride, see the following articles:
- Research on the Dangers of Fluoride in Tap Water
- Fluoride in Tap Water Unsafe for Children, Adults, Elderly, and Immunocompromised
- Ten articles on recent Research on Fluoride
- Professional Perspectives video. This is the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) website. FAN is "an international coalition seeking to broaden public awareness about the toxicity of fluoride compounds and the health impacts of current fluoride exposures."
Watch the video! The 28-minute video is thorough, engaging, and informative. There are a dozen professionals with mini-interview sound bites explaining why fluoride is not all it's cracked up to be. Watch the Professional Perspectives video on FAN's homepage.
Find out about other contaminants in tap water and associated health risks
- Who is immunocompromised and their greater risk of drinking tap water. Babies are immunocompromised, as their immune system is immature.
- Information about how to obtain a Drinking Water Quality Report from your city, also known as the Consumer Confidence Report
- Filter your water at home with the most advanced technology for residential water purification: Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration. This article lists contaminants removed and gives info about other filtration options.
See more articles on water and health and contaminants in drinking water in the Twin Cities by Angela Schnaubelt, Twin Cities Water Examiner.
Reader comments are strongly encouraged, so feel free to comment below. Thanks!
Comments
There are many reasons to oppose fluoridation of water systems:
1. Government should not dictate that everyone must take a chemical against their will.
2. It is insanely inefficient with 99.5% of fluoridated water going down the drain in toilets, washing machines.
3. It is not effective in reducing cavities. Most countries in Europe no longer fluoridate water systems. They are 98% fluoride free, yet the World Health Organization reports that nine of those countries have better cavity rates than any fluoridated country.
4. The toxic waste fluoride chemical, Hydrofluorosilicic Acid, is collected from the smokestacks of companies and sold to communities to dump in water systems.
5. The main reason to oppose fluoridation is the very severe health problems it causes, 50% builds up in the bones, brain, and glands. Research on bone cancer in young boys published in April 2009 in a prestigious scientific journal confirms two previous studies.
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