I’m not qualified to write this post.
I’m writing it regardless because I think that there’s no real debate about water fluoridation in spite of the massive clamouring going on. Like most respiring animals I do tend to drink water and I was also duly alarmed when music magazine and noted academic journal Hot Press went into overdrive about the issue of fluoridation this fortnight.
Fluoridation is clearly now more pertinent than Daft Punk’s upcoming album (featuring Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers!).
What’s Fluoridation For?
Keeps your teeth in top shape. It’s in toothpaste. Not one to take this information for granted I checked to see if this is true.
Since the 1940’s this has been consistently demonstrated to be the case. Water fluoridated areas have rates of dental decay 40%-70% lower than in areas with non-fluoridated water supplies. The World Health Organisation and numerous dental associations can be cited as supporters. Crucially there’s also 40 years of peer reviewed research that can be cited here.
Given that this hypothesis has been tested and peer reviewed for the last 60 years and shown to be consistently true I’m happy to take it for granted that my exponential dental bill and the extraction I suffered last November are the least of what I could have endured if it weren’t for fluoridation.
Poisoning the masses?
There’s a couple of reasons being mooted to stop fluoridation. In my reading and questioning I’ve not been impressed with Hot Press’s pieces nor Fluoride Free Water’s own presentation of the facts. So I tested them.
Toxicity
Fluoride is toxic. Vitamin C is also toxic. How? You have too much of anything and you’re in trouble.
The estimated toxic dose for fluoride ingestion is 5-10 mg/kg of body weight. So if I weigh 80 kilos (cough) I’d be in trouble (acute toxicity) with 400mg to 800mg.
In Irish water the volume of fluoride added to water is 0.6–0.8 ppm (parts per million) so worst case that’s 0.8 mg per litre of water. To start causing kidney damage you’d need to be consuming at least 500 litres per day.
The estimated lethal dose for small children 500 mg so to keep your kids safe don’t make them drink 500 litres of water and you might limit your adult intake to 400 litres per day.
The real elephant in the room is seafood which can contain up to 28 mg/kg. So I’d also be pretty poisoned if ate 28 kilos of cod…
In all seriousness tooth paste is probably something you shouldn’t let children eat as it can actually kill. There may be a point of view that if your child is inclined to eat toothpaste by the tube you’re in for an interesting couple of years anyway.
71%
According to Fluoride Free Water Ireland has a “shockingly high” level of fluoridation – 71%.
I work in PR and I know how to spin figures. This chart annoyed me as very shoddy propaganda. By relaying that a high amount of fluoride is toxic to then move and say that Ireland has 71% fluoridation is scaremongering. What is actually being said is that 71% of Ireland’s water supplies have homeopathic levels of fluoride (i.e. up 0.8ppm).
The graph also fallaciously implies that we’re the only country in Europe with this quantity of fluoride in water. There’s a lie here straight up in that it is highly unlikely that 0% of each of the countries listed don’t have fluoride in their water supplies. As a naturally occurring mineral it’s already in the water in many areas. (That and the figure for France is 10%).
One developed country missing off the graph is the USA. A little poking around the internet reveals that fluoridated water is available to 69% of the population.
Another key difference between Ireland and our cited European neighbours is that health care systems in many of these countries and the access to dental care is more comprehensive than here.
What am I missing? – Brain Rot…
The Hot Press piece did point me to a new point of view. Quoting a Dr. Grandjean – “fluorides are known to cause brain toxicity and neurological symptoms in humans” and fluoride substances are “known by 2012 to cause adverse effects on the human nervous system” [SIC].
The piece does not mention to what degree fluoride is a brain toxin. As I’ve demonstrated, if fluoride is causing brain damage to children we should be looking at sea food and toothpaste. The problem here is that if we ate less oily fish due to a “fluoride scare” we could be passing on a deluge of very real brain health problems to a generation of fatty acid starved children.
I’m going to pull a Socrates on this and say I don’t really know. I do know that there appears to be some serious fact bending on the part of the fluoridation nay sayers and this has to be held to account by someone.
Please correct me if you feel I’m not in the full picture but if you do correct me please give references to credible sources.
Epilogue
A few years ago a “scientist” spuriously associated the MMR vaccine with autism. Before his thesis could be tested by his peers he had caused enough panic for a generation of children to be left unvaccinated. Last Friday a 25 year old man died of measles in Swansea in an outbreak caused by his nonsense. Worth bearing in mind.
“fluorides are known to cause brain toxicity and neurological symptoms in humans”
Glutamate causes brain toxicity in high enough doses and it’s also a crucial neurotransmitter in mammalian central nervous systems. That kind of fudgery is often used by the anti-aspartame crowd, too.
All sorts of minerals cause hassle alright. I’ve a wonderful personal war with iron which is potentially aggravated by Vitamin C.
I hope it kills me so people can then be warned about the dangers of said vitamin.
Funnily enough, I refrained from buying a bottle of Robinsons fruit drink in the supermarket the other day (something I intended to drink with my bottled mineral water) until I realised it contained aspartame which I heard somewhere drys up the nads. Had a nice smoke on the way home though.
I dunno Tom, aspartame adds to and creates formaldehyde in your system. This reduces the ability of your cells to perform properly. Basically preserving them. Years of reading about it so I’m not looking up or referencing here. Besides someone would just reference to the opposite. Fluoride also has many more effects in your system / body, Including aiding the build up of Calcium in the body. you may have noticed all the public money spent on George lees programme about Calcium a couple of weeks ago which advised the whole population to get tested. but gave no helpful advice on how to reverse the effects. his friends company started advertising the Screening available in Ireland for only 169€ this week. nicely pulled off and paid for by our money. So I feel we would be better off not having the fluoride to aid this build up than have it. Brushing your teeth with toothpaste is enough and you get enough fluoride from foodstuffs as you already pointed out. So why add more?? Fluoride has also been linked to other health issues such as lung problems and dementia, both of which we are well up the poles in Europe. my point is this You could be right but do we really know? And if we don’t really know should we be adding it? Also people from specific regions like in Turkey can drink their spring water however always advise visitors do not due to the high mineral contents and because their diet does not suit this, I would address that argument to your French one and raise you the question! Where are all your references? Also they are dosing the older population with Calcium tablets for years, it is helpful for bones and muscles they say and your heart is a muscle. Yet now they offer screening for calcium build up in the veins an arteries. Hello?!? I know an elderly person who is on Wafren for the heart and is prescribed Calcium. Now they are moving him to dialysis to help clean his blood and reduce “mineral deposits and buildup” he will get injections and a machine to rent and more tablets and more hospital visits. And he is still to take the calcium tablet. EPILOGUE, I got him to take Apple Cider vinegar every day and half a spoon of coconut a day. One week later they said it was funny but his blood is fine now and he only needs to stay on his heart regime. Keep doing what you are doing. He gave up the Calcium tablets of his own volition the day he started the apple cider vinegar. Point is: haven’t got a flute what they are doing in government
Why add more? Fluoridation is a public health measure, a key part of the socialized health program that took off from the 1950s- and like vaccination, made a huge difference, especially to the poor. Saying, oh just clean your teeth, use toothpaste, ignores the reality of the disadvantaged who really need these public health measures.
The anti-fluoridation campaign is a right-wing assault on social health programs, funded by quacks and homeopaths (just check out the Girl Against Fluoride, also a qualified Angel Healer). It is basically a run-for-the-hills dont-trust-the-governmint conspiracy theory. Pure tin-foil hattery. I blogged about this here if you want references: http://skepteco.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/fluoridation-stealing-our-precious-bodily-fluids/
Yes Graham, and 10 years ago if I mentioned Bilderbergs I was a “Conspiracy Theorist” and 1 year ago if I said burn the bond holders I was just “Anti-governmint” funny spelling error! But today the bilderberg are a benign group of well meaning people meeting to discuss the less well offs woes and joined by our finance minister! Why is little old Ireland so important? And why does the IMF now say we should have burned some of the banks. Spin, that’s why Graham. And we are important because we own so much oil and gas. That’s why we need to be kept in a mental dull veil. Drink your Fluoride and enjoy the sleep! Of course it won’t do your teeth any good because it is topical and not systemic. So it causes fluorosis outside your gums and never enters your teeth. Placebo used for spin! And Tom 28 Ton of anything is bad for you! Very disappointed with your spin buddy! Also guys I really don’t care I just want what the last proponent against fluoride got! A nice pensionable job as head of the Fluoridation Board! Nuff said yeah? You can look that up yourselves!
Watch out for the chemtrailz Dave! and dont go outside without one of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS8dNzRhMgk
Yes Graham, and you know what they say about sarcasm! If your not even looking for the solution Graham, you are the problem!
Sorry about my Grammar but I failed English and hate correcting on the phone when I have so much to waffle about!
Also re. aspartame… our mild tourettes suffering daughter has a noticable increase in twitching when consuming ‘no added sugar’ ribena drinks with aspartame, I’ve cut out everything but (filtered) water and milk and notice she hardly twitches at all. There is something up with aspartame, there are no health benefits to it, so other than being a replacement for (also evil) added and excess sugars, there is no need to drink it, in the states there is a campaign under way to have aspartame added to average everyday milk, WHY?
FDA in US outlawed Aspartame twice and Donald Rumsfeld had it reinstated each time also.
I haven’t a notion about Aspartame to be honest. Ask me about fluoride 😉
Same principle, forced medication!
As you’ve said too much is bad. Over 40 % of kids now have fluorosis. (too much fluoride) How clever is that?
Hi Shane,
Thanks for the comment. “Over 40% of kids now have fluorosis” – can you tell me your source and to which geography it applies? As I mentioned in the post the amount of fluoride present in Irish drinking water is a fraction as to what can be ingested from other sources notably dental products and seafood. To deal with any problem of fluorosis effectively a whole host of factors need to be quantified and assessed as the amount of fluoride actually present in Irish drinking water is quite low compared to the amounts found in other sources.
Men of science have spoken passionately against fluoride and fluoridation. Phillipe Grandjean has remarked on the lack of good studies on fluoride’s affect on the brain. (though we’ve been putting it in the water for 60 years) Dean Burk called it public murder on a grand scale after heading a department at the American Cancer society and studying and working there for 34 years on groundbreaking lifesaving research. Aarvid Caarlson winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in medicine advised the government of Sweden and recommends pharmacologically active substances not be added to the environment. nor medication given to the public instead of the individual. He called it obsolete. “I am opposed to fluoridation because of the overwhelming evidence that fluoridation is not only potentially harmful but has already caused considerable, well-documented harm.” Albert Schatz, Ph.D., biochemistry, world-renowned discoverer of streptomycin (Oct., 1999)Toxic waste should not be diluted then dumped into the ground and the waterways (through mopping sprinklers, toilets, baths, and washing) and it certainly shouldn’t be used to grow food, prepare food, be in most beverages and in one of life’s necessities. Most of the world has stopped doing this. More people receive artificially fluoridated water in the United States than the rest of the world combined. It may be good for teeth at 1-3mg per day, but the dosage you get is probably higher. It affects the thyroid, the pineal, the brain, the kidneys, and the bones. There are no studies of fluoride in regards to dermal absorption though when looking at similar issues intake when showering or bathing is often even higher than when drinking. If we drink, eat, brush with, and bathe in fluoride what is our total intake? There are few or no studies on many of these issues, and that is why you are told so frequently that fluoridation is safe. Why are there no studies of this nature after 68 years of fluoridation? This is about more than just teeth. Men of science speak against this, but to find anything for it one must turn to agencies, organizations, and bureaucracies.
There is fluoride in most food:
from the USDA http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/Fluoride/F02.pdf
While daily intake of 1–3 mg of fluoride prevents dental caries, long-term exposure to higher amounts may have deleterious effects on tooth enamel and bone. from the world health organization. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/123075/AQG2ndEd_6_5Fluorides.PDF
“according to clinical research, the fluoride dose capable of reducing thyroid function was notably low-just 2-5 mg per day over several months” (Galetti & Joyce 1958) “this dose is well within the range (1.6 to 6.6 mg/day) of what individuals living in fluoridated communities are now estimated to receive on a daily basis.”
Fluoride is a neurotoxin http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/files/summit/48P%20Mundy%20TDAS.pdf
But don’t take my word for it. Read it yourself. It’s out there. If you are only skeptical about that which you are uncertain you are not using skepticism properly. Take out your beliefs and give them an airing out on occasion.
This style of journalism is ‘bandwagoning’ reporting. This journalist is basically a parasitic leech, feeding on the frenzy of ignorance and mob culture prevalent in society. His purpose is not to be socially responsible and encourage balanced debate, but rather to fuel the fire and further his own career. In the online world, this is otherwise known as ‘trolling’.
Sensible pragmatic thinking through the issue Tom ~ I for one am glad:
me teeth are still in me head,
not in a jar next to the bed
(like me granny and parents – at age 40+ something)
A lot of my friends who worried a lot about additives/food choices/conspiracies etc passed away in their 40s/50s…….maybe another topic for debate??
Chris