Articles by Agnes K. Green, CN

To fluoridate or not to fluoridate

This was my testimonial submitted, per request of the Oregon Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, to the evidence table at the hearing of the City of Beaverton, OR, 2002.

Fluoridation is forced medication not prescribed for any disease and is administered to you without your informed consent or fact sheet warning you about the side effects. It is an untargeted form of supplementation, which means it's prescribed for everyone, children and the elderly, men/women in their prime and unborn babies. Once fluoride is put in the water it is impossible to control the dose each individual receives. As one doctor has aptly stated, "No physician in his right senses would prescribe for a person he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change". The widespread and indiscriminate use of fluoridation for the last fifty years has caused disfiguring dental fluorosis (yellow to brown teeth), an increase in hip fracture, arthritis, bone cancer, brain disorders and thyroid problems.

A great wealth of information has been compiled by scientists relevant to the dangers of fluoride supplementation. Just take a quick look at the following:

Fluoride is proven ineffective in the prevention of tooth decay

Over 39,000 children from 84 communities in the US tested by the National Institute of Dental Research showed little difference in tooth decay among children in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities. According to the NIDR's statisticians, the study found a difference of less than one tooth surface of the 128 surfaces in a child's mouth. Data from WHO (World Health Organization) Oral Health shows no practical difference in tooth decay between consumers of fluoridated and non-fluoridated water.

Fluoride is a highly unstable poison which interferes with enzymatic actions and metabolic functions in the body.

The FDA recognizes its poisonous nature by requiring a warning statement on fluoridated toothpaste to contact the Poison Control Center if swallowed. Fluoride affects us on a cellular level and brings about the uptake of poisonous metals such as lead, copper and aluminum while depleting the body of needed minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Fluoride consumption poses definite health hazards in a number of well documented ways which include but are not limited to dental fluorosis, osteoporosis, infertility, bone fractures, hypothyroidism (and all the subsequent problems related to this epidemic disorder such as depression, fatigue, weight gain, muscle and joint pains, increased cholesterol levels, heart disease and death. For more information please check the World Health Organization's fact sheets at http://www.who.int/en/

Young children, the elderly and low income families suffer the most from fluoride's toxic effects.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR, 1993) people particularly vulnerable to fluoride's toxic effects include: the elderly, diabetics and people with poor kidney function. Also at risk are manual laborers, athletes and other people who drink more water than most. Because other sources of fluoride include food and beverages processed with fluoridated water; fluoridated dental products, fluoridated chewing gums and pesticide residues on food, the group probably most likely to be exposed to excess fluoride is young children who drink the water, brush their teeth, chew gum and are made to take fluoride pills at school.

Also vulnerable are those who suffer from malnutrition (e.g. calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D and iodide deficiencies and protein poor diets) because fluoride may further deplete them of these nutrients. It is also the poor who are more likely to live in old housing with old plumbing from which fluoride can leach lead (see above). Lead has been conclusively linked to ADD/ADHD and other neurological disorders. 53% of our school age children are medicated for ADD/ADHD.

Fluoride in Pregnancy

Fluoride crosses the placenta and is stored in fetal tissues. We're therefore proposing to medicate unborn children who as yet have no teeth to get cavities in. The level of fluoride put into water (1 ppm) is 100 times higher than normally found in mothers' milk (0.01 ppm) (Institute of Medicine, 1997). Studies have shown that any possible dental benefits of fluoridation are non-existent until the permanent teeth come in. However, since infants in their first year of life consume a proportionately greater amount of food and water per body weight-doses of 0.5 mg or less can cause hemorrhages in their stomach and bowels, skin diseases and other serious disabilities.

Fluoride and Young Children

Waldbott showed that a newborn infant who died had stored large amounts of fluoride in his arteries, lungs, thymus, kidneys and heart. In 1978 a 27-month-old boy (A.J.B.) died due to a faulty estimate of the toxicity of fluoride. In 1979 the New York State Supreme Court jury awarded $750,000 to the parents of a 3-year-old boy who, on his first trip to the dentist was given a lethal dose of fluoride.

Fluoride and the Elderly

As regards osteoporosis, although fluoride can make bones more dense, it also makes them more brittle. There is a well established relationship between fluoride and bone fracture reported in the prestigious American Journal of Epidemiology, Annals of Epidemiology, Journal of the American Medical Association between 1990 and 1999 (call me for a full list). According to the Centers for Disease Control, 50 percent of the elderly who fracture their hip never return to their homes or regain an independent existence. 12 to 40% of the elderly who fracture a hip die within a year of the operation. It is estimated that the US currently spends $7 billion a year treating hip fracture alone. The cost of other associated disorders must be astronomical.

Fluoride and Alzheimers

Another effect of fluoride is that it can help facilitate the uptake of aluminum into tissues which would normally not absorb aluminum (conclusive link has been established between aluminum absorption and Alzheimers disease). For more information try the National Library of Medicine http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Nobel laureates for medicine and chemistry who have spoken against the use of fluoridation include Carlsson 2000, Natta 1963, Lederberg 1958, Semenov 1956, Sir Hinshelwood 1956, Theorell 1955, Hess 1949, Sir Robinson 1947, Sumner 1946, Virtanen 1945, Butenandt 1939, Heymans 1938, Murphy 1934, and Von Euler-Chelpin 1929.

Some countries which have forbidden or have never instituted fluoridation of drinking water: Belgium has recently forbidden all supplemental fluoridation, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Austria, Czech Republic, China and Japan.

The fluoride used in the water is not pharmaceutical grade but a dangerous waste byproduct of fertilizer manufacturing

The chemicals used to fluoridate our water (90% of which are sodium fluorosilicate and fluorosilicic acid), are classified hazardous wastes contaminated with toxic metals and trace amounts of radioactive isotopes. They are so corrosive that in concentrated amounts they eat through metal and 2" concrete. When they spill, the entire ground layer saturated with it must be removed to a toxic waste site. People involved in the fluoridation process, like people anywhere else, make mistakes. Machinery and equipment used for fluoridation, like any other, breaks down or fails to perform as per specifications. The most recent spill occurred on July 29, 2002 Macomb Co., Michigan. Around 3,000 gallons of a chemical known as hydrofluosilic acid was discovered leaking. Please take a look at these figures:

As it was with asbestos, benzene, DDT, PCBs, tetraethyl lead, tobacco and dioxins, so it is with water fluoridation. It is to be expected that people who make their livelihood and profits by manufacturing a product or providing a service do not want to give it up. However, that doesn't make their product or service necessary or even desirable.

More articles by Agnes

Blood sugar — Blood sugar levels crucial to maintaining a healthy body and mind

Cancer prevention — Eating tomatoes key to avoid cancer

FDA food pyramid — Eat your fats: the skinny on the new pyramid

Herbal medicine — Secret garden medicine: a medicinal walk through the garden

Male hormones— Vitality, vigor and virility: are we losing It?

Metabolic typing — Metabolic typing:the key to normalizing weight and improving metabolism

Nutrition & personality — Baby, is it really you? The connection between "personality" and nutritional deficiencies

Water fluoridation — To fluoridate or not to fluoridate