"Fluoride appears to have the potential to initiate or promote
cancers, particularly of the bone...," according to the most recent
and extensive review of fluoride toxicology by the prestigious
National Research Council (NRC). (1)
Fluoride chemicals are added to about 70% of public water supplies
ostensibly to reduce tooth decay, not to purify the water.
In 2006, the NRC found the.The Environmental Protection Agency's
Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) for fluoride is too high to be
protective of health (4 mg/L) and must be lowered. EPA scientists have
been saying this since 1986; but EPA management caved to political
pressure and over-ruled its scientists. EPA is long overdue in
revising fluoride's MCLG based on the 2006 NRC Fluoride Report, which
was done at EPA's request.
According to Bill Hirzy, PhD, retired EPA scientist, "Since 1986 the
[EPA HQ professionals] union has taken exception to EPA’s unscientific
approach to dealing with the toxicity of fluoride in order to protect
the USPHS [Public Health Service] program of national water
fluoridation." (2)
Hirzy writes, "When I last spoke with the Division Director
responsible for that risk assessment he told me EPA was waiting for a
paper, promised three years ago by its principal first author, that
would counter an epidemiology study done under that very author’s
direction at Harvard."
Hirzy is talking about a published peer-reviewed study by Bassin (2a)
which links fluoridation to osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Chester
Douglass, Bassin's Harvard University advisor and, at that time,
employee of Colgate (sellers of fluoridated dental products) signed
off on Bassin's work. But, Douglass told the NRC panel that no such
study existed, according to the Environmental Working Group.(3)
The whole fluoridation program appears to rest upon the shoulders of
Chester Douglass whose much anticipated osteosarcoma/fluoridation
research has yet to be published even though it was promised years
ago, costing tax payers millions of dollars.
But, there's more evidence linking fluoride to osteosarcoma (See:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/osteosarcoma.html ) and
loads of evidence linking fluoride to adverse health effects - even at
low doses added to public (and some bottled) water supplies (See:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/ )
At least three members of the NRC fluoride panel believe the MCLG for
fluoride should be zero.
In a different study, Ramesh and colleagues propose that high fluoride
bone content might have been one of the major factors causing
osteosarcoma in people living in India where water supplies are often
high in natural fluoride (Journal of Environmental Pathology,
Toxicology and Oncology, 2001) (5)
The high levels of bone fluoride levels and the similarity of the
mechanisms of action between fluoride-induced DNA damage and
chemically-induced p53 mutations lead us to propose that high fluoride
bone content might have been one of the major factors causing
osteosarcoma, they write.
Mutations in the p53 genes are the most commonly observed genetic
alterations in human cancer. Ramesh concludes that fluoride probably
causes mutations in p53.
In another study published in the July 2001 "Journal of Epidemiology,"
Takahashi and colleagues write, "The likelihood of fluoride acting as
a genetic cause of cancer requires consideration." (4)
Takahashi's team report that the National Cancer Institute provided
epidemiological evidence of a relation between cancer incidence and
water fluoridation in 1987. These findings provoked a 1990 National
Toxicology Program (NTP) study that determined fluoride could be a
cancer-causing agent.
The NTP study "supplied a detailed description of the toxicology of
fluoride, not only in terms of osteosarcoma, but also lesions in the
oral mucosa, thyroid gland, skin and uterus...(which) prompted us to
re-test the hypothesis of an epidemiological association between water
fluoridation and cancer incidences...", wrote Takahashi who found
fluoridation status positively correlates to cancers of the oral
cavity, pharynx, colon, rectum, hepato-bilary & urinary organs and
bone cancer in males.
Such a broad spectrum association has never been observed for any
particular known carcinogen, but it may be reasonable for fluoride,
because of its strong electronegative nature, the authors explain.
Some studies, e.g., Hoover (1976) and Knox (1985) claim no credible
fluoridation/cancer association exists. However, Takahashi and co-
authors found the Hoover/Knox assessments flawed, and explain why in
their paper.
After ten years of water fluoridation, children aged 7-18 in Newburg,
N.Y., had more cortical bone defects than the non-fluoridated control
city, Kingston. And more osteosarcoma occurred in young males in
fluoridated portions of New Jersey. ... these two facts may be
connected pathophysiologically, Takahashi reports.
An April 2009 research paper (Biological Trace Element Research)
reports blood fluoride levels were significantly higher in patients
with osteosarcoma than in control groups. Sandhu and colleagues
measured serum fluoride levels in three equal groups of age-matched
and sex-matched patients. Group one had osteosarcoma; group two had
non-osteosarcoma bone tumors; and group three had musculo-skeletal
pain. (6)
“Mean serum fluoride concentration was found to be significantly
higher in patients with osteosarcoma as compared to the other two
groups,” write Sandhu’s team. “(T)his report proves a link between
raised fluoride levels in serum and osteosarcoma,” they write.
Take action to end fluoridation here: http://congress.FluorideAction.Net
More information about fluoride and cancer:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/
References:
1) Fluoride in Drinking Water:A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11571
2) Science Progress "Dude, Where’s My War on Science? An Attack on
EPA’s Policy Process Fails Peer Review."
Comment #7 by Bill Hirzy
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/07/dude-wheres-my-war-on-science/
2a) Bassin EB, Wypij D, Davis RB, Mittleman MA. (2006). Age-specific
Fluoride Exposure in Drinking Water and Osteosarcoma (United States).
Cancer Causes and Control 17: 421-8.
3) Environmental Working Group "Harvard Fluoride Findings
Misrepresented?"
http://www.ewg.org/node/8761
(4) J Epidemiol. 2001 Jul;11(4):170-9.Regression analysis of cancer
incidence rates and water fluoride in the U.S.A. based on IACR/IARC
(WHO) data (1978-1992). International Agency for Research on Cancer,
by Takahashi K, Akiniwa K, Narita K.
(5) J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol. 2001;20(3):237-43.
Low levels of p53 mutations in Indian patients with osteosarcoma and
the correlation with fluoride levels in bone, by
Ramesh N, Vuayaraghavan AS, Desai BS, Natarajan M, Murthy PB, Pillai
KS.
6) Biological Trace Element Research, “Serum Fluoride and Sialic Acid
Levels in Osteosarcoma,” by Sandhu R, Lal H, Kundu ZS, Kharb S, Apr
24, 2009 [published online]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19390788
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