Fluoride

Are We Overexposed?

Fluoride is one of the most common, and one of the most controversial, elements added to North American water supplies. Water fluoridation began in Canada over 50 years ago, as a preventative dentistry program, intent on curbing levels of dental decay, especially in children. But, recent scholarship has questioned the effectiveness of such measures, and their associated risks. Prominent health and dentistry experts are now speaking out about these public programs, claiming them to be outdated, ill informed, and a culprit in public overexposure to fluoride.

The 1984 issue of Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products lists fluoride as “more poisonous than lead and just slightly less poisonous than arsenic.” A high level of ingested fluoride is extremely dangerous. That is why fluoridated products carry warnings advising against ingestion.

Perhaps most distressing, however, is the source of the fluorides used in the treatment of water. Municipalities rely on industrial grade silicofluorides to fluoridate water. Silicofluorides are a by-product of the phosphate industry. They are industrial wastes that often contain trace amounts of other harmful elements, including lead and arsenic, which are known carcinogens.

Dr. Hardy Limeback, head of preventative dentistry at the University of Toronto has publicly challenged the effectiveness of water fluoridation in our communities. He alerts that preventative effects of fluoride use come only from topical applications in the form of toothpastes and rinses. He stresses that ingesting fluoridated substances have resulted in a sharp rise in the condition of dental fluorosis. This is irreversible damage to the enamel coating on our teeth. Ingested fluoride attacks the cells that create enamel, causing the tooth to become discoloured, porous, and susceptible to chipping, pitting, and fracturing.

Dr. Limeback also argues that teeth and bones are not the only collectors of fluoride in our bodies. Soft tissues in the body also retain these additives. Our kidneys are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of fluoride, as they process and remove up to 50 percent of the amounts we ingest. Scientific studies have suggested a link between long-term exposure to elevated fluoride levels and higher incidences of cancers and renal diseases.

Additionally, as the centre of anti-oxidant defense in our bodies, bone marrow is also susceptible to this accumulation. As fluoride becomes stored in our bones, it decreases the efficiency of immune response processes. Fluoride found in bone marrow blocks the release of white blood cells, which are our body’s mechanism for attacking infection and foreign cell invasion. In 2006, the National Research Council published a report, which confirmed that high levels of fluoride in our bone marrow could inhibit or impair our ability to fight off disease and illness. Researchers studying fluoride tissue levels in patients living in fluoridated areas have found distortions in the body’s proteins resulting in autoimmune or allergic responses. These findings further suggested that immuno-compromised individuals with high levels of fluoride stored in their marrow are at an even greater risk of illness.

Fluoride accumulation also has drastic effects on our neurological functions. Fluoride accumulates in the brain’s pineal gland. This small gland stores the largest concentration of the fluoride we consume. Fluoride build up in the pineal gland alters hormonal balances in our bodies, by accelerating this gland’s production of melatonin. According to the National Research Council, “Recent information on the role of the pineal organ in humans suggests that any agent that affects pineal function could affect human health in a variety of ways, including effects on sexual maturation, calcium metabolism, parathyroid function, postmenopausal osteoporosis, cancer, and psychiatric disease.”

According to a recent study conducted at Harvard Medical School, Eastman Dental Center, Iowa State University and Forsythe Research Institute, fluoride carries the potential for “motor dysfunction, IQ deficits and/or learning disabilities in humans.” This could, in part, be due to the ability of fluoride to interfere with enzyme activity at even moderate doses.

Of further concern is the suspected relationship between
fluoride and Alzheimer’s Disease. Fluoride readily attaches to aluminium compounds, which are added to water supplies to ensure clarity at the tap. An international study on the neurotoxicity of fluoride stated
that individuals exposed to high levels of industrial fluoride, “reported symptoms related to impaired central nervous system functioning with impaired cognition and memory.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked fluoridation as one of the top ten health achievements of the 20th century. Fluoride is portrayed as an innocuous mineral that strengthens teeth and bones. But fluoride is not safe for everyone. In fact, the individuals for whom fluoridation was purportedly established, children under 12, seem to be the most at risk for toxic side effects from this mineral. The Canadian Dental Association, in its revised guidelines, states that there is “...weak scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of fluoride supplements. The use of fluoride supplements before the eruption of the first permanent tooth is generally not recommended.”

In his 1959 broadcast on CBC Radio, Gordon Sinclair, one of Canada’s most outspoken, and long-standing opponents to water fluoridation, stated, “If fluoride is useful in protecting some children’s teeth, some of the time, why are we adding this medication to the water supply for all of the people, all of the time?” His objection to enforced consumption of fluoride was based on the fact that as a free citizen of a country that embraces a democratic process, he had a moral objection to being fed a medication, against his will, through the water supply.

Even in light of scientific evidence that we, as a population, are ingesting too much fluoride, Mr. Sinclair’s cries still fall on deaf ears. Fluoride has become as much a political issue as it is a health issue. Municipalities that are currently fluoridating water supplies are not likely to cease in the practice at any time soon. Fortunately, even though we cannot stop this practice, we can control the amount of fluoride we ingest by opting for purified water sources. Fluoride can be removed in our own homes by using water filtration systems, designed to eliminate exactly this sort of unwanted and unnecessary additive.