Flouride and the Thyroid--watch out!

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November 04, 2003Fluoride and the Thyroid Explored, With Dr. PeatfieldDr. Barry Durrant-Peatfield wrote to me recently to share his thoughts regarding the fluoride issue. He agreed to share his thoughts with my readers here at the site. "As you know, Thyroid UK had a Thyroid Awareness Week last week and apart from the first and successful conference, we handed in a petition to the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, at 10 Downing St, protesting against his proposed nationwide fluoridation of our water supplies, in view of especial damage to thyroid sufferers. We are however pretty sure that it ended up in the very large waste bin in the fine and ornate entrance hall.I don't believe that thyroid sufferers are sufficiently aware of the dangers of fluoride intake and I thought it might be helpful to expand on this issue. It is an enzyme poison. Enzymes are complex protein compounds that vastly speed up biological chemical reactions while themselves remaining unchanged. As you read this, there is occurring in all of us a vast multitude of these reactions to maintain life and produce the energy to sustain it. The chains of amino acids that make up these complex proteins are linked by simple compounds called amides; and it is with these that fluorine molecules react, splitting and distorting them, thus damaging the enzymes and their activity. Let it be said at once, this effect can occur at extraordinary low concentrations; even lower than the one part per million, which is the dilution proposed for fluoridation in our water supply. Moreover, fluorides are cumulative and build-up steadily with ingestion of fluoride from all sources, which include not just water but the air we breathe and the food we eat. The use of fluoride toothpaste in dental hygiene and the coating of teeth are further sources of substantial levels of fluoride intake. The body can only eliminate half of the total intake, which means that the older you are the more fluoride will have accumulated in your body. Inevitably this means the ageing population is particularly targeted. And even worse for the very young there is a major element of risk in baby formula made with fluoridated water and the extreme sensitivity of the very young to fluoride toxicity makes this unacceptable. Since there are so many sources of fluoride in our everyday living, it will prove impossible to maintain an average level of 1ppm as is suggested. What is the result of these toxic effects? First the immune system. The distortion of protein structure causes the immune proteins to fail to recognise body proteins, and so instigate an attack on them, which is Autoimmune Disease. Autoimmune diseases constitute a body of disease processes troubling many thousands of people: R/A, SLE, Asthma, Systemic Sclerosis are examples; but in my particular context today, thyroid antibodies will be produced which will cause Thyroiditis resulting in the common hypothyroid disease, Hashimoto's Disease and the hyperthyroidism of Graves' Disease. Musculoskeletal damage results further from the enzyme toxic effect; the collagen tissue of which muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are made, is damaged. Rheumatoid illness, osteoporosis and deformation of bones inevitably follow. This toxic effect extends to the ameloblasts making tooth enamel, which is consequently weakened and then made brittle; and its visible appearance is of course dental fluorosis. The enzyme poison effect extends to our genes; DNA cannot repair itself, and chromosomes are damaged. Work at the University of Missouri showed genital damage, targeting ovaries and testes. Also affected is inter uterine growth and development of the foetus, especially the nervous system. And increased incidence of Down's Syndrome has been documented. Fluorides are mutagenic. That is, they can cause the uncontrolled proliferation of cells we call cancer. This applies to cancer anywhere in the body; but bones are particularly picked out. The incidence of osteosarcoma in a study reporting in 1991 showed an unbelievable 50% increase. A report in 1955 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 400% increase in cancer of the thyroid in San Francisco during the period their water was fluoridated. What concerns me so deeply is that in concentrations as low as 1ppm, fluorides damage the thyroid system on 4 levels. 1. The enzyme manufacture of thyroid hormones within the thyroid gland itself. The process by which iodine is attached to the amino acid tyrosine and converted to the two significant thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3), is slowed. 2. The stimulation of certain of the G proteins whose function is to govern uptake of substances into each of the cells of the body, from the toxic effect of fluoride, has the effect of switching off the uptake into the cell of the active thyroid hormone. 3. The thyroid control mechanism is compromised. The thyroid stimulating hormone output from the pituitary gland is inhibited by fluoride, thus reducing thyroid output of thyroid hormones. 4. Fluoride competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland which respond to the thyroid stimulating hormone; so that less of this hormone reaches the thyroid gland and so less thyroid hormone is manufactured. These damaging effects, all of which occur with small concentrations of fluoride, have obvious and easily identifiable effects on thyroid status. The running down of thyroid hormone means a slow slide into hypothyroidism. Already the incidence of hypothyroidism is increasing as a result of other environmental toxins and pollution together with wide spread nutritional deficiencies. One further factor should occasion us deep anxiety. Professor Hume of Dundee, Scotland, in his paper given earlier this year to the Novartis Foundation, pointed out that iodine deficiency was growing worldwide. 141 million Europeans are at risk; only 5 European countries are iodine sufficient. The UK now falls into the marginal and focal category. (I do not know what the statistics are for the USA.) He recently produced figures to show that 40% of pregnant women in the Tayside region of Scotland were deficient by at least half of the iodine required for a normal pregnancy. A relatively high level of missing, decayed, filled teeth was noted in this non-fluoridated area, suggesting that the iodine deficiency was causing early hypothyroidism which interferes with the health of teeth. Dare one speculate on the result of now fluoridating the water? These figures would be worrying enough, since they mean that iodine deficiency, which results in hypothyroidism (thyroid hormone cannot be manufactured without iodine) is likely to affect huge numbers of people. What makes it infinitely worse, is that fluorine, being a halogen, chemically related to iodine but very much more active, displaces iodine. So that the uptake of iodine is compromised by the ejection, as it were, of the iodine by fluorine. To condemn an entire population, already having marginal levels of iodine, to inevitable progressive failure of their thyroid system by fluoridating the water, borders on criminal lunacy. I would like to place a scenario in front of those who favour fluoridation. A new pill is marketed. Some trials, not all together satisfactory, nevertheless show a striking improvement in dental caries. Unfortunately, it has been found to be thyrotoxic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive, cause arthritis and infertility in comparatively small doses over a relatively short period of time. Do you think it should be marketed? Fluoridation of a nation's water supply will do little for dental health; but will have catastrophic affects on general health. We cannot, must not, dare not, subject nations to this appalling risk. The legislation for the UK is at the moment being hammered through the House of Commons and we here greatly fear that fluoridation of our water supply will be made law by decree. So we continue to fight tooth and claw. If the measure is passed through the House of Commons, a number of MPs have announced they will take the government to court. So there is hope yet... Kind regardsBarry PeatfieldFOR MORE INFORMATION ON FLUORIDE AND THE THYROID

Fluoride: Hidden Danger in Your Drinking Water and Toothpaste

Fluoride and Thyroid Disease / With Drs. and Karilee Shames When Fluoridation Ends - So Do Cavities

Avoiding Common Thyroid Pitfalls: Too Much Fluoride Fluorine and Fluoride Exposure Can Affect Thyroid Function How to Prevent Thyroid Disease Fluoride Action Network