Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told? 2/2/02

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Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?

http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/2/fluoride_safety.htm

Part 1 of 3

Fluoride is added to the water supply of

most American cities for the ostensible purpose of dental hygiene. The

reader will be amazed to find out that such a thing is not only

unlikely, but actually the reverse of the ongoing reality

The U.S. has been fluoridating drinking water for so many decades that

we hardly think about it. Very few articles appear about fluoridation in

newspapers and magazines any more.

At least chlorine will evaporate from a glass of water if you let it sit

for an hour or so. No such luck with fluoride. Even cooking, food

processing, filtration, or digestion doesn't remove fluoride. Goes right

up the food chain. Accumulates in fat cells.

This Is No Accident.

What would you do if you suddenly found out that fluoride was not safe

at all, but was actually a carcinogenic industrial waste?

What would you think if you suddenly found out that fluoride doesn't

stop tooth decay at all, but actually causes teeth to rot and crumble,

and by the same mechanism also causes osteoporosis?

And after you found out all this, would it surprise you that all federal

health agencies have known these facts for years, but have been

controlled by the political interests of the nuclear arms, aluminum, and

phosphate manufacturers to keep it a secret?

Why would they do that? So that, in the total absence of scientific

proofs, a toxic industrial waste could be passed off on the public as a

nutrient with necessary health benefits, to the tune of $10 billion per

year. Or more.

Is a deception of this magnitude possible for the sophisticated,

discerning American public? Perhaps Lance Ito could answer a question

like that.

Let's start at the beginning.

What Is Fluoride?

Fluorine is an element. It is a gas, never occurring in its free state.

In microscopic amounts complexed with other minerals, it is often listed

as a trace mineral, a nutrient for human nutrition.

This has nothing to do with fluoride or fluoridation. The fluoride added

to 90% of drinking water is hydrofluoric acid which is a compound of

fluorine that is a chemical byproduct of aluminum, steel, cement,

phosphate, and nuclear weapons manufacturing.

Such fluoride is manmade. In this form, fluoride has no nutrient value

whatsoever. It is one of the most caustic of industrial chemicals.

Fluoride is the active toxin in rat poisons and cockroach powder.

Hydrofluoric acid is used to refine high octane gasoline, to make

fluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons for freezers and air conditioners,

and to manufacture computer screens, fluorescent light bulbs,

semiconductors, plastics, herbicides, -- and toothpaste.

It also has the ability to burn flesh to the bone, destroy eyes, and

sear lungs so that victims drown in their own body fluid. "

Once in the body, fluoride is a destroyer of human enzymes. It does this

by changing their shapes. You'll remember from the Enzymes chapter

(www.thedoctorwithin.com) that in human biochemistry, thousands of

enzymes are necessary for various essential cell reactions that take

place every second we're alive. (Howell) Without enzymes, we'd die

instantaneously.

Enzymes trigger specific reactions in the body. One way they do this is

by having the exact shape necessary, like a key in a lock.

Fluoride Changes The Shape Of The Enzymes So That They No Longer Fit.

Since enzymes are proteins, once they've been changed, they're now

foreign-looking. The body now treats them as invaders, even though

they're part of that body. This is known as an autoimmune situation -

the body attacks itself.

Another way to look at it: enzymes are long-chain proteins held in

certain shapes. Hydrogen bonds are the velcro strips that hold the

enzyme in a certain shape.

Fluoride comes along and hydrolyzes the enzyme: cuts the Velcro strips

away. The shape collapses. No more enzyme; now just a foreign protein.

Starting Point

The most thorough explanation of the origin, action, diseases, and

politics of fluoride was presented in a book called Fluoride the Aging

Factor by Yiamouyiannis, PhD.

This book is the result of 25 years of research and working behind the

scenes of the fluoride phenomenon. Big money generally means big monkey

business, you may have noticed by now, and fluoride is right up there.

Dr. Yiamouyiannis was the science director of the National Health

Federation. He then went on to head the Safe Water Foundation. Dr Y can

tell you all about monkey business.

No one can comment intelligently about fluoride in the U.S. without

dealing with the issues raised in his pivotal book. It is simply a

review of the literature on fluoride up to 1994.

Dr. Y starts by citing hundreds of international studies of fluoridation

that have been conducted all over the world since the 1930s. After

awhile, there seem to be just two types:

Studies that were really looking to find out about fluoride

Studies that were trying to cover up what had already been discovered

Examples Of The Former:

Study, University of Austin: fluoride concentration of 1PPM

(parts per million) increases tumor growth rate by 25%

Fluoride is more poisonous than lead, and just less poisonous than

arsenic - Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products -- 1984

" A seven ounce tube of toothpaste, theoretically at least, contains

enough fluoride to kill a small child. " -

Procter & Gamble, quoted in Fluoride the Aging Factor p14

Fluoride supplements should not be given to children under three years

old - 1992

Canadian Dental Association Proposed Fluoride Guidelines, Dr. Limeback

Fluoride Accelerates Your Aging Process

Austrian researchers proved in the 1970s that as little as 1 ppm

fluoride concentration can disrupt DNA repair enzymes by 50%. When DNA

can't repair damaged cells, we get old fast.

Fluoride prematurely ages the body, mainly by distortion of enzyme

shape.

Again, when enzymes get twisted out of shape, they can't do their jobs.

This results in collagen breakdown, eczema, tissue damage, skin

wrinkling, genetic damage, and immune suppression.

Practically any disease you can name may then be caused.

All systems of the body are dependent upon enzymes. When fluoride

changes the enzymes, this can damage:

immune system

digestive system

respiratory system

blood circulation

kidney function

liver function

brain function

thyroid function

Things wear out too fast - the young body becomes old.

The distorted enzymes are proteins, but now they have become foreign

protein, which we know is the exact cause of autoimmune diseases, such

as lupus, arthritis, asthma, and arteriosclerosis.

Collagen Is The Body's Glue and Fluoride Ruins It

That's not just a metaphor; when collagen breaks down, tissues simply

lose their substance, their framework. Fluoride dissolves the body's

glue simply by preventing new collagen from being formed.

DR Y gives a masterful explanation of fluoride's disruption of collagen.

Not only is the collagen incorrectly formed, it is wrongly mineralized.

Some collagen, like bones and teeth, should be mineralized in order to

give it hardness. Other collagen structures, like ligaments, tendons

and, and muscles, should not be mineralized, in order to keep them

flexible and resilient.

Fluoride mineralizes the tendons, and muscles and ligaments, making them

crackly and painful and inflexible. At the same time fluoride interferes

with mineralization of bones and teeth, causing osteoporosis and

mottling or dental fluorosis.

Fluoride Ruins Your Teeth

Wait a second here! I thought that was the whole reason why we

fluoridated water in the first place - to prevent cavities and build

strong teeth, right?

Wrong again. And this is where politics and dog-wagging have eclipsed

science.

DR Y gives an exhaustive review of the scientific literature of the past

40 years proving beyond a reasonable doubt that fluoride interferes with

tooth formation, causing permanent discoloration and actual crumbling.

The process whereby teeth are discolored and crumble from fluoridation

is know as dental fluorosis.

The US Public Health service has known since the research of its own Dr.

HT Dean in 1937 that as fluoride levels rose, so did the percentage of

children with dental fluorosis, in a study of 15 major American cities.

The same findings were evident in a University of Texas study comparing

dental fluorosis in children who lived in fluoridated and unfluoridated

areas of Texas.

Dr. Segretto found a 35% higher incidence of fluorosis in children who

drank water with fluorine concentration of 1-1.4 PPM, compared with

those whose water was in the .3 PPM range. This little study was written

up in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

Yiamouyiannis goes on and on, citing one peer-reviewed study after

another, all coming to the same inescapable conclusion:

The More Fluoride In The Water, The More Tooth Malformation And

Discoloration.

It's beyond controversy, when you view these studies from all over the

world - New Zealand, India, Denmark, England, Ireland, Italy, Illinois -

same finding. Even with this consistent finding across the board, the

standard level of fluoridation recommended for dental health in the US

is 1 part per million.

How Is This Possible?

A major gain for antifluoridation happened in the past few years, which

most people haven't even noticed. The FDA required all toothpaste

manufacturers to print a warning on the label that if more than a

pea-sized amount of toothpaste is swallowed, the local Poison Control

Center should be notified.

The American Dental Association and other defenders of fluoride have

testified and continue to insist that dental fluorosis is a " cosmetic

condition " and is not a health issue!

Permanent malformation of the teeth is a little more serious than

cosmetic - but even if it weren't, how can a additive whose only alleged

purpose is to benefit teeth destroy teeth?? In their current website,

the ADA actually challenges this FDA warning on toothpaste labels,

saying that it is unnecessarily strict.

Connett, PhD explains that spots on the teeth and dental fluorosis

are just an indication of damage to other parts of the body:

" The teeth are windows to what's happening in the bones. "

Fluoride And Osteoporosis

Bone is collagen. We already saw how fluoride disrupts the formation of

enzymes necessary for collagen production. So it's no wonder then that

the thin brittle bones characteristic of osteoporosis are the result of

fluoridation.

This is no false claim.

DR Y cites the 1990 study of 541,000 cases of osteoporosis that found a

definite connection between hip fractures in women over 65 and fluoride

levels. The study was written up in JAMA. Several other major studies

are cited, massive amounts of research, again all reaching the same

conclusion -

the undeniable correlation of fluoridation with osteoporosis and hip

fracture in the elderly.

Bone Is Living Tissue.

It is constantly being replaced with new cells, and having old cells

removed. Bone building is a finely balanced, complicated process.

Fluoride has been known to disrupt this process since the 1930s. Dr.

Alesen, who was the president of the California Medical Association,

clearly explains what fluoride does to bone formation.

He cites dozens of international scientific studies proving beyond a

shadow of a doubt that fluoride has caused thousands of cases of

osteoporosis, skeletal thinning, fractures, " rubber bones, " anemia, and

rickets.

Fluoride also causes osteoporosis by creating a calcium deficiency

situation.

Fluoride precipitates calcium out of solution, causing low blood

calcium, as well as the buildup of calcium stones and crystals in the

joints and organs.

Dozens of other studies, like the Riggs study in the 1990 New England

Journal of Medicine, showed that fluoride treatment of osteoporosis in

the elderly actually increases skeletal fragility, i.e., more fractures.

It's the same mechanism at work: incorrect mineralization, as we saw

above. Thin old bones lose calcium; young bones age too rapidly by

over-mineralization.

Using fluoride as a treatment for diseases like osteoporosis has always

been a particularly dumb idea, because of side effects known beforehand:

general arthritis

stomach pain

nausea

vomiting

bone spurs

bone inflammation

kidney fibrosis

dental fluorosis

Other mineral contaminants like lead and strontium-90 are damaging to

human bone just by means of their occupying space where they don't

belong. They are inert. The difference with fluoride is that it is

biochemically active. With all the diseases caused by fluoride, the

common thread is

" …virtually all these ill effects can be traced to the effect of

fluoride on enzymes or proteins, as well as a possible direct effect on

the DNA molecule itself. "

Above we saw how fluoride changes the all-important shape of enzymes,

thereby rendering them not only useless, but actually foreign antigens.

Cancer And Fluoride

By now we all know how cancer begins with one cell whose inner blueprint

- its DNA - has been screwed with.

Remember those Velcro hydrogen bonds?

Guess what other shape they hold together. The double helix - DNA. This

turns out to be the exact mechanism of fluoride as a carcinogen.

Austrian and Japanese researchers both found that a concentration of 1

PPM fluoride causes disruption of the body's ability to repair its own

DNA. Without this most basic cell function, cancer is promoted, and

tumor growth is accelerated.

That's standard fluoride level in US city water: one part per million.

On p. 65 of his book, Dr. Yiamouyiannis provides an amazing chart of

some 19 major scientific studies conducted in universities all over the

world, together proving beyond a doubt that fluoride causes genetic

damage.

End of story.

Except that on p 68, there is another list of world studies proving the

same thing with plants and insects - genetic alteration from fluoride.

Chief chemist of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Dean Burk when

confronted with mountains of data, stated before Congress:

" In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer death, and causes

it faster than any other chemical. "

- Congressional Record 21 July 1976

Can That Be Misconstrued?

Burk and Yiamouyiannis completed a monumental research project in 1977

in which they compared cancer death rates in 10 fluoridated and 10

non-fluoridated US cities between 1940 and 1970. The results are on p75

of Fluoride the Aging Factor.

The unmistakable fact is that the graph shows that for the first ten

years (1940-1950), when none of the 20 cities fluoridated, the average

cancer deaths were virtually identical. But after 1950, there is a major

increase in cancer deaths in every single one of the fluoridated cities,

while the nonfluoridated cities remain clustered together at a much

lower level of death.

They actually put a number on it:

" …30,000 to 50,000 deaths each year from various causes may now be

attributable to fluoridation. This total includes 10,000 to 20,000

deaths attributable to fluoride-induced cancer every year. "

These findings were first confirmed, then denied by the National Cancer

Institute (what a surprise). Finally the research was upheld as valid in

two separate state courts, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Ask yourself, why are findings of a scientific study being disputed in

court?

The usual pattern whenever valid research threatens big money.

Another study by the New Jersey Health Dept., cited by Dr. Y, found a

50% increase in bone cancer among young men in fluoridated areas. (Cohn)

Dr. Hirzy, an officer in the EPA explains:

" Fluoride is a broad-spectrum mutagen. It can cause genetic damage in

both plant and animal cells. "

Once again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of scientific

studies conducted and reported in the most credible universities and

agencies throughout the world for the past 25 years have found an

unmistakable correlation between fluoridation and cancer deaths.

Even the professional opinion makers can't just make all this data

vanish.

All they can do is what they're trained to do: change the subject. And

keep repeating how safe and effective fluoride is.

Brain Damage = Low IQ

Penetrating observation. The earliest reference to brain disruption from

fluoride exposure is found in a recently declassified secret Manhattan

Project memo (1944):

" Clinical evidence suggests that C616 [uranium hydrofluoride] may have a

rather marked central nervous system effect with mental confusion,

drowsiness and lassitude… "

How can all these studies be dismissed and ignored? Many of them are

from the most prestigious of scientific journals. And the message has

been consistent for the past 40 years - fluoride is a poison.. What kind

of power can contradict such a cogent, overwhelming body of work?

Only one thing -very good -- $$$$$$$$!

Got it on your first guess!

So Then Why Are We Fluoridating, For The Last 60 Years?

Unrestricted research into almost any area involving health care is

really a tiresome business - it's the same boring story over and over:

A Toxin in Search of A Market.

First a chemical is created, then an angle is figured out on how to mass

market it.

Then a disinformation program is put into place to create a permanent

smokescreen for the actual scientific data.

As we saw with ADD, antibiotics, the history of pharmaceuticals, HRT,

heart drugs, chlorination, and now fluoridation - the pattern is

consistent.

With billions of dollars in play, the chemical industry can afford to

choreograph its two most willing marionettes: the media and the medical

profession.

I didn't make this up; I wish it were otherwise. It's embarrassing to be

a human when you find out what's been going on.

But we digress.

Fluoridation. A certified poison, by all the government agencies and

scientific agencies cited above. Where does the money come in? Toxic

disposal. The rise of the EPA since the 1970s. The increase in

environmental consciousness as a political tool for creating the

illusion of safety in recent decades.

Here's the short version: fluoride is a toxic byproduct in the

manufacture of nuclear arms, aluminum, cement, steel, and phosphates.

Millions of tons of this poison are produced every year. Imagine the

cost of containing and disposing of those mountains of waste every year.

It's in the billions.

But what if lobbyists from these industries could present " scientific

studies " paid for by the industries, and provide for a continual stream

of media presentations about the health benefits of fluoride, and create

unimaginably lucrative positions for " research " and " education " within

the American Dental Association and the AMA, and do all these things in

a consistent and unending way, year after year?

What are the economic advantages of that? Simple: instead of paying

money to dispose of toxic waste, money could now be made by selling

fluoride to the water companies of the nation.

They'll use the public water supply as a sewer for industrial wastes.

And now with these new billions added instead of subtracted, there's

plenty to go around, for everyone involved. Out of the Red, into the

Black.

Somewhere Machiavelli smiles.

Dark Alliance

Up until 1931, the American Dental Association and the US Public Health

Service recognized that fluoride caused dental problems, and that every

effort should be made to remove such contamination from drinking water.

(Fluoride the Aging Factor, p 140)

By 1980, the ADA's tune had changed a little:

" …there is no evidence implicating naturally occurring fluorides as a

health hazard even at eight parts per million. " - ADA News 24 Mar 1980

Following this? In the face of all the decades of our best research,

this arrogant and groundless pronouncement, by the profession to whom we

have entrusted our teeth, is saying that our water could have 8 times as

much fluoride as it has now, and still be perfectly safe!

The Players: ALCOA Aluminum, mega-giant producer of aluminum, was

founded by Mellon, who was also appointed Secretary of Treasury,

since he seemed to know something about money.

ALCOA funded a top research facility known as the Mellon Institute. In

1931, a Mellon Institute report by Gerald suggested that 1 PPM

fluoride added to drinking water would be good for the teeth. That was

it. No studies, no comparisons, no data. All previous research studies

had shown that fluoride was toxic.

Stay with me now. The US Public Health Service (USPHS) at that time was

under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Treasury - Mellon, who

also owned ALCOA.

The USPHS sponsored some research put out by their own Dr. HT Dean,

manipulating data so that it " proved " that this same figure of 1 PPM

resulted in reduction of tooth decay. So now there were two studies, one

by and one by Dean, both funded by agencies controlled by ALCOA,

both supporting this arbitrary figure of 1 PPM fluoride that should be

added to the water to lower tooth decay.

Next problem: sell it to the American Medical Association and the

American Dental Association.

This took years. Even in 1943, an article in JAMA described fluoride as

a poison that damaged enzyme systems even at a concentration of 1 PPM.

The article showed concern about 25,000 tons of fluorine released into

the atmosphere every year from the phosphate fertilizer industry. (JAMA,

Sept 18, 1943).

The following year Journal of the American Dental Association ran

another article warning that fluoridated water caused osteoporosis,

goiter, and spinal disease. They stated that " the potentialities for

harm far outweigh those for good. " (JADA, 1 Oct 1944)

So how did fluoridation get started then, with all this information -

thousands of negative scientific papers and only two favorable studies?

ALCOA money, that's how.

In 1944, ALCOA hired an attorney named Ewing at a salary of

$750,000 per year. That same year Ewing was appointed to the Federal

Security Administration. The USPHS was a division of the Federal

Security Association. So now ALCOA's boy was in a position to control

the policies of the Public Health Service.

Ewing chose his PR man for fluoridation: Bernays, the nephew of

Sigmund Freud.

Please look for the continuation of this article in my next issue.

References

Source:

http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/2/fluoride_safety.htm

SBI Prayer Forum

http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/2/fluoride_safety.htm