World Health Organization Asked To Study Fluoride Risks

[Guest guest]

December 03, 2004

 

Drinking Water Safety - World Health Organization Asked To Study Fluoride Risks

 

The World Health Organization, after announcing a revision of its

drinking water safety guidelines, has been asked to assess the toxic

risks of the addition of industrial fluorides to drinking water.

Fluoride is thought to protect against dental decay by hardening the

outer coating of teeth, but it seems that adverse effects such as

dental and skeletal fluorosis are widespread in areas where the

mineral is naturally abundant or has been artificially added to the

water supply.

 

VOICE of Irish Concern for the Environment, an environmental campaign

group, submitted comments to the WHO asking that the toxic properties

of industrial fluorides often added to drinking water be studied and

their risks evaluated. Robert Pocock, a spokesman, says that " in

Ireland, the government has for forty years added chemical fluorides

to drinking water in compliance with the WHO Drinking Water

guidelines " adding that these guidelines " have always been invoked to

counter consumer concerns. " According to a study of the Irish

government, says Pocock, this policy " has resulted in (dental)

fluorosis among 15 year olds increasing from 4% in 1984 to 36% in

2002 -- a nine-fold increase of an incurable but preventable

condition " .

 

Dental fluorosis or " mottling " is an unsightly discoloration of the

teeth which indicates fluoride poisoning by overdose. The condition

goes hand in hand with skeletal fluorosis - brittle and demineralized

bones subject to fractures and deformation.

 

Babies are especially vulnerable to increased fluoride levels in

drinking water and it is now recommended that mothers breast-feed

their newborns or prepare baby foods with specially filtered or

fluoride-free bottled water to avoid intoxication, as levels of

fluoride in fluoridated drinking water exceed the fluoride content in

breast milk more than a hundred times.

 

The Alliance for Natural Health, a pan-European and international

alliance of scientists, health care practitioners, natural health

care companies and consumers points out that the WHO's own guidelines

for fluoridation of drinking water are currently recommending 1.5 mg

per liter, a level known to induce fluorosis, which has been observed

at fluoride levels in drinking water as low as 0.7 mg/liter.

 

Any positive effects of fluoridation in preventing dental caries,

which incidentally are subject to scientific debate - many of the

positive fluoride studies were generated by scientists on the

Manhattan Project - must therefore be carefully weighed against the

clearly overlapping toxic effects of the substance at the same or

even lower doses.

 

" What is required " says Robert Pocock in the VOICE submission, " is

comprehensive, independent and transparent toxicological testing and

risk assessment of hexafluorosilicic acid and disodium

hexafluorosilicate, the two most used fluoride chemicals in drinking

water. " These chemicals are toxic industrial waste products and are

used primarily for their high solubility and low cost.

 

Robert Verkerk, Executive Director of the Alliance for Natural Health

adds the Alliance is strongly opposed to artificial fluoridation of

drinking water supplies. He urges the WHO to revise its existing

guidelines and to start promoting strategies other than artificial

fluoridation of water supplies for the reduction of dental caries. He

also calls for evaluation of the toxicological evidence of the

long-term safety of water fluoridation programmes as well as formal

medicinal approval of artificial fluorides.

 

 

Copy of the full article with working external links at:

 

<http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2004/12/03/drinking_water_safety_world_hea\

lth_organization_asked_to_study_fluoride_risks.htm> " Drinking

Water Safety - World Health Organization Asked To Study Fluoride

Risks "

 

 

 

--

 

 

The individual is supreme and finds the way through intuition...

 

Sepp Hasslberger

 

 

My page on physics, new energy, economy: http://www.hasslberger.com/

 

Critical perspective on Health: http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/