Fluoride's Adverse Effects on the Thyroid

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Fluoride's Adverse Effects on the Thyroid JoAnn Guest Jan 05, 2005 17:08 PST

 

Fluoride's Adverse Effects on the Thyroid

 

--

Fluoride: A Statement of Concern, by Paul Connett, PhD

--Waste Not #459

 

 

Toxins from the environs may 'alter' thyroid function.

 

Eduardo Gaitan from Univ Mississipi discovered that drinking water

contaminated with fluoride petrochemicals results in*blocked* " activity "

 

of thyroid *hormones*.

( Ref Jounal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 1983 Vol. 56)

 

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) alter *thyroxine* levels and

result in symptoms of thyroid disorders

(Science, vol.267)

 

It is now understood that the environment, diet and nutrition

influence thyroid function in a number of ways and may relate to

thyroid disorders of " non-specific " origin.

 

(Annual Review of Nutrition -1995 Vol 15)

 

Another line of evidence indicating that fluoride is an

'endocrine disrupter' stems from the number of studies that indicate

the fluoride may *inhibit* the functioning of the thyroid gland.

To put the matter as simply as I can, this group has been able to

show that areas of *endemic fluorosis* are also areas " designated'

as being

endemic with *iodine* " deficiency " disorders (IDD).

 

Thyroid hormones are absolutely essential for normal growth and

development.

 

The thyroid gland produces the thyroid hormones, T3 and T4.

 

These two hormones have 3 and 4 *iodine* atoms respectively.

 

Schuld's group has also shown that there is a remarkable

*similarity* between the symptoms for both underactive and overactive

thyroid and those reported for

" fluoride poisoning " .

 

Putting these two conditions together, it appears that fluoride

'decreases' the " production " of thyroid hormones.

 

For a normal person, if you are exposed to fluoride it could result

in reducing thyroid hormone production below normal and necessary

levels

(i.e., hypothyroidism).

 

It is not clear just how fluoride reduces thyroid hormone

production, however since Fluoride, fluorine, and chlorine are

positively *identical*

to the molecular *structure* of *iodine*, the thyroid *detects* it as

such.

Alternatively, fluoride *inhibits* the " enzymes " inside the gland

which " assemble " the hormones

from its chemical precursor, the amino acid " tyrosine " .

--

Fluoride's *toxicity* is rated higher than lead

---

FLUORIDE AND BONES

 

According to Dr. John Lee, a bone specialist from

California, " Certain crucial *errors* common to fluoride studies

that claim benefit have been identified and, when applied to any or

all fluoridation trials claiming to prove benefit, are sufficient to

nullify them.

 

 

I challenge fluoridationists to find just one trial that can stand a

critical review in the light of the errors I describe.

If they cannot, they should use their authority to help

rid our water supply of this useless toxin " .

 

Lee continues, " It is important to understand that in health

matters, everything is interrelated and multifactorial. This presents a

challenge to all health research: the factor being

studied is just one factor among many that may confound the study.

 

If we turn from teeth to bones, it is shocking to see how

little investigation of the long term effect of fluoride on bones

has been undertaken.

For example, there has been no comprehensive attempt to determine

the levels of fluoride in the bones of people

living in the US.

 

This, despite the fact that we know the following:

 

1) fluoridation has continued for over 50 years;

 

2) approximately half of the fluoride we ingest each day is

deposited in our bones;

 

3) there is a steady accumulation of fluoride in our bones over our

lifetime;

 

4) serious bone diseases have occurred to people with 'excessive'

exposure, especially in workers in the aluminum industry and in

areas of countries like India and China; and

 

5) we are being exposed to more sources of fluoride today than we

were in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

 

By now, if American health authorities had done their job properly

we should have had a wealth of data.

 

We should know the bone levels as a function of many variables:

location, fluoridation, hardness of water supply, diet, disease

status, smoking, etc.

 

According to a 1993 report from the Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry (ATSDR),

" Fluoride is found in all bone, with the concentration depending on

total fluoride exposure " .

The amount varies among different bones.

 

The fluoride concentration in bone increases with age.

 

In a group of five people ages 64-85 who had lived for at least 10

years in an area with water containing 1 ppm fluoride, the average

fluoride concentration of the iliac crest bone was 2,250 ppm of bone

ash " (24, pp. 53-54).

It is extraordinary to me that a leading US agency should be relying

on measurements made on " five people " . The sad truth of the matter is

that the US PHS has spent many more

millions of dollars " promoting " fluoridation than it has

investigating the effect that fluoridation has had on the American

people.

 

Belatedly, an investigation has been carried out comparing the

fluoride levels in the iliac crest bone in citizens in Montreal

(non- fluoridated) and Toronto (fluoridated).

 

The initial results of this study by Dr. Limeback and colleagues have

been reported to the annual meeting of the International Association for

Dental Research in 1999.

These results indicate that the levels are about twice as

high in the bones of the Toronto residents.

 

This is a disturbing finding, since Toronto was only fluoridated in

1963. We have yet to have any human being on this planet exposed to

" artificially fluoridated " water for a lifetime.

 

We have little idea what levels of fluoride will be in the bones of

someone who lives into their 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s

who has had

lifetime exposure to fluoridated water as well as all the other

'sources' we are exposed to today.

 

It is incredible that despite the importance of this Canadian study

its funding has been discontinued.

If governmental authorities in fluoridated countries wish to retain

any semblance of credibility on this issue, these type of studies need

to be carried out with greater intensity, not less.

 

The fear is that the increases in dental fluorosis in our children

today may foreshadow the damage to their bones that will come in the

future.

Meanwhile, there are numerous studies in the published literature

(four published in the Journal of the American Medical Association

alone) which demonstrate an association between water

fluoridation, or naturally occurring fluoride,

and increased hip

fractures in the elderly, particularly women who were exposed to

fluoride prior to menopause (25-30).

 

Does it make sense to protect our teeth (possibly) when we

are young, and then break our bones (possibly) when we are old?

By whom should such a trade-off be made?

 

This is not a trivial issue.

 

According to Harold Slavkin, Director of the National Institute of

Dental and Cranofacial Research (formerly the NIDR),

" About one-half

of the people with hip fractures end up in nursing homes, and in the

year following the fracture, 20 per cent of them die " (35).

 

Another set of findings which has been outrageously downplayed

in my view is a possible association between water fluoridation (or

fluoride exposure)and osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in young males.

 

CHRONIC FATIGUE & FLUORIDE

 

Flouride is associated with " chronic fatigue syndrome " , and there is

a relationship between " chronic fatigue " and " pineal gland "

calcification (Sandyk and Awerbuch, 1994)

with the latter consisting of apatite

crystals similar in size and structure to dentin and bone (Nakamura,

et al. 1995).

 

 

Similarly, the cognitive difficulties that result from exposure to

fluoride (Spittle, 1994) are accompanied by general malaise and fatigue;

 

intolerance to low levels of environmental chemicals is a

polysymptomatic sequela of chronic fatigue,

fibromyalgia, etc.

resulting from an immunological and/or a neurogenic triggering of

somatic symptoms and inflammation

(Bell, et al. 1998);

and the earliest subjective 'symptoms' of " osteo-fluorosis " are

*arthritic* in nature.

 

Side-effects of fluoride treatment also include gastro-intestinal

problems simply referred to as -- " symptoms " (Riggs, et al. 1990);

" intolerance " (Dequeker and Declerick, 1993);

and " complaints " (Lips, 1998).

 

In two separate studies, the comparative results between patients

receiving fluoride treatment for 3-12 months (Das,

et al. 1994) and those having documented osteo-fluorosis (Dasarathy,

et al. 1996) were identical -

70% endoscopic abnormalities, 70-90% histologic chronic atrophic

gastritis;

and 100% microscopic abnormalities such as loss of " microvilli " .

 

Moreover, these affects were also qualitatively similar to a study

(Gupta, et al. 1992) that

correlated non-ulcer dyspepsia with ingested fluoride level.

 

As expected, symptoms occurring at the (RTECS) human acute TDLo

dosage of only 214 ug/kg are " gastrointestinal " .

---

Similar to the claims for 'curing " osteoporosis, fluoride has been

proposed as a

preventive measure (sic) against Alzheimer's Disease (AD) based on

the " presumption " that by direct competition in the gut, fluoride

would *decrease* aluminum uptake

(Kraus and Forbes, 1992).

 

Rather, such antagonism (Li, et al. 1990) is DUE to the " formation "

of " aluminum- fluoride " complex (Li, et al. 1991).

 

That fluoride " potentiates' *neuro-toxicity* of aluminum has been

substantiated (van der Voet, et.al. 1999) -- consisting of

interference with neuronal cytoskeleton metabolism.

 

Aluminum accumulations have been found in nuclei of the

paired-helical filament (PHF)

containing " neurons " in the brains of

both AD patients and elderly normal controls (Shore and Wyatt, 1983)

 

 

Also, fluoride decreases protein content of brain tissue (Shashi, et

al. 1994)

with 7-months of 30-ppm fluoride resulting in a 10%

" decrease " in total brain phospholipid content (Guan, et.al. 1998)

– as well as (biphasic) changes in " brain levels "

of *COENZYME-Q* (Wang, et al. 1997)

 

CONCLUSION:

" Fluoridation is a scientific fraud, probably the greatest fraud of

the century " .

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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