The Fluoride Connection

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Another example of the works of your governments, regulatory agencies, the

Medico Chemico Pharmaco Industrial complex passing off toxic junk/waste and

telling you that it is " good for you " .

 

 

 

 

http://www.tldp.com/issue/177/FluorideConnection.html

 

The Fluoride Connection

 

Fluoride and the Placental Barrier

by Richard G. Foulkes, MD

 

Kaj Roholm, in his study of fluoride intoxication in Danish

Cryolite workers published in 19372 stated that he did not think that

fluoride crossed the placental barrier. This opinion was based,

primarily, on his failure to see fluorosis in the deciduous teeth of

offspring. However, he was convinced that sufficient fluoride was

passed through the milk of contaminated female workers to cause

fluorosis in their children.

 

W.R. Cox, in 1953, published his personal account of multiple

problems in Chinchillas that were attributed to high fluoride content

of commercial animal feed.3 In 1951, when the probable cause was first

identified, the MD and the chemist involved from the University of

Oregon Medical School did not hesitate to state that fluoride

penetrated the placental barrier in animals.

 

Fluoride and Fertility

 

One of the major problems encountered in these valuable commercial

animals concerned fertility. After changing to a diet low in fluoride

there were increases in the number of offspring born; the number of

litters; and, the numbers born alive. The adult mortality rate

decreased from 14.6% in 1951 to 3.3% in 1952. A number of

abnormalities associated with the fluoride -contaminated feed were

passed on through multiple generations.

 

It is of more than passing interest to note that although Cox

found more than 1,400 studies that demonstrated adverse effects of

fluoride in animals, both wild and domestic, there was a profound lack

of knowledge and interest in these and in the implications for humans.

This was especially true for possible soft tissue damage. It should

come as no surprise that Cox, a layman, was shocked by the fact that

those professionals exhibiting this lack of knowledge and disinterest

were, at this time, spearheading the campaign to fluoridate public

water supplies.

 

Freni, in a 1994 review,4 demonstrated decreased fertility in most

animals studied. High doses (i.e., 430 ppm dietary fluoride in rats)

showed anestrus with cumulative generational effects. This phenomenon,

according to Freni's research, was first noted in 1933 and confirmed

in 1984. His paper presents multiple examples that lead him to state,

without equivocation, that fluoride easily crosses the placenta.

 

Freni participated in the 1991 Public Health Service review of the

toxicity of fluoride and in the NTP study that emphasized the " cancer

paradigm " discussed in Our Stolen Future.1

 

He was concerned about the implications of reproductive problems

that were encountered. As a result, in 1991, he searched for

reproductive studies that involved humans; but, he found none. It may

come as a surprise to recognize that, after 46 years of fluoridation

of drinking water, no study had taken place on the effect of fluoride

on the developing fetus!

 

Freni, in a complicated study, compared the total fertility rate

(TFR) in counties whose water supplies had at least 3 ppm fluoride. He

found a negative TFR/fluoride association that fitted in with the

toxicity data on animals.

 

Freni presented several theories to account for the lowered TFR.

One, that fluoride lowers protein synthesis in osteoblasts; the other,

that fluoride inhibits the adenylyl cyclase system in human spermatozoa.

 

Narayana and Chinoy referred in a 1994 paper5 to " the wide

prevalence of infertility in the fluorosis-afflicted human population

in India and other parts of the globe. "

 

In their study, mature rats were treated with sodium fluoride

(10mg/kg daily for 50 days). They found that fluoride interferes with

androgenesis and adversely impaired the target organ structures. They

suggested that the effect of fluoride may be on receptor sites. That

is, fluoride may alter the concentration or configuration of the

receptor, thereby inhibiting the action of testosterone. The

similarity of this action to that of the hormone-disrupting chemicals,

described in Our Stolen Future is obvious. (Our Stolen Future: Are We

Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? by Theo

Colborn, et al. See review Feb/March 1997, TLfDP, #163/164 pg. 122.)

 

Fluoride and the Brain

 

The 1991 review, Fluoride Benefits and Risks, published by the

USPHS6 states that there is " relative impermability of the blood-brain

barrier to fluoride. " No reference was made to fluoride effects on the

brain.

 

In their 1978 book Fluoridation, the Great Dilemma, Waldbott,

Burgstahler and McKinney7 describe the findings of Soviet physicians

that 79% of patients with occupational fluorosis demonstrate

dysfunction of subcortical axial non-specific structures of the brain.

 

Recent studies from China8,9 of the relationship between residence

in endemic fluorosis areas in that country and IQ, contain references

and discussions that indicate that this has been reported upon since

1989. Chinese studies indicate that the influence of a high fluoride

environment on intelligence may occur early in development such as

during the stages of embryonic life or infancy when differentiation

and growth are more rapid. Ultramicroscopic study of embryonic brain

tissue obtained from termination of pregnancy operations in endemic

fluorosis areas showed " differentiation of brain nerve cells were

poor, and brain development was delayed. " 8

 

The studies of Li et al.8 (soot fluorosis) and Zhao et al.9 (water

supply fluorosis) compare the IQ status of children living in high

fluoride areas to those in low fluoride areas. A graph constructed

from Li's data shows a flattening, in the high fluoride population, of

the normal " Bell Curve " distribution of IQ. The data of both the Li

and Zhao studies show a shift of the curve toward the low IQ (<70 IQ)

end in the high fluoride group. Both studies demonstrate that IQ is

lower in all age groups in the high fluoride areas compared to those

in the low fluoride areas. This finding suggests neurological damage

in early development; that is, in utero. (see figures)

 

Other causes of lowered IQ appear to have been ruled out. These

include: iodine deficiency; other congenital and acquired diseases;

and cultural and ethnic differences. Dietary differences, which are

known to play an important role in dental and skeletal fluorosis were

not specifically accounted for although the authors mention " similar

circumstances of material life. "

 

These studies present evidence that, as is the case with

infertility, brain dysfunction is prevalent in endemic fluorosis areas

in countries outside of those in which deliberate fluoridation of

drinking water is practiced. When the rising prevalence of dental

fluorosis and the high dietary intakes of fluoride in fluoridated

areas are taken into consideration, it may be said that large areas of

endemic fluorosis have now been created in Canada, the US and other

fluoridated countries pursuant to the policies of their respective

Administrations. How much responsibility can be attributed to fluoride

for the fertility and behavioral problems addressed by the authors of

Our Stolen Future?

 

Are the fluoridated countries seriously looking for possible

associations? It has been pointed to previously that research into the

association between fluoride and human reproductive problems was not

undertaken until 1991, 46 years after the start of fluoridation. What

is the status with regard to possible links with the signs and

symptoms of brain dysfunction?

 

In 1995, the 50th Anniversary of fluoridation in the US, and

Canada, Mullenix, Denbesten et al. published a study of the

neurotoxicity of sodium fluoride in rats.10 The authors state: " [T]his

is the first laboratory study to demonstrate that CNS functional

output is vulnerable to fluoride, that the effects on behaviour depend

on the age at exposure and that fluoride accumulates in brain tissue. "

 

The authors state further that " [E]xperience with other

developmental neurotoxins prompts expectations that changes in

behavioural function will be comparable across species, especially

humans and rats. "

 

This study demonstrated generic behavioural pattern disruption

that the authors point to as indicative of a potential for motor

dysfunction, IQ deficits and learning disabilities in humans. The

authors point out that the plasma levels in their rat model (0.059 to

0.640 ppm fluoride) are similar to those reported in humans exposed to

high levels of fluoride.

 

These authors refer to early Chinese studies in their paper and

point out that high levels of fluoride in drinking water (i.e., 3 to

11 ppm) affect the nervous system directly without first causing

physical deformations from skeletal fluorosis. This latter is

currently used as the ultimate indicator of intoxication in

discussions by proponents of fluoridation. " Still unexplained, " the

authors continue, " is the possibility that fluoride exposure is linked

to subtle brain dysfunction. "

 

The characteristics of the latter and the implications for society

are well-described in Our Stolen Future even though the causative

agents named are the hormone-disrupting chemicals.

 

Fluoride and " The Paradoxical Effect "

 

Our Stolen Future emphasizes the importance of the " paradoxical

effect " in establishing the biological effects of toxins and, more

particularly, the hormone-disrupting artificial chemicals. The authors

credit Frederick Von Saal's investigations, which began in 1976, with

the demonstration of a " U-shaped " response curve for DES. This

illustrates the " paradoxical response " ; that is, the response

increases for a time and then diminishes with even higher doses.

 

This phenomenon in which a high dose may paradoxically cause less

damage than a lower dose was described in a 1964 article by Schatz,

Schalscha and Schatz.11 These authors show that paradoxical effects

are not isolated phenomena but are broadly operative and of widespread

importance in the biochemistry and physiology of many living systems

under many different conditions.

 

Schatz et al. point to the different terms that investigators have

used when they encountered this phenomenon. They describe the way in

which conditioning leads investigators to think only in linear dose

relationships thereby leading them to attribute deviations to

experimental error or experimental variability.

 

The paper presents examples to illustrate that paradoxical effects

are real, not artifacts. The authors state that " [P]aradoxical effects

have been produced by radiation, temperature, mutagenic and

carcinogenic chemicals, fluoride, steroid hormones, dextran,

detergents, trace metals, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides,

germicides, antibiotics, drugs and a host of other agents. "

 

It is noteworthy that fluoride is included in the list of

chemicals that may produce a paradoxical effect. They show, as an

example, the curve of inhibition of human prostatic acid phosphatase.

" [A]s the fluoride concentration is increased over a thousand-fold

range, the extent of inhibition rises, attains a maximum that may

approach 100% and subsequently falls. "

 

In a recent paper,12 Schatz compared low level fluoridation with

low level radiation: " [T]he occurrence of paradoxical effects with low

level fluoridation and low level radiation shows that there is no

threshold level below which fluoride and radiation are harmless. "

 

Recognition of the importance of the paradoxical effect and the

way in which research may be blinded by continued pursuit of the

" linear dose relationship " and the " cancer paradigm " is essential if

we are to determine the nature of all the elements that conspire to

steal our future.

 

Conclusion

 

The similarities between the DES story, that is well-told in Our

Stolen Future, and the story of the fluoridation of drinking water is

striking. In both, numerous animal studies have been declared to be

irrelevant. Both DES and fluoridation of water supplies have been

shown to be without effect for the purposes claimed -- the prevention

of abortion in the case of DES and of tooth decay in the case of

fluoridation. DES continued to be prescribed for several decades after

it had been discredited; fluoridation is being pushed now as hard as

ever with the full support of the Administration, the Public Health

Service and professional organizations representing Dentistry and

Medicine, especially Pediatrics.

 

The failure of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to act on

DES is described in Our Stolen Future. This failure to act is repeated

in the case of the human consumption of fluoride.

 

Is the future being stolen? Yes. There are many medical problems

that can be attributed to the hormone-disrupting chemicals and other

substances, including fluoride. Lowered fertility and brain

dysfunction are just two of these for which there is mounting evidence.

 

The message is clear. Action is required immediately. However,

such action must be inclusive not selective, as suggested in Our

Stolen Future.

 

Correspondence:

 

Richard G. Foulkes, BA, MD

Box 278

Abbotsford, British Columbia

V2S 4N9

Canada

 

604-850-3171

 

References

 

1. Colborn, T., Dumanoski, D., Myers, J.P., Our Stolen Future,

Dutton, Penguin Books U.S.A., New York, N.Y., 1996.

 

2. Roholm, K., Fluorine Intoxication - A Clinical-Hygienic Study,

H.K. Lewis, London, 1937.

 

3. Cox, W.R., Hello Test AnimalsÉChinchillas or You and Your

Grandchildren, The Olsen Publishing Co., Milwaukie, Wisc., 195l.

 

4. Freni, S.C., Exposure to High Fluoride Concentrations in

Drinking Water is Associated With Decreased Birth Rates, Jour Toxicol

and Environ. Health; 42; 109-121; 1994.

 

5. Narayana, M.V., Chinoy, N.J., Effect of fluoride on Rat

Testicular Steroidogenesis, Fluoride, 27; 1; 7-12, 1994.

 

6. Dept of Health and Human Services, USPHS, Fluoride Benefits and

Risks. February 1991.

 

7. Waldbott, G.L., Burgstahler, A.W., McKinney, H.L.,

Fluoridation, the Great Dilemma, Coronado Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1978.

 

8. Li, X.S., Zhi, J.L., Gao, R.O., Effect of Fluoride Exposure on

Intelligence of Children, Fluoride 28; 4; 189-192; 1995.

 

9. Zhao, Liang, G.H., Zhang, D., Wu, X., Effect of a High Fluoride

Water Supply on Children's Intelligence, 1995 Pending Publication.

 

10. Mullenix, P.J., Denbesten, P.K., Schunior, A., Kernan, W.J.,

Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats, Neurotoxicology and

Teratology, 17;2; 169-177; 1995.

 

11. Schatz, A., Schalscha, E,B., Schatz, V., Soil Organic Matter

as a Natural Chelating Material, Part 2, The Occurrence and Importance

of Paradoxical Concentration Effects in Biological Systems, Compost

Science 5; 22-30; Spring 1964.

 

12. Schatz, A., Low Level Fluoridation and Low Level Radiation -

Two Case Histories of Misconduct of Science, Published by A. Schatz,

PhD, Philadelphia, PA, 1996.

 

 

 

 

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