FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK: FLUORIDE HEALTH EFFECTS DATABASE

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FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK:

FLUORIDE HEALTH EFFECTS DATABASE:

Overview Page

 

Researched & Maintained by Michael Connett, FAN

UPDATED: April 23, 2005

 

Database Site Map

Glossary

 

FLUORIDE HEALTH EFFECTS DATABASE - OVERVIEW PAGE

 

" I am quite convinced that water fluoridation, in a

not-too-distant future, will be consigned to medical history. "

Dr. ARVID CARLSSON, Phamacologist, Nobel Laureate in Physiology

and Medicine, 2000.

 

" Common sense should tell us that if a poison circulating in a

child's body can damage the tooth-forming cells, then other harm also

is likely. "

Dr. JOHN COLQUHOUN, Former Principal Dental Officer, Auckland, New

Zealand.

 

FLUORIDE ACCIDENTS & POISONINGS (Click for more detail)

 

Fluoride, the active ingredient in many pesticides and

rodenticides, is a powerful poison - more acutely poisonous than lead.

Because of this, accidental over-ingestion of fluoride can cause

serious toxic symptoms.

 

Each year there are thousands of reports to Poison Control centers

in the United States related to excessive ingestion of fluoride

toothpastes, mouthrinses, and supplements.

 

Water fluoridation accidents, resulting in excess levels of

fluoride in water, have been one of the sources of acute fluoride

poisoning.

 

FLUORIDE & DENTAL FLUOROSIS (Click for more detail)

 

Excessive ingestion of fluoride during the early childhood years

can damage the tooth-forming cells, leading to a defect in the enamel

known as dental fluorosis.

 

Teeth impacted by fluorosis have visible discoloration, ranging

from white spots to brown and black stains.

 

It is currently estimated that 48% of children living in

fluoridated areas now have some form of dental fluorosis, while 12.5%

of children have fluorosis significant enough to be of " esthetic

concern " (York Review, 2000).

 

According to Dr. Hardy Limeback, Head of Preventive Dentistry at

the University of Toronto, " it is illogical to assume that tooth

enamel is the only tissue affected by low daily doses of fluoride

ingestion.

 

FLUORIDE & the PINEAL GLAND (Click for more detail)

 

In the 1990s, it was discovered that the pineal gland is a major

site of fluoride accumulation within the body - with higher

concentrations of fluoride than either teeth or bone.

 

Subsequent animal studies indicate that the accumulation of

fluoride in the pineal gland can reduce the gland's synthesis of

melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the onset of puberty.

Fluoride-treated animals were found to have reduced levels of

circulating melatonin and an earlier onset puberty than untreated

animals. The author of the study concluded:

 

" The safety of the use of fluorides ultimately rests on the

assumption that the developing enamel organ is most sensitive to the

toxic effects of fluoride. The results from this study suggest that

the pinealocytes may be as susceptible to fluoride as the developing

enamel organ " (Luke 1997).

 

The fact that fluoride's impact on the pineal gland was never

studied, or even considered, before the 1990s, highlights a major gap

in knowledge underpinning current policies on fluoride and health.

 

FLUORIDE & the BRAIN (Click for more detail)

 

Fluoride's ability to damage the brain represents one of the most

active areas of research on fluoride toxicity today.

 

The research has been fueled by recent human studies from China

finding elevated levels of fluoride exposure to be associated with

reduced cognitive ability in children.

 

The discovery of neurotoxic effects among fluoride-exposed humans

is consistent with recent findings from over 30 animal studies

published since 1992. As with the studies on humans, the studies on

animals have reported an impairment in learning and memory processes

among the fluoride-treated groups.

 

The animal studies have also documented considerable evidence of

direct toxic effects of fluoride on brain tissue, even at levels as

low as 1 ppm fluoride in water (Varner 1998).

 

FLUORIDE & CANCER (Click for more detail)

 

According to the National Toxicology Program, " the preponderance

of evidence " from laboratory 'in vitro' studies indicates that

fluoride is a mutagenic compound. Many substances which cause

mutagenic damage also cause cancer.

 

While the concentrations of fluoride causing mutagenic damage in

laboratory studies are higher than the concentrations found in human

blood, there are certain " microenvironments " in the body (e.g. the

bones) where the concentrations of fluoride can accumulate to levels

comparable to, or in excess of, those causing mutagenic effects in the

laboratory.

 

Fluoride has been found to cause bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in

government animal studies and rates of osteosarcoma among young males

living in fluoridated areas have been found to be higher than young

males living in unfluoridated areas. Osteosarcoma, while rare, is a

very serious cancer. Children who develop osteosarcoma face a high

probability of death (usually within 3 years) or amputation.

 

FLUORIDE & BONE DISEASE (Click for more detail)

 

Excessive exposure to fluoride is well known to cause a bone

disease called skeletal fluorosis.

 

Skeletal fluorosis, especially in its early stages, is a difficult

disease to diagnose, and can be readily confused with various forms of

arthritis including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

In its advanced stages, fluorosis can resemble a multitude of

bone/joint diseases, including: osteosclerosis, renal osteodystrophy,

DISH, spondylosis, osteomalacia, osteoporosis, and secondary

hyperparathyroidism.

 

In individuals with kidney disease, fluoride exposure can

contribute to, and/or exacerbate, renal osteodystrophy.

 

FLUORIDE & BONE FRACTURE (Click for more detail)

 

The vast majority of animal studies investigating fluoride's

effect on bone strength, have found fluoride to either have no effect

or a negative effect on strength. Very few animal studies have

reported a beneficial effect.

 

Studies on human populations consuming fluoride in drinking water

have found an association between dental fluorosis and increased bone

fracture in children; and between long-term consumption of fluoridated

water and increased hip fracture in the elderly.

 

Carefully conducted human clinical trials - including two

" double-blind trials " - have found that fluoride (at doses of 18-34

mg/day for just 1-4 years) increases the rate of bone fracture,

particularly hip fracture, among osteoporosis patients.

 

FLUORIDE & the KIDNEYS (Click for more detail)

 

The kidneys play a vital role in preventing the build-up of

excessive fluoride in the body. Among healthy individuals, the kidneys

excrete approximately 50% of the daily fluoride intake. However, among

individuals with kidney disease, the kidneys' ability to excrete

becomes markedly impaired, resulting in a build-up of fluoride within

the body.

 

It is well recognized that individuals with kidney disease have a

heightened susceptibility to the cumulative toxic effects of fluoride.

 

Of particular concern is the potential for fluoride, when

accumulated in the skeletal system, to cause, or exacerbate, renal

osteodystrophy - a bone disease commonly found among people with

advanced kidney disease.

 

In addition, fluoride has been definitively shown to poison kidney

function at high doses over short-term exposures in both animals and

humans. The impact of low doses of fluoride, given over long periods

of time, has been inadequately studied. A recent animal study,

conducted by scientists at the US Environmental Protection Agency

(Varner 1998), reported that exposure to just 1 ppm fluoride caused

kidney damage in rats if they drank the water for an extended period

of time. Hence, the adverse effects to kidney function that fluoride

causes at high doses over short periods of time, may also be

replicated with small doses if consumed over long periods of time.

 

FLUORIDE & the THYROID GLAND

 

Up until the 1970s, doctors in Europe and South America used

inorganic fluoride compounds to treat patients with hyperthyroidism

(over-active thyroid). Fluoride was used because it was found

effective at reducing the activity of the thyroid gland - even at

doses as low as 2 to 5 mg/day.

 

Today, many people living in fluoridated communities are ingesting

the dose of fluoride (2 to 5 mg/day) once used by doctors to reduce

the thyroid's activity in hyperthyroid patients. This is of particular

concern considering the widespread problem of hypothyroidism

(under-active thyroid) in the United States. Symptoms of

hypothyroidism include obesity, lethargy, depression, and heart disease.

 

FLUORIDE & the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT (Click for more detail)

 

Among people hypersensitive to fluoride, gastrointestinal ailments

have been produced - in double-blind experiments - by as little as 1

mg of ingested fluoride (a dose readily exceeded by people living in a

fluoridated area.)

 

A single ingestion of as little as 3 mg of fluoride, in carefully

controlled clinical trials, has been found to produce damage to the

gastric mucosa in healthy adult volunteers. No research on the gastric

mucosa has ever been conducted to determine the effect of lower doses

with repeated exposure.

 

FLUORIDE & ALLERGY/HYPERSENSITIVITY (Click for more detail)

 

As acknowledged by the Physicians' Desk Reference, some

individuals are allergic/hypersensitive to fluoride. The largest,

government-funded, clinical trial found that 1% of individuals exposed

to 1 mg/day of fluoride exhibited allergic/hypersensitive reactions,

including skin reactions, gastric distress, and headache.

 

FLUORIDE & TOOTH DECAY (Caries) (Click for more detail)

 

According to the current consensus view of the dental research

community, fluoride's primary - if not sole - benefit to teeth comes

from TOPICAL application to the exterior surface of teeth, not from

ingestion.

 

In addition, fluoride's benefits are now acknowledged to be

primarily limited to the smooth surfaces of teeth - versus the pits

and fissures (chewing surfaces) where the majority of decay occurs.

 

Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, tooth decay rates have

declined at similar rates in all western countries in the latter half

of the 20th century - irrespective of whether the country fluoridates

its water or not. Today, tooth decay rates thoughout continental

western Europe are as low as the tooth decay rates in the United

States - despite a profound disparity in water fluoridation prevalence

in the two regions.

 

Within countries that fluoridate their water, recent large-scale

surveys of dental health - utilizing modern scientific methods not

employed in the early surveys from the 1930s-1950s - have found little

difference in tooth decay, including " baby bottle tooth decay " ,

between fluoridated and unfluoridated communities.