Harvard Fluoridated Water to Rare Bone Cancer

April 7, 2006

Fluoride debate may surge as treated water linked to cancer

By Jessica Fargen

Thursday, April 6, 2006

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Young boys who drink fluoridated tap water are at greater risk for a

rare bone cancer, Harvard researchers reported yesterday.

The study, published online yesterday in a Harvard-affiliated

journal, could intensify debate over fluoridation and mean more

scrutiny for Harvard's Dr. Chester Douglass,accused of fudging the

findings to downplay a cancer link.

" It's the best piece of work ever linking fluoride in tap water

and bone cancer. It's pretty damning for (Douglass), " said Richard

Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, which filed a complaint

with the National Institutes of Health against Douglass.

Douglass, an epidemiology professor at Harvard's School of

Dental Medicine, is paid as editor of the Colgate Oral Care Report, a

newsletter supported by the toothpaste maker.

Harvard and the NIH are investigating whether Douglass

misrepresented research findings last year when he said there was no

link, despite extensive research to the contrary by one of his

doctoral students. The NIH gave Douglass at least $1 million for the

research.

That student, Dr. Elise Bassin, wrote in yesterday's Cancer

Causes and Control that boys who drink water with levels of fluoride

considered safe by federal guidlines are five times more likely to

develop osteosarcoma than boys who drink unfluoridated water. About

250 U.S. boys each year are diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the most

common type of bone cancer and the sixth most common cancer in

children. Bassin notes that more research is needed to " confirm or

refute this observation. "

Douglass, in a letter to the editor published in the same issue,

said Bassin's study was a " partial view of this ongoing study, " and

urged readers to be " especially cautious " when interpreting the

findings.

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