USA - Letter

LETTER: Don't add chemicals to water Don't add chemicals to our water Hydrofluorosilicic acid is the fluoride that would be used in New Bedford's drinking water if voted in. This chemical is not the naturally occurring fluoride that many are misled to believe would be used. This chemical is a very potent waste product which would be regulated as hazardous waste if it were dumped into rivers, the ocean, or anywhere else other than into drinking water. The waste product is collected in the pollution control systems of phosphate fertilizer factories. It contains arsenic, lead and radio nuclides and is added unprocessed to drinking water supplies. The practice of water fluoridation is very profitable to the phosphate industry converting a hazardous waste disposal cost of about $400 million a year to a profit of about $180 million from sales to public water systems. Evidence has shown a variety of harmful health effects from fluoride ingestion but no significant difference in tooth decay in fluoridated communities verses non-fluoridated communities. In 1999, the Boston Globe ran a front page story detailing the oral health crisis among Boston's poor. They reported with a study estimating the number of untreated cavities among Boston students greatly exceeds the national average. Public health officials recognized this as a growing dental crisis in the city. The article pointed out that Boston has been fluoridated since 1978. A study published in the journal Pediatric Dentistry brought out that children from poor areas in New York City have much higher rates of dental decay than the national average. The Bronx has been fluoridated since the 1960s. Adding insult to injury, it is precisely the poor who are often the most susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride. The issue of fluoridated water prompted the 1993 "Toxicological Profile for Fluorides, Hydrogen Fluoride and Fluorine" (US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1993). Page 112 states existing data indicate that subsets of the population may be unusually susceptible to the effects of fluoride and its compounds. These populations include the elderly, people with deficiencies of calcium, magnesium and vitamin C, and people with cardiovascular and kidney problems. Poor nutrition increases the incidence and severity of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis." The EPA revealed 'at risk' populations for exposure to fluorides in drinking water are in the tens of millions of Americans: 52 million are 55 and older, 22 million have cardiovascular disease, 2 million have kidney disorders. Some 27 percent of the population have Vitamin C deficiency, 37 percent have magnesium deficiency and 44 percent have calcium deficiency. As noted by the National Research Council of Canada, fluoride increases the body's metabolic requirement of certain nutrients. The more fluoride a person consumes, the more essential nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and vitamin C, the body will need to stay healthy. Consequently, those deficient as in the case with poor children have less inborn defense against fluoride's toxic effects. The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology has classified fluoride as an unapproved dental medicament due to its high toxicity. Fluoride was found to be an equivocal carcinogen by the National Cancer Institute Toxicological Program. In April 1998, after trying to resolve an ethics issue within the EPA regarding a regulation for a safe drinking water standard for fluoride, union representing 1,500 scientists, lawyers, engineers and other professionals in Washington took a public stand opposed to water fluoridation. The union stated that their opposition to drinking water fluoridation has grown based on the scientific literature documenting the increasing out-of-control exposures to fluoride, the lack of benefit to dental health from ingestion of fluoride and the hazards to human health from such ingestion. This includes acute toxic hazard to people with kidney problems, gene mutations, cancer, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, bone pathology and dental fluorosis. In August of 2005, eleven EPA unions, representing over 7,000 members and health care professionals, called for a national moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs. They acted following information of an apparent cover-up of evidence from Harvard School of Dental Medicine linking fluoridation with an increased risk of fatal bone cancer in young males. In March 2006, after reviewing 1,000 scientific papers on fluoridation, the National Academy of Sciences released a 450-page report arguing that the current EPA standard of 4 parts per million fluoride is not protective of human health. The report documents fluoride's role in dental fluorosis, (damaged tooth enamel), skeletal fluorosis, (brittle bones, increased risk of fractures), impaired thyroid function and possible links to diabetes, reduced IQ, early onset of puberty and more. Already with the City of New Bedford's low MCAS scores and very high dropout rate, does it make sense to further add to the problem by adding fluoride to the water? Several studies presented at the March 2006 Conferences of the American Association for Dental Research showed no benefit from fluoridation but increased risk of dental fluorosis in fluoridated communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 32 percent of American children have some form of dental fluorosis with 2 to 4 percent of children having the moderate to severe types. Additionally, we are already exposed to fluoride in toothpaste, a variety of foods and beverages made or processed with fluoridated water or even sprayed with fluoridated pesticides. The general population is already exposed to very high doses without adding fluoride to our local drinking water. I feel very strongly that cancer is a man-made disease. We are a product of the environment we live in, what we breathe, ingest or drink. It makes more sense to clear our environment of all toxic chemicals than to further contaminate it by adding more. I am hoping that all who read this, share the word so that everyone understands that water fluoridation is toxic. To "treat" tooth decay in the city of New Bedford, this needs to be done by educating those involved about proper nutrition and good oral hygiene including providing children with toothbrushes and toothpaste in schools and encouraging local and state officials to provide free dental care for those in need. Please be smart and vote "NO" to water fluoridation. Karen A. Vilandry Fairhaven