365 Ways #5–my response to the pro-fluoride crowd

And here's my response to some pro-fluoride comments I received:

#5—Can we at least agree that Lead is not healthy and shouldn’t be in our water supply? The Environmental Protection Agency has set the MCL (Maximum Content Level) for Lead in drinking water at .015 ppm (.015mg/liter). That’s pretty low. Their goal is 0 ppm. But nobody is perfect, so let’s just assume .015ppm is low enough to be safe. After all, the most recent edition of the Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products only lists Lead as somewhere between moderately toxic and very toxic. There are many other substances which, if consumed, would be far worse. Interestingly enough, one of these is Fluoride; it’s clearly ranked by the CTCP as very toxic. Yet, the artificial fluoridation of our water supply is, on average, 1 ppm. That’s 67 times higher than the acceptable level for lead—in 4 cups! Boy, I need a drink!

But all that Fluoride must somehow be good for my teeth—that’s why it’s in our water in the first place. I mean, cavities are a sure sign we have a fluoride deficiency in our bodies, right? Well, one of the largest studies on the effectiveness of fluoride is one from New Zealand where, examining the teeth of every child in key age groups, it was concluded that the teeth of children in non-fluoridated cities were slightly better than those in the fluoridated cities. (Colquhoun, J. “Child Dental Health Differences in New Zealand”, Community Healthy Services, XI 85-90, 1987). A dentist named H.T. Dean did “research” back in 1939 that set the current level of fluoride in the U.S. water supply saying that this “optimal dose” would give everyone perfect teeth free of dental cavities. Sounds good to me. Only it didn’t sound good to some scientists who investigated Dean’s data and forced him, under oath, to admit his data was invalid. In fact, in 1957, Dean admitted at AMA hearings that as little as .1ppm could cause dental fluorosis—an early sign of fluoride poisoning.

See, fluoride is a cumulative toxin. Its MCL level (4ppm) is set to prevent the third and most severe stage of Crippling Skeletal Fluorisis. But a 1991 report by the U.S. Public Health Service showed that total fluoride intake from water, toothpastes/rinses, air, supplements, and food (non-organic foods carry high levels of fluoride due to the application of pesticides) was in excess of 6.5 ppm. Some estimates set this number as high as 8ppm. One of the worst offenders in the food supply is tea. They drink a lot of that stuff over in England. Wonder what their teeth look like? It’s also in Prozac—but who knows anyone on that med? I do know a lot of people taking Synthroid. It was the top selling drug in 1999. And hasn’t fluoride been used for decades as an effective treatment for hyperthyroidism, and at levels well below the current “optimal” intake? Wonder if ingesting all this fluoride jacked up their thyroid glands so much they needed medical intervention….

Look, I know a lot of people may find this information hard to believe. When a person has beliefs or values that are called into question, it’s easy for that person to consider it a personal attack. That’s not my intention. I just want people to open their eyes. Don’t just believe something is true because a person with some impressive initials after his name told you it is. I don’t care if it’s your teacher, your doctor, or (god forbid) Oprah Winfrey. Do your own research. See if it makes sense—common sense. Mark Twain once said “don’t let your education get in the way of your learning.” That’s harder to do for some than for others. After all, wasn’t it Mark Twain who also said that whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over?