Fluoride questions

Will the addition of fluoride affect the quality of drinking water?

ADA's Fluoridation Facts Short Answer
There is no scientific evidence that optimal levels of fluoride affect the quality of water. All ground and surface water in the United States contains some naturally occurring fluoride.

ADA's Fluoridation Facts Long Answer
Nearly all water supplies must undergo various water treatment processes to be safe and suitable for human consumption. The substances used for this purpose include aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride, ferric sulfate, activated carbon, lime, soda ash and, of course, chlorine. Fluoride is added only to water that has naturally occurring lower than optimal levels of this mineral.27

Fluoridation is the adjustment of the fluoride concentration of fluoride-deficient water supplies to the recommended range of 0.7 to 1.2 parts per million of fluoride for optimal dental health. The EPA has stated that fluoride in children's drinking water at levels of approximately 1.0 ppm reduces the number of dental cavities.202 The optimal level is dependent on the annual average of the maximum daily air temperature in the geographic area.27



Opposition's Response

Actually, "fluoride," as such, has never been added to any water supply. What is added is one of the silicofluorides. The most commonly used one is Hydrofluosilicic acid. "Hydrofluosilicic acid is the most corrosive chemical agent known to man: it is derived from toxic gases produced in the manufacture of phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers. It contains lead, mercury, arsenic, and high concentrations of radio nuclides; it is also the chemical agent most used for water fluoridation in the U.S. Because the industrial grade fluorosilicic acid is a toxic waste by-product recovered from chimney pollution scrubbers ("scrubber liquor"), the volume of contaminants is profoundly influenced by the method of manufacture and the quality of raw materials used." (See 32-1: "Water: A Toxic Dump?" by Journalist, George Glasser; reprinted from the Sarasota ECO Report, Vol. 4:12, Dec. 1994, from Health Freedom News, July 1995).

"For every 6,800 gallons of fluorosilicic acid (FSA), 5,800 gallons is toxic pollution." (See 32-2: Gary Pittman letter, 11/18/98, page 4. Mr. Pittman was a supervisor at Occidental Chemical Corp.)

As soon as you add any type of fluoride (a prescription drug) to the water supply, you no longer have pure water, you have medicated water, making it unsafe for many people. All other additives are there to improve the water-fluoride is added to treat the people who drink it.

As stated earlier, there is no such thing as "fluoride-deficient" water. In 1979, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that all government documents remove all references to fluoride as an "essential nutrient" or even a "probable essential nutrient." The FDA has never received or ever reviewed, much less approved, even the fluoride drops or tablets (which are pure pharmaceutical-grade fluoride) for safety or effectiveness. (See 13-2 document).

The Safe Drinking Water Initiative says: "Whereas water is essential to all and the public water supply should be safe for all to drink; and whereas individuals vary in their susceptibility and responses to various substances as well as in the amounts of water they consume; and whereas alternative methods of delivery for all substances exist; and, etc. ... the public water supply should not be used to deliver any product, substance, device, element, medicine of preventative agent with the intent or for the purpose of affecting the physical or mental functions of the body of any person consuming such water." (See 32-3 and 32-4: Safe Drinking Water Initiative).

When the Environmental Protection Agency was engaged in revising its drinking water standard for fluorine in 1985, the EPA's Headquarters Union of Scientists (consisting of 1,500 professional people) made a thorough investigation into the pros and cons of fluoridation. Their conclusions were: The public water supply should not be used "as a vehicle for disseminating this toxic and prophylactically useless (via ingestion, at any rate) substance." (See 1-6: EPA statement dated May 1, 1999).

The ADA leads the reader to believe that they are "adjusting the natural fluoride content of the water." Only calcium fluoride is found in nature, never the silicofluorides (crude toxic industrial waste products) that are used to fluoridate water. (See answer to Question 1).

We must also consider the environmental impact of fluorides in sewer effluent. This has been consistently ignored. A study of salmonids in the lower Columbia River for the period 1982-86 is one of several which document devastating effects of fluoride emissions at and below the levels to be expected in sewage effluent from fluoridated water systems. ("Evidence for Fluoride Effects on Salmon Passage at John Day Dam, Columbia River", 1982-1986 by David M. Damkaer and Douglas B. Dey in North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 9:154-162, 1989.)

source link:
http://www.fluoridedebate.com/question32.html

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From the U.S. Department of Agriculture lists the fluoride content of many foods here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html

Waters, tap

Item Mean - mcg/100g ** - Std Error - Num datapts - Min Value - Max Value

all regions, all (includes municipal and well) 71 - 2.8 - 288 - 1 - 193
all regions, municipal $ 81 - 2.9 - 238 - 2 - 193
all regions, well 26 - 4.8 - 50 - 1 - 162
Mid-West, all (includes municipal and well) 88 - 5.1 - 68 - 4 - 167
Mid-West, municipal 99 - 4.6 - 52 - 4 - 167
Mid-West, well 53 - 12.2 - 16 - 5 - 162
Northeast, all (includes municipal and well) 69 - 7.5 - 56 - 2 - 193
Northeast, municipal 74 - 7.7 - 52 - 2 - 193
Northeast, well 9 - 3.0 - 4 - 4 - 17
South, all (includes municipal and well) 76 - 4.6 - 100 - 1 - 191
South, municipal 93 - 4.0 - 80 - 9 - 191
South, well 10 - 1.6 - 20 - 1 - 30
West, all (includes municipal and well) 47 - 4.8 - 64 - 3 - 135
West, municipal 51 - 5.5 - 54 - 3 - 135
West, well 24 - 4.3 - 10 - 5 - 48

**mcg/100g = ppm * 100 (beverages corrected for specific gravity)
$ Municipal water is not well water.

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AMERICA: OVERDOSED ON FLUORIDE
http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/Fluoride.htm

The Phosphate Fertilizer Industry: An Environmental Overview
http://fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm

Fluoride Action Network
http://www.fluoridealert.org/

In this website, The Fluoride Debate, we have juxtaposed the arguments presented by the American Dental Association (ADA) with comments from many of the independent scientists who have examined the issue with an open mind. We believe that if people take the time to read and study both sides of the fluoridation debate — especially the science that has emerged over the last ten years — they will be appalled by the practice of putting this known toxic substance into the public drinking water. The benefits have been wildly exaggerated and the risks have been downplayed.