Part One
By Joe Farkus, NDG Contributing Writer
While fluoride exists naturally in water, cities and municipalities have been adding more of it in drinking water to combat dental cavities, prevent tooth decay, and improve overall dental health. Dallas has been doing this for decades and for the past 5 years, a group of dedicated activists has been fighting what they see as a major health concern regarding the amount of fluoride added to the city’s water supply. Despite past failures to get the City of Dallas to end its water fluoridation program, these activists believe they have new evidence that will finally turn the tide in their favor.
“You are deciding between possible tooth decay reduction and expected brain damage,” Regina Imburgia, a leader of the group Activists for Truth and Liberty, told the Dallas City Council during a council meeting in October. “Look into the 12-year fluoride study that was just published on Sept. 19, 2017. “
The study Imburgia referenced in her comments to the council caught the attention of national news outlets upon its publication. It evaluated roughly 299 pairs of Mexican mothers and their children, testing the children for cognitive development over a period of 12 years. While the study did find a decrease in intelligence test scores in children who were exposed to increased levels of fluoride, the study’s researchers only found a possible connection to fluoride exposure for children while they were still in their mother’s womb – not after they were born. It is also important to note, studies that have yet to be replicated – such as the one in question – are generally not taken as concrete evidence of a phenomenon.
Imburgia disagrees.
“The credibility of this study is beyond reproach,” Imburgia told the Council. “This study isolated fluoride and fluoride alone as the determining factor that lowered the IQ.”
There have been numerous objections to the interpretation some activists have taken from the report. The American Dental Association (ADA) responded in a press release claiming the report’s findings are not applicable to the United States due to the significant differences in how citizens of Mexico and the U.S. intake fluoride (the substance is not added to salt in the U.S. and is only added to water when the naturally occurring level of fluoride in water is lower than the recommended level) and the unknown nature of how participants in the study ingested fluoride. Critics have also been quick to point out the study’s findings do not reflect how much fluoride participants were exposed to through naturally occurring levels of fluoride in their water.
According to the city’s 2016 Water Quality Report, the average level of fluoride in Dallas’s public water is 0.7 parts per million (ppm) – well within the recommended standards of the CDC (1.0 ppm), the US Public Health Service (0.7 ppm), and the Environmental Protection Agency (which has set a limit of 4 milligrams per liter).
Despite this, Imburgia and her fellow activists remain convinced Dallas’ fluoridation program is dangerous. In her opinion, the Dallas City Council has other reasons for not agreeing with her conclusions.
“The status quo has been comfortable for them,” Imburgia told the North Dallas Gazette. “Over the years, being called anti-fluoride or whatever – you’re a kook or a nut or a tin-foil hat. They don’t want those labels.”
The Dallas City Council will likely have to decide on whether to approve a new contract to fluoridate the city’s water early this year.
Next week, look for Part Two of our coverage on water fluoridation in North Texas, where we discuss which of Dallas’s surrounding cities add fluoride into their water and which do not and why.
Arsenic occurs naturally in drinking water also. But it and fluoride are deadly poisons. Knowledgeable scientists recommend that all consume as close to zero as possible.
Fluoride should be prescribed to individuals by medical professionals, not by communities.
The whole world is aware of the fluoridation scheme. While 74% of the U.S. is forced to drink fluoridate water, only 5% of the world and only 3% of Europe fluoridate their water. China and Japan have rejected it many years ago.
First, fluoride is fluoride. It doesn’t matter the source. For a healthy individual, exposure via water, food, or breathing contaminated air is the same world-wide. For a healthy individual approximately 50% of the fluoride that one is exposed to on a daily basis will remain in the body, the other 50% will be excreted through the kidneys. This study found a very large effect. An increase in urine fluoride of 1 mg/L was associated with a drop in IQ of 5 to 6 points. To put this into perspective with the fluoride levels ingested by the Mexican mothers and the levels ingested in fluoridated parts of the USA, the average fluoride intake in the Mexican mothers was about the same as that in women in the USA. It was not substantially higher. The range of fluoride levels in Mexico also corresponded closely to the range found in most of the USA. The higher levels were similar to what is found in areas in the USA with fluoridated water, and the lower levels were similar to what is found in most unfluoridated parts of the USA.
The Mexican study is not relevant to Texas. In Mexico, the amount of fluoride in the water is not measured. The people who wrote the Mexican study did not control for lead and arsenic which are elements that are known to affect the health of brains. This article is very badly conceived. Fluoride is safe and effective. It would be a terrible mistake for Texans to lose this public health measure.
Thank you for your comment. NDG does not take a position on the issue, nor does the article. A similar criticism to the one you presented is actually included in the article:
“The American Dental Association (ADA) responded in a press release claiming the report’s findings are not applicable to the United States due to the significant differences in how citizens of Mexico and the U.S. intake fluoride (the substance is not added to salt in the U.S. and is only added to water when the naturally occurring level of fluoride in water is lower than the recommended level) and the unknown nature of how participants in the study ingested fluoride. Critics have also been quick to point out the study’s findings do not reflect how much fluoride participants were exposed to through naturally occurring levels of fluoride in their water.”
“Fluoride is not Fluoride” as some may presume. Lack of knowledge is part of the problem.
Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is the additive the City of Dallas uses in the drinking water. It is a diluted version of fluorosilicic acid not to be confused with naturally occurring calcium fluoride.
As mentioned on Organic-Gardening-and-HomeSteading.com:
“Fluorosilicic acid is a waste product of the phosphate fertilizer industry and is heavily contaminated with toxins and heavy metals (including the cancerous arsenic, lead and cadmium) and radioactive materials. This substance is the waste residue from the superphosphate fertilizer industry, and about 70 to 75 percent of this stuff comes from the Cargill fertilizer manufacturing company.”
Dr. J. William Hirzy, EPA scientist, is reported to have said, “If the stuff gets out into the air, it’s a pollutant; if it gets into the river, it’s a pollutant, if it gets into a lake, it’s a pollutant; but if it goes right straight into your drinking water system, it’s not a pollutant. That’s amazing!”
Will the Mayor of Dallas as well as the City Council even conduct their own study? Lack of leadership is another part of the problem. Appease the status quo.
I’m hoping that by the time the smoke clears on this matter, Hydrofluorosilicic Acid, the additive the City of Dallas uses in the drinking water will be viewed for what it is. Activists like Regina Imburgia will be owed a debt of gratitude and her critics will owe her an engraved apology.
A study in Harvard’s The Lancet published in 2015 weighs in on the toxins causing autism and ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) say that along with these numerous environmental toxins, fluoridated water is adding to the higher incident of both cognitive and behavioral disorders. Harvard had already published a study in 2006 that pointed to fluoride as a ‘developmental neurotoxicant’, and this newer study looks to over 27 additional investigations into the matter via meta nalysis. In the previous study, it was already established that fluoride consumption lowered children’s IQ scores. The left-over from industry, passed off as ‘medicine,’ obstructs brain development, and can cause a full spectrum of serious health issues – from autism to dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, and more. The study calls the effects from this chemical a ‘silent epidemic’ that mainstream media and many scientific papers have ignored. Two of the main researchers involved in the study, Philippe Grandjean from HSPH and Philip Landrigan from ISMMS, say that incidences of chemical-related neurodevelopmental disorders have doubled over the past seven years from six to 12. The study admits that there are numerous chemicals to blame – many of which are untested or ceremoniously approved by the FDA, USDA, and CDC without truly knowing their long term ramifications on human health – but that fluoride is a definite culprit.
Get Informed on the dangers of fluoride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-oeu2L8yM&t=4811s
4800 professionals agree with Regina that ingesting fluoride is ineffective in reducing tooth decay and harmful to health http://researchers/professionals-statement. Also agreeing with regina is an international dentists group – the IAOMT. Science does NOT support fluoridation – only politics does.
Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth. Consuming a fluoride free diet does NOT cause tooth decay. Fluoridation is an outdated concept continued by legislators afraid to buck rich and powerful special interest groups whose political viability is tied to fluoridation
The Sept 2017 NIH/EPA sponsored longitudinal study is the most rigorous neurotoxicity study to date, but its findings validate the findings of dozens of human and hundreds of laboratory studies. Low dose prenatal exposure consistent with doses in ‘optimally’ fluoridated communities result in up to a 6 point lower IQ on a dose response trend line – after excluding all high risk pregnancies such as those with kidney disease and diabetes. Another recent study (Malin & Till 2015) found tens of thousands more 11 year olds diagnosed with ADHD in fluoridated American regions. Animal studies suggest timing of exposure, prenatal or during early childhood, dictate whether the impact is lowered IQ or increased learning disabilities.
For a non-scientific organization like the ADA to claim that because the most likely source of the fluoride was salt instead of water and suggest more study is needed in fluoridated American communities is suggesting experimentation on pregnant women and their children when the predicted outcome is subtle but permanent brain damage. Neither dentists nor city councils should be making that decision for their constituents. No one should.
Thank you to Joe Farkus and The North Dallas Gazette for shinning some light on this important issue. A friend that read this article before I read got to read it said, “It was fair, unbiased a “We report you decide” piece”. Bravo! THIS is what the Public has been missing!
Many videos of us speaking during Open Mic to Mayor Rawlings and the Dallas City Council can be watched by going to http://www.DogsAgainstFluoridation.com (on the Home page you can also read an explanation of the Website name) Scroll down read and sign our petition to the Mayor to; Stop the Unsafe Ineffective Fluoridation Program. Take just few minutes (just scrolling the Home Page) to see we have facts that show The Fluoridation Program is Not Safe and it Disproportionately effects Hispanics and Blacks!
We need more people to become informed and remind the Dallas City Council they REPRESENT US! The Council is supposed to be the gate-keepers and SHOULD be Looking into the REALITY of this unhealthy 20th Century program! 20th Century science and the CDC approved smoking and drinking when pregnant, AND said the Tuskegee Experiments were safe!!
There are Much Better ways to help the poverty areas fight tooth decay! Ingesting fluoride to help your teeth when the CDC states positive action of fluoride it topical, is like drinking suntan lotion to prevent a sun burn!
The Fluoridation Program needs to Stop until it can be proven safe for everyone. Dallas needs to follow the Precautionary Rule: When in Doubt- Leave it Out!
Without getting into the weeds here, deliberately contaminating the public water supply in Dallas with Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is a terrible idea. “It’s for the children” proponents say but they omit the fact that only the teeth of children benefit from topical exposure – it does not benefit the teeth of adults. Its also a deadly poison. The required public health notices on product labeling clearly state that it should never be taken internally. The stuff is a also recognized neuro-toxin that accumulates in the brains and livers of adults. There is evidence of long term health consequences for those of us that drink the treated water for 30-70 years. And finally, Hydrofluorosilicic Acid leaches lead from the lead solder holding together the copper water pipes in our houses. If you have copper piping in your Dallas house, you also have lead in your domestic water. It seems clear to me that even if the children do receive some short term benefit from drinking water dosed with Hydrofluorosilicic Acid, the long term health risks to us all should mandate its removal.
I demand the ending of forced medication on my family!
This is illegal and there will be lawsuits filed.
If anyone wants to go ahead and take it, they can go out and buy it themselves.
It costs me a small fortune to filter it out of our families water.
Stop the insanity!
You don’t drink your sunscreen! Fluoride in the public water has always been insane. It kills fish in your aquarium. It makes horses’ bones brittle, undermining their health. Fluoridated water has killed dialysis patients, when substituted for filtered water used in dialysis. Fluoridated water punishes the athlete or health conscious who drink the full 8 glasses of water a day. You get double-dosed when you take a shower or hot bath. No other drug is so carelessly administered with regard to dose. Ingestion of a pea-sized dose of fluoride toothpaste by a child is reason to call poison control. This is on the toothpaste label. But perhaps the worst, fluoride discriminates. Dallas residents who live in impoverished areas of the City have older pipes which contain lead. The Fluorocilicic Acid the City uses in their mix to supplement the naturally-occurring fluoride in our water supply leaches lead out of the old pipes into the water the disadvantaged drink. No one is asking Dallas to filter out the .5 level of naturally-occurring calcium fluoride. Why spend over a million dollars damaging Dallas residents’ health when we already have enough of the natural stuff for the supposed dental benefits? If this were an I.Q. test . . . the entire Council failed it.
Putting aside the obvious problem that the most fluoridated areas show the most tooth decay, I want to bring up something less well known. I was surprised to learn that thousands of EPA scientist (nor brass) have signed a public statement denouncing the practice. This carefully made documentary tells the story of how that developed, and spurred the modern outcry against this scam. Fluoridegate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITy04DpZpl0
EPA Scientist
http://www.cleanwatersonomamarin.org/get-the-facts/hirzy/hirzy-senate-testimony/
PS The fact that the FDA refuses to test fluoridated water is at the heart of the corruption being currently exposed.
The City of Dallas Council members are guilty of TREASON, WARRING on We the People, as the facts & the law support this claim!
Whether is to policing for profit & unjust enrichment OR adding lethal chemicals to the city water
these are CRIMINAL ACTS & justice MUST be served!
How many people in Dallas have rec’d bogus Speeding tickets – see Texas Trans Code 201.904,
or had their insurance rates increases contrary to Texas Trans Code 707.018, 707.019 –
the tyranny MUST come to an abrupt END!
I don’t drink the City of Dallas Kool-Aid or eat their baloney sandwiches they serve to the inmates in that are falsely arrested by DPD. For more information, contact me! I NO LONGER pay traffic tickets or Sales Tax b/c it is against the law. See TCCrP 43.02, et al.
I want to commend The North Dallas Gazette and Mr Farkus for shining the spotlight on this issue with true journalistic, balanced reporting.
As a person degreed in Biological-Chemistry-Toxicology, the importance of this issue cannot be overstated. Most folks commonly underestimate the terrible toxicity of swallowing Fluoride, because small ingested amounts accumulate/react overtime.
SCIENCE – In order to make an informed decision about swallowing fluoride, an individual needs to review the actual published scientific studies in a variety of journals.
It is very well documented that the Dallas City Council Members, and also the Quality of Life Committee, have never provided any credible scientific study which states that swallowing fluoridated water is completely safe for everyone. Not once has any Council member shown or referenced published scientific studies.
In fact, during the final months of the 2015 water fluoridation vote, a citizen can observe video records/photos of the blatant disinterest in scientific literature by Dallas Council Members. It is an embarrassment.
The City Council Members played “Doctor” in 2015 by prescribing “ingested fluoride” to every individual and animal for the 25 cities with which it administrates water treatment. Playing “Doctor” without citing any scientific literature which verifies this ingestion is safe for everyone is gross malpractice.
However, the Dallas City Council has been presented with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of scientific studies which demonstrate how ingesting fluoride can harm a person’s health. Each Council person was even presented with a beautifully indexed thick binder packed with scientific studies covering a wide spectrum of ailments. They trashed it.
The volume of scientific studies which show harmful health effects from fluoride is beyond count.
Duh?! Does the City Council think that every one of those studies are invalid?
Or, do they not truly care about the health of all citizens?
More and more cities are reversing the fluoridation of their drinking water. These cities are usually not big cities, and they mostly have white populations.
Today, fluoridatiion is mostly confined to big cities with minorities being the majority population. I believe that floridating drinking water in minority communities is racist, with the intent to dumb down, and sicken the minorities.
It appears my comment was redacted . . . “moderated”. . . Still puzzled how you can moderate truthful statements. But, if we can’t get it done, we’ll do it in pieces. Piece #1, horses and fluoride:
http://www.fluorideresearch.org/391/files/3913-10.pdf
Are real comments so dangerous? Piece #2:
http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_health/health2/18-08-flouride-problems-lead-leaching-plumbing.htm
. . . the redacted one.
Piece #3: Dialysis Deaths:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-07-31/news/9307310110_1_dialysis-patients-dialysis-deaths-fluoride
You have to read past the first paragraph to understand that it is an issue of “dose”, and not of the amount of fluoride in the drinking water. This also should validate #4: dosage; which is completely uncontrolled. Also find it interesting that the high level of accumulated fluoride interfered with the electrical signaling of the body and caused heart failure! Filter failed. They got unfiltered City water. That’s all it took to kill.
As far as “my bad” claiming the Dallas City Council would fail the I.Q. test. I have appeared and spoken before the Council. I have attended many Council meetings. The embarrassing display of having the Mayor bring in his dentist from his church to be an expert witness . . . when the man’s logic should have been put out to pasture! You can’t claim fluoridation’s benefits and then spend all your time talking about the horrible dental condition of your patients you treated AFTER fluoridation was introduced. And that joke was pitted against real scientists and scientific studies! Yes, I.Q. is a valid question.
I fully agree with Regina’s article, and this comment is coming from a practicing dentist. Fluoride is a toxic poison and is a major detriment to the health of all humans and animals. It has been proven to be a major disrupter of the Thyroid gland which is obviously not good for humans. It should not be in our city water supply, period.
In university chemistry and biochemistry classes and research labs, I was taught that fluoride chemicals (fluorine-containing) are extremely toxic substances that are highly reactive and interact with living cells in harmful ways even in low levels. Hydrofluorosilicic acid that is added to the Dallas water supply is strongly acid such that it corrodes metal allowing lead to be leached into the water from plumbing equipment resulting in elevated lead exposure in children, and is so acidic that it digests glass.
Anyone who claims that fluoride chemicals are not toxic in drinking water is ignoring the basic facts of chemistry and biochemistry.
For example, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences had a panel of twelve experts publish a fluoride science review in 2006 and they looked at 1,100 scientific studies reporting that fluoride has adverse effects in human endocrine glands including the thyroid, among just one of its findings. The thyroid plays a key role in metabolism. Low thyroid can lead to increased obesity and other health problems.
Now a new study in Birmingham, England published in 2015 in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, has correlated increase in hypothyroidism with fluoride drinking water in a large population review of medical data. Birmingham was compared to Manchester where no fluoride is added to the drinking water, and Manchester residents had healthier thyroids than those drinking the fluoridated water in Birmingham.
Another new 2015 research investigation in the U.S. titled, “Water Fluoridation Linked to Higher ADHD rates,” in children reports on the recently published study in the journal of Environmental Health. The study, “Exposure to fluoridated water and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States: an ecological association,” discovered the following: “State prevalence of artificial water fluoridation in 1992 significantly positively predicted state prevalence of ADHD in 2003, 2007, and 2011, even after controlling for socioeconomic status.
Studies are linking fluoride with low IQ in children. Indeed, fifty studies in children indicate that fluoride consumption is linked with lower IQ levels such that fluoride is no listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a neurotoxin.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says that babies under 6 months should not get any fluoride.
Kidney patients and diabetics are particularly vulnerable to harm from ingested fluoride, and African-Americans suffer in greater percentages from kidney disease and diabetes.
In April, 2016, a different reporter for The North Dallas Gazette also wrote a wonderful article.
http://northdallasgazette.com/2016/04/13/flint-just-tip-iceberg/
QUOTE excerpts…
DALLAS WATER SUPPLY
“…In spite of public outcry the Dallas City Council moved forward and voted in favor to add Hydrofluorosilicic Acid (HFS) to the drinking water. Council members were warned of the dangers of HFS, the potential adverse effects it could have on residents as it is highly contaminated with toxins including lead and the fact that African-Americans are at the greatest risk leading with higher lead levels than their White and Hispanic counterparts…”
I am convinced!…like I was 20 years ago. Stop the fluoride NOW!
I wonder how the people of Dallas will act after a generation of no fluoride.
J. S. Gentry,
Your original comment, like several others, was in pending status therefore possibly the entire message was not viewable – it had not been reviewed and certainly not redacted. While NDG does reserve the right to not approve comments, unless they are offensive, they are usually approved as is – to allow readers to form their own opinion of comments submitted.
Mr. Johnson: A new term is going to enter the fray soon. “Fluoride Deniers.” Fluoride ions are fluoride ions but I say again, Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is not Calcium Fluoride.
At the very least, claiming alleged contaminants when its contents are well documented? What does toxins and heavy metals (including the cancerous arsenic, lead and cadmium) and radioactive material contaminants have to do with the prevention of tooth decay?
Do we blindly trust government minions to control the amount of toxins we are forced to ingest through our gastrointestinal system without even a challenge? This assists in tooth decay? Please explain.
We have EPA scientists, PhDs, MDs on record, all staunchly opposed to what has become commonly known as fluoridation of the water supply to prevent tooth decay.
What we have is the addition of Hydrofluorosilicic Acid to the City of Dallas drinking water (and the municipalities the city of Dallas sells its water to). Who is willing to voluntarily accept that these levels of known toxins are acceptable for ingestion? I say no!
Have you ever seen how corrosive Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is to the treatment facility that uses it? You have to wear a chemical suit to properly apply it. That’s a job I wouldn’t want.
Perhaps a little more honesty in research and a little less “copy and paste” might garner your comments the recognition you think they deserve.
This continual outpouring of completely unsupported and unsupportable anti-F vitriol is remarkable. To continue addressing specific anti-F comments…
The fluoridation opponents (FOs) below are simply repeating standard, unproven anti-F claims. There is no legitimate evidence of short or long term harm from drinking optimally fluoridated water. That is the reason the scientific consensus of relevant experts that fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure to reduce dental decay and related health issues in a community. That is the reason over 100 recognized national and international science and health organizations (and their many thousands of members) continue to recognize the benefits of fluoridation. These organizations include The WHO, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association.
~> http://ada.org/en/public-programs/advocating-for-the-public/fluoride-and-fluoridation/fluoridation-facts/fluoridation-facts-compendium
~> http://ilikemyteeth.org/fluoridation/why-fluoride/
I challenge the FOS to explain why, if the alleged claims that fluoridation is harmful and ineffective have any credibility, all these organizations and their members have not recognized it? Why are there no recognized science or health organizations that support the anti-F propaganda?
Steve Madison – jumped headfirst into the weeds in his attempt to explain fluoridation. I’m trying to stay out of the weeds here: deliberately adding chemicals to drinking water to improve the safety and protect the health of citizens who drink it is precisely what public water treatment is. Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is no more a “deadly poison” than are chlorine gas (a chemical weapon), sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, aluminum sulfate, hydrochloric acid and other chemicals added to treat water. All these chemicals are highly diluted and regulated to be within safe levels. Exposure to optimal levels of fluoride ions (0.7 ppm) in drinking water benefits teeth as they are forming and helps protect the exposed enamel of teeth in both children and adults.
Erin – How do you justify your claim that fluoridation is “forced medication”? There is no evidence that fluoridation is a form of medication – period! How, exactly, are you forced to drink the fluoridated water – mind control? Physical force? Any rational citizens I know who choose not to ingest chemicals in tap water (residual disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, fluoride ions and other natural/added chemicals) are completely free to find other sources of water or take steps to remove the chemicals they dislike ingesting – they don’t go running around demanding that water treatment be halted.
J.S. Gentry – You don’t drink your bleach either – what’s your point? Drinking fluoridated water has never killed anyone – unless they died from ingesting too many H2O molecules in too short a time – yes, drinking pure H2O can kill a person. According to the logic of FOs, providing public water should be banned because water is poisonous. You also don’t seem to understand the difference between a tube of fluoridated toothpaste which contains over 1,000 times the level of fluoride ions found in a liter of optimally fluoridated water. Fluorosilicic Acid does not leach lead out of water pipes – in fact, the disadvantaged who don’t have access to dental care are some of the primary beneficiaries of the reduce risk of dental decay – but FOs simply don’t care about public health.
~> https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2015/september/fight-over-fluoride-in-dallas-water-supply/
~> https://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/pdf/urbansky_schock.pdf
~> https://openparachute.wordpress.com/tag/fluorosilicic-acid/
honkyhanky – You provide no evidence to prove your claims, and there is over 70 years of evidence that, after adjusting for other possible causes (confounding factors) those who drink optimally fluoridated water have less tooth decay. I just contacted the EPA, and there is no evidence that EPA scientists denounce fluoridation. You are referring to a few EPA scientists many years ago who signed a statement which was never representative of the EPA or any other legitimate government, science or health organization.
~> http://www.cyber-nook.com/water/fluoridationreferences.htm
Katman – Council members are guilty of “TREASON” for following the scientific consensus that fluoridation is safe and effective – really? They would be guilty of caving to anti-science fear-mongering if they did not accurately evaluate the legitimate evidence.
TomT – The volume of scientific studies which show harmful effects from drinking optimally fluoridated water is zero. As a person “degreed in Biological-Chemistry-Toxicology”, you seem remarkably unable to understand a simple scientific truth. Like most FOs, you seem to believe that a substance which can be shown to be harmful at excessive exposure levels should be avoided at all levels of exposure. Of course, any substance can be shown to be highly toxic at high enough exposure levels, so what is your point?
Richard Sheridan – So, do you have any proof that “floridating drinking water in minority communities is racist, with the intent to dumb down, and sicken the minorities”?
Dr. Charles Sizemore – Provide specific proof (citations and author quotes) that drinking optimally fluoridated water is a toxic poison which is “a major disrupter of the Thyroid gland”. There is none.
Neil Carman – As a PhD you should be aware that posting the standard anti-F argument that “fluoride chemicals (fluorine-containing) are extremely toxic substances that are highly reactive…” is simply fear mongering. You should also have been able to sort through the studies and discover that Hydrofluorosilicic acid, when properly added and diluted does not corrode metal pipes and dissolve lead. You should also have been able to understand that the 2006 NRC Fluoride review committee “was asked to evaluate independently the scientific basis of EPA’s MCLG of 4 mg/L and SMCL of 2 mg/L in drinking water and the adequacy of those guidelines to protect children and others from adverse health effects.” Yet there was no recommendation to lower the SMCL below 2.0 ppm (nearly three times the fluoride level of optimally fluoridated water) for any reason – not even for an increased risk of dental fluorosis. If there were any concerns from drinking water with a fluoride content of 2.0 ppm those concerns would have been mentioned. Similarly, your claims that studies have found links between fluoridation and hypothyroidism, ADHD and lowered IQ are at best suggestion of a possible correlation, and all such studies (as you as a scientist should be aware) have serious flaws which render them totally unsuitable for changing the scientific consensus that fluoridation is a safe and effective public health measure. That is the reason over 100 of the major science and health organizations (and their thousands of members) continue to recognize the benefits of fluoridation.
~> https://openparachute.wordpress.com/fluoridation/
Interesting: This “Randy Johnson” (above) seems to take some pleasure skewering the pro-healthy-water comments here. The core problem for Johnson and his forced-medication crowd is credibility. It seems that there are a growing number of folks that no longer believe the government when it says that adding Hydrofluorosilicic Acid to the public water supply is a good thing. This is an important development and poses some level of danger to those who draw their livelihood from selling and adding this stuff to the water. As far as I can tell, those are the only folks who publicly defend this barbaric practice. Regina is a courageous public health advocate for all of us in Dallas and I honor her for her perseverance. Truth will out and one day Dallas water will be fluoride free. CHEERS!
A reply to more anti-F comments…
TomT – The April 2016 article provides nothing more than an unsupportable quote from an anti-F activist. Fluoride ions from Hydrofluorosilicic Acid are identical to those that water dissolves from the same fluoride-containing minerals used to produce the fluoridation chemicals – which are regulated and certified to by NSF to be safe. In fact, NSF was only able to detect the reported trace amounts by dosing the chemicals into water at ten times the manufacturers maximum use level (as required by the Standard). If the products had been dosed into water at the manufacturer’s maximum use level, all contaminant levels would have been below the analytical method detection limits.”
~> http://www.nsf.org/newsroom_pdf/NSF_Fact_Sheet_on_Fluoridation.pdf
Anonymous – Exactly what evidence (now or 20 years ago) convinced you that fluoridation is unsafe? Provide specific citations and author quotes that prove drinking optimally fluoridated water is either harmful or ineffective – and describe exactly why the studies should have been able to change the scientific consensus of relevant experts – but didn’t. Generally these anonymous folks believe unsupportable propaganda because they don’t understand the evidence that supports the scientific consensus – the claims simply align with their paranoia and they believe them.
David Norsworthy – You can say, “Hydrofluorosilicic Acid is not Calcium Fluoride” as many times as you wish, but that does not change the fact that the dissolved fluoride ions from either source are identical. The other elements in Hydrofluorosilicic Acid (H2SiF6·2H2O ) are hydrogen, silicon and oxygen – what is your point? Regarding your claim of other contaminants, read the link in my reply to TomT. How exactly are you “forced to ingest [toxins] through our gastrointestinal system without even a challenge”?? Are you incapable of finding other sources of water or installing water treatment methods to remove disinfectants, disinfectant byproducts, fluoride ions, and other chemicals in the water you wish not to drink?? Does everyone who chooses not to ingest chemicals in their public water have the right to demand that those chemicals not be added?? There are outliers in every branch of science and health who ignore the actual scientific evidence and accept scientifically unsupportable beliefs – there are no legitimate reasons to believe these proponents of anti-science. It seems as though you have no trust in government or accepted science or health practices. Perhaps a little more actual understanding of science and not dependence on the unsupportable beliefs of science-deniers might change your beliefs and change your comments so they might garner the recognition you think they deserve.
Randy Johnson,
I know who you are.
You and a couple others (not from the City of Dallas) often troll for Fluoride articles across the country.
You have been exposed. Income also. You guys are well documented.
But I won’t cite the dirt on you guys, because it is a small book.
Go ahead. Do your thing.
Try to dismiss each opponent to water fluoridation.
I just laugh at you guys.
Praise God Almighty for women like Regina Imburgia. I am so sick and tired of these jackasses who think they know it all poisoning our water, If they don’t straighten up, these jerks on Dallas City Council will be held accountable by the people for their terrible actions and not listening to science and reason.
TomT – True, I am not from Dallas, but anti-science activism is a global problem. I drink Denver, CO municipal water which is optimally fluoridated.
When the Denver Water Board Commissioners announced in 2015 they were reviewing the fluoridation policy because of petitions by anti-F activists I became interested in helping people in Denver and elsewhere understand the controversy and in providing resources to counter the distortions of available evidence by fluoridation opponents (FOs).
Thankfully legitimate science prevailed over the fear-mongering and BiasScience of FOs in Denver on August 26th with the decision to continue fluoridation of the city’s drinking water.
The resolution the Denver Water Board Commissioners adopted at its August 26, 2015 meeting stated: “Nothing has been presented to the Board or learned in our research that would justify ignoring the advice of these public health agencies and medical and community organizations, or deviating from the thoroughly researched and documented recommendation of the U.S. Public Health Service.”, https://www.denverwater.org/sites/default/files/fluoride-board-resolution-august-2015.pdf
That conclusion is important considering top FO spokesperson, Paul Connett, flew to Denver to give a presentation at the July 29th information session – – – and contributed nothing new or of value to the decision making process.
Hopefully those responsible for the fluoridation of Dallas water will recognize the fear-based claims of FOs are unsupportable, understand the 70-year body of evidence that supports fluoridation as a safe and effective public health measure and continue the practice of fluoridation.
Dr. John Doull, Chair of the 2006 NRC Study on Fluoride, Comment on Safety of Fluoridation
From: John Doull [mailto:JDOULL@kumc.edu]
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 6:42 PM
To: Matt Jacob
Cc: Jayanth V. Kumar; Bill Maas (Consultant)
Subject: RE: NRC Report findings and Adverse effect at 1 ppm
Dear Matt; In response to your question, I do not believe there is any valid scientific reason for fearing adverse health conditions from the consumption of water fluoridated at the optimal level. I also feel that there is no reason why Kansas City residents should avoid drinking the fluoridated water that is provided by the community water system.
Sincerely John Doull M.D. PhD.
Chair of the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council 2006 Committee report on Fluoride in Drinking Water.
Kurt Ferre, Steve Slott, and Randy Johnson are from out of town.
They often troll for Fluoride articles.
They are not drinking Dallas water.
Mountains of scientific studies suggest that swallowing fluoride could adversely affect a person’s health.
It would be very silly to think that every one of those studies is invalid.
The “Precautionary Principle” applies.
The Dallas City Council should withdraw the water fluoridation program.
CHLORINE IS ADDED TO WATER TO TREAT THE WATER.
Kurt Ferre: “In other words, “Fluoride ion is a fluoride ion is a fluoride ion. There is no difference”.
And that “flouride” is being added to to Dallas’s water “treat” people. That is illegal. Anything added to water to treat people makes it a medicine. Prescribing a medicine without a license is illegal. WORSE is medicating people without a license is a FELONY crime.
The hydrofluorosalisic acid that Dallas adds to it’s water to treat people comes with a bonus…ARSENIC and LEAD!!
Oh Randy. You manage to to copy/paste so many words and still can not, for the life of you, copy/paste your way around a very simple, one sentence fact:
People need to have the choice.
You can post all the links in the world and issue canned responses over and over again, but this fact will be there, gnawing at your bones much alike non buffered fluoride. I’ll add a few questions here:
Why does this fluoride need to be sourced from an industry which would otherwise find it very expensive to get rid of the byproduct?
Is fluoride the only substance which can help with remineralization of the teeth, assuming fluoride does have this effect? What about crushed cocoa nibs or bentonite clay?
By all means, stick to your guns and optimally fluoridated water. That’s very important, to have it optimally fluoridated. Because, when you add wast amounts of acid to wast amounts of water you can control exactly how much every person of varying ages, weights and backgrounds will ingest, right? Right? We’ll just have to trust the experts, I guess. We all know governments around the world are full of them. Right?
Note: I’m not from the Dallas area, not even remotely, but I would like nothing more than to have my human brothers and sisters in Texas and elsewhere regain some of their natural given, inalienable rights. Here we don’t have our water poisoned with fluoride, but our toothpaste more than makes up for it, with standard 1450ppm fluoride content.
Why are fluoridationists silent on fluoride’s total fluoride intake. There’s no dispute that too much fluoride is a danger to health.Fluoride is in virtually all foods and beverage on top of what’s absorbed and swallowed from dental products. Fluoride is also a component of many medicines and air pollution. Tea is naturally high in fluoride. Tea drinkers risk fluoride induced bone damage from tea alone,
according to research published in Environmental Pollution (Das, et al. 12/2017)
Tea plants (Camellia sinensis) absorb fluoride from soil and air then released from 1.47 to 6.9 milligrams fluoride per liter (mg/L) when brewed, reports Das’ research team
“It can be predicted that long-term consumption of copious quantities of traditional tea might increase the chances of fluorosis in the consumers,” they report.
Fluoride from tea, alone, has reportedly caused skeletal fluorosis, an arthritic-type disease that most US physicians aren’t trained to diagnose and consumers aren’t informed about.
EPA caps fluoride water contamination at 4 mg/L to protect against skeletal fluorosis. But an EPA-requested review of fluoride toxicology research (NRC 2006) revealed 4 mg/L doesn’t protect bones. The level must be lowered – some say to as close to zero as possible.
Additionally, Waugh et al. brewed 54 different brands of tea to find fluoride levels reaching up to 6.1 mg/L. Waugh concludes that individuals’ total fluoride intake “could readily exceed the levels known to cause chronic fluoride intoxication.” Heart, liver, kidneys, endocrine and nervous systems are also at risk, they caution.
Alarmingly, some studies found 9 mg/L fluoride in brewed tea.
Why aren’t fluoridation supporters informating the American public to monitor their daily fluoride intake from all sources. I believe protecting fluoride is their goal – not the public. The fluoridationists in this comment section are the more childish of the fluoridation promoters – wanting more win than and puffing up their egos than giving Americans the tools they need to give the “optimum” amount of fluoride to their children to prevent tooth decay as they claim without unwanted denta fluorosis or skeletal fluorosis.
Thank you, Regina, for your tireless work on behalf of the residents of Dallas and surrounding communities. The bottom line is this. The Dallas City Council has no authority to approve adding Hydro Fluorosilicic Acid to our drinking water. If the reason is “for the children’s teeth”, then they are acknowledging that it is for medicinal purposes. Well, I do not consent to this toxic chemical being added to the drinking water. And I believe the majority of critical thinking people feel the same. There is no way to regulate the amount of it that an individual consumes. Shame on the City of Dallas for allowing this horrific practice to continue all these years. Let’s stop it now before we the lawsuits begin!
Water Fld. is also being used as PR for Salt Fld. (touted as substitutes for one another, but VERY different consumption patterns)
One child sized KFC popcorn chicken in Costa Rica contains over 8.5X amount of Sodium Fluoride as a pea sized quantity of toothpaste?
A pea-sized quantity is often the recommended amount of toothpaste- people warned to call poison control if their child consumes more than this amount used in brushing.
250 mg F- / Kg Salt in Costa Rica
5.34 g (-25 mg sodium to acct for natural sodium in chicken breast – treated as negligible) “Salt” in Child’s Popcorn Chicken KFC Costa Rica (85g serving)
45.247% F- molar mass in NaF
54.753 % Na+ molar mass in NaF
39.33% Na+ molar mass in NaCl
Okay, all relevant links attached below. These are the questions that drive me crazy:
I couldn’t figure the modification to make for mass % Na+ in the combo NaF and NaCl in costa rica, so I erred on the safe end and used the same conversion as if the percentage mass Na+ was unaffected by the addition of the 250mg F- containing Fluoride compound/kg table salt (treated as pure NaCl- thus over estimating percentage Na+, and under representing actual quantity of salt and therefore NaF consumed).
To get our 250 mg F- per Kg of table salt in CR we will need .552525 g NaF. The conversion we are looking to get is what % NaF is present in the mixture of NaCl and NaF. To save room, I will skip the conversions- suffice to say it isn’t much (seemingly): only .0005522% NaF present in this “salt”.
Next, is to figure just how much “salt” is present in the chicken in question. Though the survey and article shared mention the 5.34g as being the “salt” content of the chicken- as the claims are “based on the kfc website” which lists nutrition facts as “sodium”, I am assuming that the translation of “sodium” to salt in misleading. I am treating the 5.34g “salt” content as actually 5.34g sodium content. It makes more consistent sense.
Based on the Na+ sodium percent assumption given above (treated as pure NaCl) – 39.33% Na in NaCl; this 5.34g can be considered to be about 13.577g of “salt”. How much of this “salt” is NaF?
Only 5.522e-4 % of it is NaF. That breaks out to 7.497 mg of NaF.
Based on the “fluoride conversion” chart given, a pea sized amount of tooth paste at 1000ppm F- (most common in USA)- contains .88mg NaF (2.2mg NaF per 1g of toothpaste).
That would mean that the amount of RAW SODIUM FLUORIDE consumed in a child’s sized amount of popcorn chicken at a KFC in Costa Rica is over 8.5x the amount present in the pea sized amount of toothpaste in the USA (the amount we are warned to call poison control if consumed by a child)! Even if the 5.34g of salt listed is actual “salt” content (not sodium content), we are still looking at over 3.3x the amount of NaF in the toothpaste.
And really, what kid stops at a single serving of popcorn chicken?
https://www.kfc.com/nutrition/full-nutrition-guide
http://www.actiononsalt.org.uk/news/Salt%20in%20the%20news/2015/WASH%20Children's%20Meals%20Survey/160652.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=sodium+content+chicken&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&oq=sodium+content+chicken&aqs=chrome..69i57j35i39j0l4.2815j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
http://calorielab.com/restaurants/kfc/2
http://www.ibiblio.org/taft/cedros/english/newsletter/n5/Salt.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3203184/How-salt-KFC-depends-world-Chicken-fries-Costa-Rica-FIVE-times-salt-UK-nearly-bad.html
http://www.colgateprofessional.com.au/Professional/v1/en/au/locale-assets/docs/student_Fluoride_Conversions.pdf
Salt fluoridation is the issue that really got me interested in researching the whole practice. Before I had visited Costa Rica and witnessed firsthand the impossibility of finding salt which had not had raw Sodium/Potassium Fluoride [though advertised as addition of F- ions] added DIRECTLY to the sea salt, I didn’t think twice about fluoridation. Come to find out- Costa Rica practices salt fluoridation, UNIVERSAL salt fluoridation to be particular. (illegal to import non-Fld. salt) SF was originally purported as a rural alternative to WF- but has come to be practiced at the national level across the globe. However controversial water fluoridation is, no current commentaries have effectively detailed Salt Fluoridation, the practices (dosage assumptions, actual social outcome [amount of sodium fluoride consumed]) and groups which purport the practice.
http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/736/9275116156.pdf?sequence=1
“Promoting Oral Health- The Use of Salt Fluoridation to Prevent Dental Caries”
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