"Fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century."
- Robert Carlton, Ph.D, former EPA scientist, 1992
In an era when media pundits and watchdog groups bombard us with dire warnings concerning the wave of toxic chemicals and environmental hazards threatening to overwhelm us at every turn, mass fluoridation of public drinking water in the US has remained the darling of public health endeavors as American as smoking cessation, jogging, and childhood vaccination programs. In February of 2002, the Center for Disease Control gushed, Fluoridation of the public water supply is the most equitable, cost-effective, and cost-saving method of delivering fluoride to the community (4,5). But, as we anxiously debate the dangers of bisphenol-A and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in the drinking bottles we use, there is a chemical lurking in our tap water that is far deadlier. What's even worse: we put it there ourselves.
The leading proponent of mass drinking water fluoridation is the American Dental Association, which continues to insist that it is safe and effective, and prevents up to 70% of tooth decay in children. In its Fluoridation Facts, it contends that fluoride is a naturally occurring element, which protects teeth by reducing the solubility of enamel in acid, reducing the ability of dental plaque organisms to make acid, and promoting the remineralization of tooth enamel in areas that have been demineralized by acids. Sounds great, right? But let's take a closer look.
The ADA literature would imply that the fluoride added to public drinking water is a naturally-occurring, harmless substance. This is not true, as Fluoride Debate points out:
The chemicals used to fluoridate 90% of public drinking water are industrial grade hazardous wastes captured in the air pollution-control scrubber systems of the phosphate fertilizer industry, called silicofluorides. ("Fluorine Recovery in the Fertilizer Industry - A Review," Phosphorus & Potassium, No. 103, Sept/Oct 1979.) (Also, see 1-1: "Fluoridation: A Mandate to Dump Toxic Waste in the Name of Public Health", George Glasser, Journalist, St. Petersburg, FL, July 22, 1995.) These industrial wastes also contain lead, arsenic and other toxic substances.
But how did this happen? The history of mass fluoridation began in Germany in 1939, after industrial giant ALCOA and its partners moved operations to Germany, signing agreements with I.G. Farben. During World War II, German scientists, aware of sodium fluoride's neurotoxic effects, began systematically medicating the drinking water in concentration camps and occupied territories to make the population more docile. (Even today, sodium fluoride is still used in over one-quarter of major tranquilizers in the US). After the war, the CIA continued these experiments as a means of possibly incapacitating an enemy. At this time, sodium fluoride was seen only as a highly toxic industrial waste.
By the post-war era, however, ALCOA was dealing with problems of its own. American farmers, whose cattle were being poisoned by fluoride contamination in the air and water, were suing manufacturers. ALCOA had to come up with a way to quash litigation and find an outlet for huge amounts of dangerous by-products. Using a study conducted by ALCOA scientist Gerald Cox in 1939, which concluded that fluoridated lab rats had fewer cavities, Oscar R. Ewing, a former ALCOA lawyer who had been made head of the Federal Security Agency, began a massive campaign to convince America of the virtues of fluoridated water. In the 1950's, industry-funded studies found that fluoridated water did indeed delay dental caries in children by delaying the eruption of permanent teeth. Once the teeth erupted, however, benefits declined each year. In many cities, children who didn't drink fluoridated water actually had lower rates of cavities than those who did.
In fact, even the original supporters of fluoridation admitted that there is no real proof it prevents decay, as fluoride debate points out, The belief in fluoride as a tooth decay remedy persists despite the fact that H. Trendley Dean, DDS, its original promoter, admitted 40 years ago under oath, that his data purporting to prove the fluoridation hypothesis were not valid. (H. Trendley Dean: Proceedings, City of Oroville vs. Public Utilities Commission of the State of California, Oroville, California, Oroville, California, October 20-21, 1955.)
Similar studies proved that fluoride was safe, too. The EPA continued to cite them as evidence decades later. As Michael Connett of the Fluoride Action Network pointed out in 2006, the EPA's document, Drinking Water Criteria Document on Fluoride, relies heavily on the work of two industry-funded scientists, Dr. Harold Hodge and Dr. Frank Smith, who unsurprisingly concluded in the 1960's that no kidney damage to humans could possibly occur at levels lower than 100 ppm. Despite the fact that many studies have since clearly demonstrated damage at levels as low as 10 ppm, the EPA still cites only their work to prove the safety of mass water fluoridation.
