Fluoride Increases Lead Absorption In Children
The chemical most commonly used to fluoridate America's drinking water is associated with an increase in children's blood lead levels. Most studies that purport fluoridation's safety and effectiveness in preventing cavities use the chemical sodium fluoride. However, most communities inject cheaper silicofluorides (fluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride) into their drinking water based on the theory that each chemical comes apart totally, so that freed fluoride can incorporate into tooth enamel.
However, the silicofluorides (SiF) do not separate completely, as sodium fluoride does, As a result, water treatment with silicofluorides apparently functions to increase the cellular uptake of lead.
In research published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies (September 1999), Masters and Coplan studied lead screening data from 280,000 Massachusetts children. They found that average blood lead levels are significantly higher in children living in communities whose water is treated with silicofluorides. Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES III) and a survey of over 120,000 children in New York towns (population 15,000 to 75,000) corroborate this effect.
Masters and Coplan reported that some minorities are especially at risk in high SiF exposure areas, where Black and Mexican American children have significantly higher blood lead levels than they do in unfluoridated communities.
Silicofluorides are used by over 90% of U.S. fluoridated towns and cities. Ironically, children with higher blood lead levels also have more tooth decay (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 23/30, 1999 reviewed in a previous newsletter).
So water fluoridation may prove to cause tooth decay rather than prevent it. This research is just another block stacked on a giant wall of evidence that proves fluoridation is neither safe nor effective — no matter what fluoride chemical is used.
Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and at high levels, seizures, coma and even death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Lead is a highly significant risk factor in predicting higher rates of crime, attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity and learning disabilities. Higher rates of violent crime and substance abuse in silicofluoridated communities were also found in research that is yet to be published.
Web sites:
- http://www.fluoride-journal.com/
http://www.cadvision.com/fluoride/
http://SaveTeeth.org/
http://sonic.net/~kryptox/fluoride.htm/
http://www.bruha.com/fluoride/html/f-_in_food.htm/
CONTACT: Paul Beeber, J.D.,
P.O. Box 263, Old Bethpage, NY, 18804-0263, phone, 516-433-8882, fax, 516-433-8932, NYSCOF@aol.com; or Professor Roger D. Masters, Ph.D., 603-646-2153, or fax, 603-646-0508, roger.d.masters@dartmouth.edu/
"17th International Neurotoxicology Conference Children's Health and the Environment," Little Rock, Arkansas, October 17-20, 1999
