Saturday, June 11, 2005
Fluoride water 'causes cancer'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1504672,00.html
Boys at risk from bone tumours, shock research reveals
Bob Woffinden
Sunday June 12, 2005
The Observer
Fluoride in tap water can cause bone cancer in boys, a disturbing new
study indicates, although there is no evidence of a link for girls.
New American research suggests that boys exposed to fluoride between
the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of
osteosarcoma - bone cancer - between the ages of 10 and 19.
In the UK, fluoride is added to tap water on the advice of bodies such
as the British Dental Association. The Department of Health maintains
that it is a cost-effective public health measure that helps prevent
tooth decay in children.
About 10 per cent of the population, six million people, receive
fluoridated water, mainly in the Midlands and north-east, and the
government plans to extend this, with Manchester expected to be next.
About 170 million Americans live in areas with fluoridated water.
The increased cancer risks, identified in a newly available study
conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health, were found at
fluoride exposure levels common in both the US and Britain. It was the
first examination of the link between exposure to the chemical at the
critical period of a child's development and the age of onset of bone
cancer.
Although osteosarcoma is rare, accounting for only about 3 per cent of
childhood cancers, it is especially dangerous. The mortality rate in
the first five years is about 50 per cent, and nearly all survivors
have limbs amputated, usually legs.
The research has been made available by the Environmental Working
Group (EWG), a respected Washington-based research organisation. The
group reports that it has assembled a 'strong body of peer-reviewed
evidence' and has asked that fluoride in tap water be added to the US
government's classified list of substances known or anticipated to
cause cancer in humans.
'This is a very specific cancer in a defined population of children,'
said Richard Wiles, the group's co-founder. 'When you focus in and
look for the incidence of tumours, you see the increase.
'We recognise the potential benefits of fluoride to dental health,'
added Wiles, 'but I've spent 20 years in public health, trying to
protect kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the
consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now
have with fluoride.'
Half of all fluoride ingested is stored in the body, accumulating in
calcifying tissue such as teeth and bones and in the pineal gland in
the brain, although more than 90 per cent is taken into the bones.
MPs who have recently voted against fluoridation proposals in
Parliament include Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Michael
Howard, the Conservative leader.
Anti-fluoride campaigners argue that the whole issue has become highly
politically sensitive. If health scares about fluoride were to be
recognised in the courts, the litigation, especially in the US, could
be expected to run for decades. Consequently, scientists have been
inhibited from publicising any adverse findings.
The new evidence only emerged by a circuitous process. It was
contained in a Harvard dissertation by Dr Elise Bassin at the Harvard
School of Dental Medicine. The dissertation, completed in April 2001,
obviously had merit because Bassin was awarded her doctorate.
However it has not been published. Environmental organisations were
repeatedly denied access to it, and even bodies such as the US
National Academy of Sciences could not get hold of a copy. Eventually
two researchers from the Fluoride Action Network were allowed to read
it in the rare books and special collections room at Harvard medical
library.
Bassin told The Observer her work was still going through the
peer-review process, and she hopes that it will then be published.
Dr Vyvyan Howard, senior lecturer in toxico-pathology at the
University of Liverpool, has studied the new material.
'At these ages the bones of boys are developing rapidly,' he said, 'so
if the bones are being put together abnormally because fluoride is
altering the bone structure, they're more likely to get cancer. It's
biologically plausible, and the epidemiological evidence seems pretty
strong - it looks as if there's a definite effect.'
There is at present no understanding as to why males should be
affected rather than females.
A Department of Health spokesman said that the latest evaluation of
research in the UK had identified no ill effects of fluoride.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1504672,00.html
Boys at risk from bone tumours, shock research reveals
Bob Woffinden
Sunday June 12, 2005
The Observer
Fluoride in tap water can cause bone cancer in boys, a disturbing new
study indicates, although there is no evidence of a link for girls.
New American research suggests that boys exposed to fluoride between
the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of
osteosarcoma - bone cancer - between the ages of 10 and 19.
In the UK, fluoride is added to tap water on the advice of bodies such
as the British Dental Association. The Department of Health maintains
that it is a cost-effective public health measure that helps prevent
tooth decay in children.
About 10 per cent of the population, six million people, receive
fluoridated water, mainly in the Midlands and north-east, and the
government plans to extend this, with Manchester expected to be next.
About 170 million Americans live in areas with fluoridated water.
The increased cancer risks, identified in a newly available study
conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health, were found at
fluoride exposure levels common in both the US and Britain. It was the
first examination of the link between exposure to the chemical at the
critical period of a child's development and the age of onset of bone
cancer.
Although osteosarcoma is rare, accounting for only about 3 per cent of
childhood cancers, it is especially dangerous. The mortality rate in
the first five years is about 50 per cent, and nearly all survivors
have limbs amputated, usually legs.
The research has been made available by the Environmental Working
Group (EWG), a respected Washington-based research organisation. The
group reports that it has assembled a 'strong body of peer-reviewed
evidence' and has asked that fluoride in tap water be added to the US
government's classified list of substances known or anticipated to
cause cancer in humans.
'This is a very specific cancer in a defined population of children,'
said Richard Wiles, the group's co-founder. 'When you focus in and
look for the incidence of tumours, you see the increase.
'We recognise the potential benefits of fluoride to dental health,'
added Wiles, 'but I've spent 20 years in public health, trying to
protect kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the
consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now
have with fluoride.'
Half of all fluoride ingested is stored in the body, accumulating in
calcifying tissue such as teeth and bones and in the pineal gland in
the brain, although more than 90 per cent is taken into the bones.
MPs who have recently voted against fluoridation proposals in
Parliament include Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Michael
Howard, the Conservative leader.
Anti-fluoride campaigners argue that the whole issue has become highly
politically sensitive. If health scares about fluoride were to be
recognised in the courts, the litigation, especially in the US, could
be expected to run for decades. Consequently, scientists have been
inhibited from publicising any adverse findings.
The new evidence only emerged by a circuitous process. It was
contained in a Harvard dissertation by Dr Elise Bassin at the Harvard
School of Dental Medicine. The dissertation, completed in April 2001,
obviously had merit because Bassin was awarded her doctorate.
However it has not been published. Environmental organisations were
repeatedly denied access to it, and even bodies such as the US
National Academy of Sciences could not get hold of a copy. Eventually
two researchers from the Fluoride Action Network were allowed to read
it in the rare books and special collections room at Harvard medical
library.
Bassin told The Observer her work was still going through the
peer-review process, and she hopes that it will then be published.
Dr Vyvyan Howard, senior lecturer in toxico-pathology at the
University of Liverpool, has studied the new material.
'At these ages the bones of boys are developing rapidly,' he said, 'so
if the bones are being put together abnormally because fluoride is
altering the bone structure, they're more likely to get cancer. It's
biologically plausible, and the epidemiological evidence seems pretty
strong - it looks as if there's a definite effect.'
There is at present no understanding as to why males should be
affected rather than females.
A Department of Health spokesman said that the latest evaluation of
research in the UK had identified no ill effects of fluoride.
// posted by Linda Weissinger Lupowitz @ 7:07 PM 
