Some years back, I tasked myself with researching this issue. I was honestly curious and wanted to form an informed opinion on the matter. Never really thought about it much until I became a parent.
I ended up spending about a year looking into it and following up on different aspects, tracking down studies and sources, and generally trying to get a well-rounded understanding of the topic.
What I found was that there are, in fact, some valid, reasonable objections to the use of fluoride, and especially to fluoridation of public water supplies.
It IS a toxic substance, and by that I mean to say that, while toxicity is relative, it ranks relatively high in a comparison of other substances we are regularly exposed to and (esp.) ingest. This stuff is not on a par with say, table salt (sodium chloride).
http://www.siue.edu/engineering/civilengineering/pdf/msds/109.pdf
“Sodium fluoride…Health Rating: 3 - Severe (Poison)…Potential Health Effects:
If inhaled or swallowed, this compound can cause fluoride poisoning. Early symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. Later effects include central nervous system effects, cardiovascular effects and death…Ingestion:Toxic! May cause salivation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Symptoms of weakness, tremors, shallow respiration, cardopedal spasm, convulsions, and coma may follow. May cause brain and kidney damage. Affects heart and circulatory system. Death may occur from respiratory paralysis. Estimated lethal dose = 5-l0 grams.”
It is argued that the levels in municipal water supplies are so low, toxicity is not an issue. But the same dose can result in different exposure levels and effects depending on a variety of factors, including body mass, consumption levels, age, and other exposure sources. It is difficult to impossible to dose precisely via such a method.
Fluoride occurs naturally in some soils and foods (spinach and tea, for example, being high in naturally occurring fluoride) and is also widely found in canned and bottled beverages and foods (including infant formula, sodas, juices, any food containing water) prepared with fluoridated water supplies.
It is one of the most common environmental pollutants, being a byproduct of the glass, aluminum, nuclear and other industries.
Of course, it is also added in fairly high concentrations to dental products (often flavored like candy and yes, often swallowed in quantity by children) and is often given to schoolchildren in the form of tablets.
It is not only possible but fairly easy to be exposed to levels high enough to reach or exceed recommended therapeutic, safe dosages.
The most common effect of low level and/or chronic fluoride poisoning is dental fluorosis (yellow or brown discolorations of the teeth). The current warnings on fluoridated toothpastes stem from a lawsuit over a child whose teeth were permanently damaged by swallowing toothpaste, but parents should know that a regular sized tube of fluoridated toothpaste contains enough fluoride to possibly kill a toddler if consumed at one time (maybe skip the bubble-gum flavored paste and/or supervise your young children when they brush and keep the tube out of reach!)
Fluoride has known negative effects on the skeletal system, including osteoporosis and bone cancer, possible at dosages similar to those capable of mottling the teeth. Older individuals consuming fluoridated water are not getting dental benefits and may be placed at higher risk of skeletal harm.
It is capable of causing reproductive cancers, miscarriage, birth defects and cardiac and nervous system damage.
Its effects on the central nervous system have been known for decades, and it was apparently used by both the Nazis and the Soviets to “pacify” prisoners in concentration camps (albeit no doubt at higher dosages than is added to public water supplies, but given the aforementioned odds of multiple exposures far exceeding those levels, it is possible millions experience some CNS effects).
It’s a fact that sodium fluoride is a waste product of several industries, including the nuclear weapons industry. It is one of the substances classed as toxic waste which companies are responsible for disposing of safely, not just dumping. Around the time the nuclear industry was getting going, there were a few fatal accidental releases of fluoride which killed cattle and humans in areas surrounding the facilities. Fluoride began to get a bad reputation as a dangerous substance. That much is fact.
Some have proposed that fluoridation was a tactic to both dispose of toxic waste cheaply by dumping it into the public water supply AND give the chemical a face-lift with the public…making it into a GOOD, healthy thing rather than a BAD, potentially deadly poison. That, as far as I can tell, is speculation, same as the speculation that fluoridation is a method of mass medication aimed not at dental health by pacification/brain control of the public.
It’s when we get into speculating about nefarious intents and hidden agendas that the issue becomes one of conspiracy theory. One doesn’t have to buy into that angle to conclude that mass fluoridation might not be the wisest of approaches given the relative toxicity of the substance.
BTW, I just happened upon this, from last year, out of California:
http://www.dentalproductsreport.com/articles/show/dpr0709_news_fluoride
"Over protests by the lobbyists for the American Dental Association and the Personal Care Products Council who oppose further evaluation of fluoride as cancer-causing, the State’s Qualified Experts that comprise the Carcinogen Identification Committee, as advisors to California EPA’s Office of Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), never-the-less established fluoride and its salts as meriting the highest priority they can recommend for further review toward including fluorides on a Prop 65 list of chemicals for which warnings for risks of cancer, birth defects, and reproductive toxicity are to be publicly posted.
Citing the passage of two pre-screenings that acknowledged the existence of animal and human cancer evidence, as well as widespread exposure, this recommendation places fluoride and its salts as one of the first of 38 chemicals that also passed at least one of the tests to be newly prioritized for Hazard Identification materials preparation."
Anecdotally, I was raised drinking fluoridated water and using fluoride toothpaste. I have a mouth full of fillings and didn’t stop getting cavities until I stopped drinking/using fluoride. I also have a molar with fluoride damage (brown staining).
My kids (18 and 11) have been raised without it in their water or toothpaste. I declined the tablets the schools offered. My son has had 2 tiny cavities in his life to date (one when he was 7 in a baby tooth and 1 this last checkup) and my daughter 1 (in a baby tooth a few yrs ago that we didn’t bother filling because it was on the way to falling out anyway).
Just sayin’.
It’s not something that controls my life or that I obsess over. I don’t see it as some huge, overriding issue or anything. I don’t care what anyone else chooses to do, I just choose not to consume the stuff intentionally.
I don’t concur with the OP that my view on this issue reflects poorly on my intelligence. Hell, at least I can SPELL fluoride. :rolleyes:
