by George Glasser, 2000

In April, 2,000, the Palm Beach Dental Director, Robert Dumbaugh, found himself in a dilemma in his push to fluoridate the drinking water of the small town of Wellington. When local activists revealed that the product used to fluoridate is, in reality, captured pollution from the production of phosphate fertilizer, Thomas Reeves, the US National Fluoridation Engineer, remained silent on the issue, refusing to answer any questions about the origin of the fluoridation agent.

An obviously worried, Dumbaugh emailed the Palm Beach County Pollution Supervisor, Frank Gargiulo, copied to Gargiulo's subordinate, Darrel Graziani and prominent pro-fluoridation lobbyist, Michael Easley, at the University of Buffalo.

“Frank: You can see what we are up against. This argument represents the major thrust of the opposition in Wellington. We will have to come up with some very convincing explanation that defuses the mass hysteria surrounding ‘pollution scrubbers’ and toxic waste dumping. Any suggestions? They even have Tom Reeves on the ropes now. I think we have to have somebody that understands the industrial process and can speak to the regulations which govern and permit the production of fluosilicic acid, and speak to the safety issue. Thanks, Bob."

By June, arrangements had been made for Dumbaugh and Darrel Graziani, to spend a day on an educational visit at the Cargill Fertilizer Inc. phosphate fertizer complex at Riverview, Florida. Subsequently, after one field trip and reviewing some information, Mr. Graziani became Palm Beach County's resident 'expert' on the pollution effluent used to fluoridate drinking water.

Under an odd Florida law, pollution is not considered to be pollution until it reaches the environment. Using this device, Graziani declared, before a Wellington forum held on July 19, that the recovered pollution was indeed a 'product' and therefore was not pollution.

However, after several emails from this writer, Graziani and Dumbaugh became concerned that the issue may flare up again. Dumbaugh wrote Graziani:

“Darrel: If you can write a brief rebuttal to Mr. Glasser’s statement, I will not release it to anyone, but I can verbally discuss it with the mayor when I meet him tomorrow. What do you think. Bob.”

Graziani responded to Dumbaugh’s note:

“I was suprized (sic) to see that you received a copy of Mr. Glasser’s e-mail. which appeared to be not only directed to myself, but Governor Jeb Bush. Due to the nature of the email, I will not respond to Mr. Glasser unless Governor Jeb Bush orders me to.”

On receipt of copies of the email correspondence between Dumbaugh and Graziani, this writer responded to the allegations as follows:

“In the email response that you wrote for Dr. Dumbaugh to use as rebuttals to my allegations, it was stated: ‘Mr. Glasser's statement "You seemed not to know what you are talking about!!! a superficial knowledge at best" appears to be a personal attack in light of the results of our findings versus his publications. He also continues to show little if any professional respect for those of differing opinion. This can be noted within his e-mail by the implied description of those supporting fluoridation as not "having the slightest amount of common sense." I find the underling (SIC) messages to be unjustified, offensive and concerning.’

“In reality, the questions pertained to known carcinogens in the fluoridation agent such as Arsenic and Beryllium which are cumulative and Group 1(a) carcinogens (known to cause cancer in humans).

“The actual statement Graziani was referring to was stated as such: "My question to you is: Why would anyone with the slightest amount of common sense justify the addition of any non-essential product containing any amount of a known human carcinogen into the drinking water?”

In the interim, Dumbaugh, himself an executive member of the secretive National Center for Fluoride Policy and Research (NCFPR), headed by Easley, was planning a presentation and an article for the National Fluoridation Summit in Sacramento, California. Dumbaugh again emailed Graziani, cc'd to Michael Easley, Teran Gall (Special Events Director for the California Dental Association) and Thomas Reeves:

“Darrel: As we discussed yesterday, I forwarded your Cargill photos to Mike Easley this morning. Can you send me the two diagrams you used during the Wellington presentation to send him also? Also, how do you feel about working on an article for publication? You, I, Mike and Tom Reeves from CDC could collaborate. You would be the principal author. Would you have a preference of journals to send it to? How about the AWWA journal? I could look into presenting the article at the Fluoridation Summit that Teran Gall (California Dental Assoc.) is setting up in September.”

In the same sequence of email correspondence, Dumbaugh wrote to Thomas Reeves:

"Tom: I have a copy, but I'd like you to talk with Darrel Graziani, P.E. who went to Cargill with me and take a look at the slides. It will be fine with him. He also has an FSA production flow chart which would be helpful in your presentation. The presentation would be designed to refute Glasser's allegation that FSA is toxic waste that is recovered from pollution scrubbers."

“I have asked Darrel if he would be willing to co-author an article, perhaps to be published in AWWA Journal, with you, Mike and I as co-authors. He has agreed, and his boss concurs, but I would ask you and Mike to put together the article outline. I don't really have to be an author, but would be if you wished. At any rate, I think it would be useful to talk with Darrel, just to discuss the issue and your presentation at the Summit."

Meanwhile, Reeves was emailing Dumbaugh and NCFPR colleagues to clarify matters:

“Hi Folks, There is a small point of correction I would like to make about the production of the fluorosilicic acid [which is the source for the sodium fluoride and sodium fluorosilicate, as well]. A lot of people sometimes say, even once in a while myself, that the acid is captured with pollution scrubbers. That is not technically correct....This is a small point because the pollution scrubbers and the product recovery units are similar. But since the antis make such a big point about the "pollution" part of the pollution scrubbers, maybe we should start using the correct term.”

In the very next sequence of emails uncovered under the Florida Public Records Act from Dumbaugh to Graziani, Dumbaugh comments, wryly:

“Darrel: It appears that the correct term is "product recovery unit." It would be nice if that's what the people at Cargill called it. Do you think it would be in order to call them and ask? They were still calling a scrubber when we were there.”

On August 3, Graziani emailed Dumbaugh, saying,

“Mr. Glasser claims that he has written extensively on the subject of Phosphate Fertilizer Pollution. This may be the basis of his confusion since he is unable to distinguish between the FSA production process and the Air Pollution Scrubbers.”

So, during the one day field trip to the Cargill Fertilizer facility, Graziani and Dumbaugh had managed to redefine the nature of FSA pollution effluent!

However, the US Environmental Protection Agency has a different view of the captured pollution. In 1999, the EPA established that all facilities producing phosphate fertilizers in the United States must use the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) to reduce emissions of hydrogen fluoride, and heavy metals, including arsenic, beryllium, radionuclides, chromium and lead, as well as methyl isobutyl ketone.

Many of the hazardous air pollutants (or air toxics) released from the production of phosphate fertilizer are known or suspected of causing cancer or other serious health effects in humans and animals. EPA's action was estimated to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants by about 345 tons annually, representing approximately 57 percent reduction from current levels.

National Sanitation Foundation International, which "certifies" the fluoridating agent, stated in correspondence to Florida Department of Health administrator, Pepe Mendez, that because of the EPA’s proposed new guidelines for Arsenic levels in drinking water, there might be "more product failures" due to inherent arsenic in the fluorosilicic acid. They also stated that beryllium was also a problem.

Both beryllium and arsenic are Group 1(a) substances or known to cause cancer in humans. Scientists have found that arsenic is responsible for causing, prostate, bladder, kidney, liver, skin and lung cancers in humans. Beryllium is considered the only verified causative of osteogenic sarcoma, and the EPA's maximum contaminate level of Beryllium allowed in drinking water is 4.0 parts per billion. Both, arsenic and beryllium are cumulative toxicants in the body. Lead, a neurotoxicant, is also present in the fluoridating agent. It, too, is a cumulative poison.

While heated arguments continue about the fluoridation of drinking water, the revelations about the product used in fluoridation schemes are causing much consternation among the proponents. This is evidenced by the email exchanges between top level fluoridation proponents as they frantically attempt to sanitize the toxic pollution soup. However, as much as they try, the reality is stated in the EPA air pollution regulations.

They show the National Fluoridation Engineer, Thomas Reeves, trying to turn a pollution scrubber into a "product recovery unit." It was a matter of semantics because the product being recovered was pollution.

Darrel Graziani based his view on a curious Florida environmental law which states that pollution is not really pollution unless it reaches the environment and that the effluent product recovered from phosphate fertilizer production is "high quality fluorosilicic acid."

Meanwhile, Thomas Reeves and Darrel Grazani were aware of another nasty little carcinogenic secret about the toxic soup. While everyone was conspiring to sanitize the pollution soup, Graziani was in possession of a 1998 letter and analysis results for radium and uranium levels from Cargill lab manager, Mike Wells to Reeves. The accompanying lab results from Thornton Laboratories of Tampa, Florida stated that the sample contained up to 3.0 parts per million of uranium...

Another interesting aspect with the presence of uranium is the fact that other carcinogenic decay rate products will be present such as Radon 222, Lead 210, Polonium 210 and others. Radon is a gas which is released by heat and can be carried over to the toxic soup in greater quantities than uranium. Consequently, the toxic soup contains a variety of radioactive contaminants that are not reported on the certified analyses/specification sheets. This revelation leaves one to question the motives behind those people pushing a toxic waste product as a beneficial health measure by semantically transforming a pollution scrubber into a "product recovery unit."...

In March this year, Jane Jones, campaign director of the National Pure Water Association, UK, wrote to Mr. Thomas Reeves, the U.S. Chief Fluoridation Engineer, asking him to confirm or deny that the fluoridating agent is pollution scrubber liquor and to provide Safety Testing Data for the product.

"Reeves replied without answering either question," said Ms Jones. "The push to fluoridate is largely driven from America, so I also wrote to Dr Michael Easley, the 'chief fluoridation guru' over there, and to Dr Gennady Pakhomov, the Responsible Officer for the World Health Organization's Oral Health Program. He acknowledged my email but ducked the questions. I've written three times to each of these top men, who are supposed to be 'experts'. Their silence is scandalous. We know that the fluoridating agent is hazardous waste which has never been tested as safe for human consumption."

To date, none of the above mentioned enthusiastic promoters of fluoridation have responded to Jane Jones’ query. Despite the semantics, - "Product Recovery Unit" or "Air Pollution Scrubber" - the end product remains the same: it is a concentrated soup-mix of Hazardous Air Pollutants. Neither Darrel Graziani, Thomas Reeves nor the Grand Poopah of drinking water fluoridation, Michael Easley can transform toxic pollution into a beneficial nutrient.