(First Citizens' Conference on Fluoride, Sunday, August 2, 2004 - Photo by Chris Neurath)

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Fluoride Action Network

August 5, 2004

Conference highlights fluoride health risks

New research indicates that fluoride damages the brain; that the chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water increase the levels of lead in children's blood; that some humans are accumulating dangerous levels of fluoride in their blood and bone; that fluoride's toxicity in humans is not confined to teeth and bone; and that - according to senior Environmental Protection Agency scientists - the EPA's safe drinking water standards for fluoride are a fraud.

These, and other findings, were presented by scientists and researchers at the First Citizens' Conference on Fluoride, held on the campus of St. Lawrence University in Canton NY and at the Mohawk Longhouse at Akwesasne near Massena NY, from July 30 to August 3. People from 17 states in the US and two provinces in Canada attended the 3-day Conference.

The conference, organized by Fluoride Action Network, also featured presentations on the history and impact of fluoride air pollution on the environment.

"While many disturbing research gaps exist, the presentations provided compelling evidence that fluoride presents multiple, profound risks to human health," said Michael Connett, Research Director of the Fluoride Action Network. "This evidence needs to be addressed and engaged."

Over 150 million Americans drink fluoridated water on a daily basis, and millions more are exposed to fluoride in other forms, including toothpaste, pesticides, and processed foods.

"Unfortunately, it has proved difficult for independent scientists to investigate the toxicity of fluoride here in the US," added Connett. Scientists, including Dr. Phyllis Mullenix of the Forsyth Dental Center (who presented at the conference) and Dr. William Marcus of the EPA, whose findings led them to question the orthodoxy on fluoride safety "have been fired, their careers jeopardized."

According to Dr. Robert Carton, former President of the EPA Headquarters Union in Washington D.C., "The EPA's safe drinking water standards for fluoride are fraudulent. Period."

" I worked with the professional who wrote EPA's safe drinking water standard for fluoride in 1985," Carton stated. "He told me that the standard was a lie, that he was pressured by EPA administration to alter the science to fit a politically derived conclusion."

Audible gasps could be heard among conference attendees when Carton showed an internal memo issued by the same EPA professional who wrote the "so-called safety standard." In the memo, the official notes how the standard would produce "teeth gross enough to gag a maggot."

"It is high time for members of the environmental and public health community to scrutinize government assurances on fluoride safety," stressed Connett.

According to former BBC producer, Christopher Bryson, author of the new book The Fluoride Deception (Seven Stories Press, May 2004): "Fluoride science is lawyer science. Fluoride science is corporate science. Fluoride science is DDT science. It's asbestos science. It's tobacco science. It's a racket."

The EPA's current safe drinking water standard for fluoride (4 ppm) exceeds the levels associated with increased uptake of aluminum into the brains of laboratory rats and increased levels of beta amyloid plaques (the characteristic abnormality in Alzheimers disease) (1 ppm); the levels associated with increased uptake of lead into the blood of children from the use of silicofluorides (1 ppm); the levels associated with decreased IQ in Chinese communities (1.8 ppm); the levels associated with a lowering of thyroid activity (2.3 ppm); and the levels associated with impaired fertility (3 ppm). In addition, people consuming water with 4 ppm fluoride have been found to have bone and blood levels associated with health damage, including increased oxidative stress, weakened bones and arthritis.

The Conference was co-sponsored with the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora).

For more information on the conference, contact Michael Connett at 802-355-0999.

See also:

First Citizens' Conference on Fluoride

Excerpt of Video Interview with Dr. Robert Carton on EPA's Fluoride MCL (Quicktime Movie, 1.8 Mb)