http://www.sacurrent.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16347087&BRD=2318&PAG=461&dept_id=484040&rfi=6
March 22, 2006
San Antonio Current (Texas)
The problem with ProFume
Activists worry a new pesticide will put
toxic levels of fluoride in your food
By Francesca Camillo
“Fluoridation
of water is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous
communist plot we have ever had to face.”
- U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper in Stanley
Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.
These
days, fluoride is hardly viewed as a subversive communist
plot to “sap and impurify our precious bodily
fluids,” as Ripper believed. Yet, while the public
has largely accepted fluoridation in the name of protecting
our pearly whites against cavities, fluoride could also
enter the food supply as a pesticide, adding to the
amount we’re exposed to through water and toothpaste. |
These days, fluoride is hardly viewed as a subversive communist
plot to “sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids,”
as Ripper believed. Yet, while the public has largely accepted
fluoridation in the name of protecting our pearly whites against
cavities, fluoride could also enter the food supply as a pesticide,
adding to the amount we’re exposed to through water and
toothpaste.
Although the EPA says it’s safe, fluoride activists believe
that ProFume, a pesticide used to keep rodents and insects out
of food-storage facilities, warehouses, and shipping containers,
may contain levels of fluoride dangerous to humans. Elevated fluoride
levels have been linked to reduced cognitive ability, pineal gland
imbalance, and tooth decay.
Water in the U.S. was first treated with sodium fluoride in 1945
and today the U.S. is only one of four countries, including Australia,
Ireland, and New Zealand, that fluoridates municipal water supplies,
serving 300 million people worldwide. With the advent of the Dow
AgroSciences pesticide ProFume, millions of Americans could also
ingest fluoride in their food. An alternative pesticide to ozone-depleting
methyl bromide, which is being phased out after 50 years, ProFume
is approved for use in “non-residential structures,”
including processed-food and pet-food facilities, warehouses,
and shipping containers. ProFume’s active ingredient is
sulfuryl fluoride, a highly toxic gas that kills insects and rodents
in nearly all life stages, although insect eggs seem resistant
to it.
The chemical industry and federal government, including the Environmnental
Protection Agency, support ProFume because experimental fumigations
have shown it works more efficiently than methyl bromide, is non-combustible,
doesn’t damage electronic equipment in buildings, and aerates
well. The EPA has stated ProFume doesn’t harm human health.
Activists disagree. Last December, the Fluoride Action Network,
Beyond Pesticides, and the Environmental Working Group issued
a statement to the EPA opposing government approval of ProFume.
They contend that fluoride’s cumulative effects can be harmful
in places where children and adults drink highly fluoridated water
and use toothpaste. The EPA standard for fluoride in water is
4 ppm, although the agency requires water suppliers to warn consumers
that children should not drink the water if it contains more than
2 ppm.
Excess fluoride can affect the brain, impair insulin secretion,
and lower the thyroid-gland activity, according to specialists
cited in the activists’ statement. Fluoride can accumulate
in the bones and pineal gland, which produces melatonin and seratonin.
Disrupting the pineal gland can can affect the onset of puberty.
Elevated fluoride levels are also associated with reduced cognitive
ability according to numerous studies conducted throughout East
Asia, Venezuela, and more than 30 animal studies published since
1992.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
discount the Fluoride Action Network’s research on ProFume
and the effects of excess fluoride in the diet. “They make
a lot of claims based on individual studies,” explained
Linda Orgain, CDC health communications specialist. “We
make policy based on looking at the evidence of group studies
that have been published. They raise people’s concerns,
which is unnecessary. We’ve looked at the issue.”
This is a similar argument to the one used to support fluoridated
water — that it is harmless. “We certainly do support
the activities of communities that fluoridate,” Orgain said.
“You’d think after 60 years, if there was a health
concern, we would know about it.”
There is evidence that people who are exposed to excess fluoride
during tooth development can develop fluorosis, which disturbs
the enamel-forming cells of their teeth, preventing normal development
and making teeth more vulnerable to varying degrees of decay,
from mild discoloration to permanent brown and black discoloration
to pitting and chipping. Orgain downplayed the impact of fluorosis:
“The prevalence of people 6-39 years old [who have dental
fluorosis] is about 32 percent. The vast majority is mild to very
mild.”
Gary Hamlin of Dow AgroSciences said Fluoride
Action Network’s allegations are baseless. “These
objections are not new. EPA has evaluated [ProFume] over two years
and has responded publicly to claims on many occasions. They were
required by law to look at all potential human exposure [and found
that] there is less than 2 percent of total fluoride exposure
from ProFume. EPA has rebutted them point by point.”
Because the pesticide would be used widely, it could be difficult
to avoid, even in organic products, although there are conflicting
viewpoints about whether organics would be exposed to ProFume
during storage. Leslie McKinnon, Texas Department of Agriculture
coordinator of organic certification, said “a synthetic
fumigant wouldn’t be allowed in an organic storage facility,”
unless approved by the Organic Board. “A facility would
have to have separate procedures to avoid prohibited substances
from contaminating the organic foods. [For example] removing organic
products from a facility and doing a clean down of any bins or
containers .... Otherwise, the organic label is lost.”
However, Luddene Perry, author of A Field Guide to Buying
Organic and an accredited organic inspector,
said that much organic food is processed conventionally, so while
crops may be grown organically they may be stored with conventionally
grown crops that will be fumigated.
“I think consumers are much more repelled at the thought
of opening a box of cereal and having bugs crawl out, than the
hidden possibility of pesticide residue,” Perry said. “What
we need to do is ask where our priorities lie. Do we get used
to bugs in our food? If we get over our squeamishness of bugs,
we might be able to get rid of a great deal of our pesticides.”
•
By Francesca Camillo ©San Antonio Current 2006