A brief report on the association of drinking water fluoridation and the incidence of osteosarcoma among young males

Executive Summary It is well known that fluoride provides important public health benefits by effectively preventing dental caries in children. The Public Health Service (1991) endorses artificial fluoridation of drinking water at a concentration of 0.7-1.2 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water (or parts per million) as the optimally beneficial

Revisiting the fluoride-osteosarcoma connection in the context of Elise Bassin's findings: part 2

Clastogenic activity of sodium fluoride to rat vertebral body-derived cells in culture

The US National Toxicology Program has shown equivocal evidence of carcinogenic activity of sodium fluoride (NaF) in male F344/N rats based on the occurrence of five osteosarcomas in treated animals. In the study the osteosarcomas developed mainly in the rat vertebrae. To provide a possible mechanistic basis for the observed

Possible biologic hazards of strontium-90 and fluoridation

The accumulation in the skeleton of the ions of many elements that pass from the mammalian gastrointestinal tract into the general circulation is well known. This knowledge, however, strongly indicates that a grave medical menace may be in store for us, unless preventive measures, are. taken before it is too

A Case-Control Study of Fluoridation and Osteosarcoma.

Public health policy decisions in the United States have resulted in 62.4% of the population having access to fluoridated water. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between community water fluoridation and osteosarcoma. A secondary data analysis was performed with data collected from 2 separate but linked

Fluoride's Mutagenicity: In vitro Studies

According to the National Toxicology Program, "the preponderance of evidence" from laboratory "in vitro" studies indicate that fluoride is a mutagenic compound. Many substances which are mutagens, are also carcinogens (i.e. they can cause cancer). As is typical for in vitro studies, the concentrations of fluoride that have generally been tested

Fluoride/Osteosarcoma Link Is Biologically Plausible

The "biological plausiblility" of a fluoride-osteosarcoma link is widely acknowledged in the scientific literature. The biological plausibility centers around three facts: 1) Bone is the principal site of fluoride accumulation, particularly during the growth spurts of childhood; 2) Fluoride is a mutagen when present at sufficient concentrations, and 3) Fluoride can stimulate the proliferation of osteoblasts (bone-forming cells).

Fluoride & Osteosarcoma: A Timeline

Several human epidemiological studies have found an association between fluoride in drinking water and the occurrence of osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in young males. These studies are consistent with the National Toxicology Program's (NTP) cancer bioassay which found that fluoride-treated male rats had an dose-dependent increase in osteosarcoma. Although a number of studies have failed to detect an association between fluoride and osteosarcoma, none of these studies have measured the risk of fluoride at specific windows in time, which based on recent results, is the critical question with respect to fluoride and osteosarcoma.

NTP Bioassay on Fluoride/Cancer (1990)

In 1977, the U.S. Congress requested that animal studies be conducted to determine if fluoride can cause cancer. The result of the Congressional request was an extensive animal study conducted in the 1980s by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and published in 1990. The main finding of NTP's study was a dose-dependent increase in osteosarcoma (bone cancer) among the fluoride-treated male rats. 

A Critique of Gelberg's Study on Fluoride/Osteosarcoma in New York

The case-control study by Gelberg, published first as a PhD dissertation and then later in two peer-reviewed journals, may represent the most substantive study on fluoride/osteosarcoma previous to Bassin’s 2001 analysis. In assessing Gelberg’s data, we were at first struck by the existence of several notable errors in both the thesis and papers. While these errors do raise questions about the study, our primary concern with Gelberg’s work relates to the methods she used to analyze her data.