Legislation to Reverse Fluoridation Mandate Advances in Kentucky
A bill that would allow water systems to decide on their own to repeal water fluoridation received near unanimous approval from the Kentucky House Standing Committee on State Government February 8.
House Bill 141, promoted by Rep. Mark Hart, Republican of Falmouth, was approved 16-1, and is being scheduled for a final vote.
“It’s a bill that will undo an unfunded state mandate and return…this decision to local control,” Hart said, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
According to Bruce Maples of Forward Kentucky, “This bill was reported favorably out of committee, has already had two readings, and been sent to the Rules Committee for scheduling it for a third and final vote.”
Ironically, Maples, a proponent of fluoridation, notes that “In 2012, Kentucky was #1 in fluoridation of its water systems, with 99.9% of the population receiving fluoridated water,” while the Louisville Courier Journal remarks, “Kentucky consistently ranks among the worst states for dental health. A 2023 assessment reported the state has more people 65 or older missing all of their natural teeth than any other state.”
Source:
- House Bill 141: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/24rs/hb141.html
- https://www.wlky.com/article/fluoride-drinking-water-kentucky-bill/46777051
Cellular Basis of Fluoride Damage to Kidney Cells Described
A recent report from Henan University of Science, in which mice were fed high levels of fluoride, has found several cellular responses to the toxin in kidneys that may be the basis of fluoride’s damage to that organ.
Writing in the journal Biological Trace Element Research December 7, the authors note that proper kidney function is crucial to removing fluoride from the blood, and that poorly functioning kidneys leave the body susceptible to fluoride poisoning.
“Renal failure prevents the efficient removal of fluoride and consequently makes the body susceptible to fluorosis, even with normal fluoride levels,” they write.
Noting that, “Accumulating evidence reveals that oxidative stress and mitochondrial impairment are the main mechanisms of fluoride-induced kidney damage,” the authors conducted microscopical and biochemical examinations of the mice kidneys, finding that high fluoride exposure physically damaged various tubules within the nephron, the functioning unit of the kidney, led to iron accumulation in the tubules, and triggered the production of chemicals that damage the mitochondria, causing cells to die.
“Under pathological conditions, oxidative stress and subsequent intracellular mechanisms may cause excessive iron accumulation in the renal tubules, leading to iron-induced kidney injury,” they report.
They noted that a particular enzyme, renal alkaline phosphatase (ALP), accumulates in the glomerulus, the tubular network where blood is filtered, generating urine.
“ALP is present in humans and plays a key role in intracellular destructive processes and cellular damage. Renal tubular epithelial cells contain a considerable amount of ALP, and its secretion is common after xenobiotics-induced injuries to renal cells…ALP plays a vital role in the secretion and reabsorption of renal tubules; hence, its release is considered a reliable marker for kidney injury. In the same vein, this study confirmed the decline of ALP in renal tubular epithelial cells and its accumulation in the glomerulus. This explains the concentration-dependent increase in ALP in the luminal fluid due to fluoride. The impact of fluoride on renal tubular epithelial cells leads to their impairment, facilitating the release of ALP into the bloodstream and subsequent accumulation within the glomeruli. This elucidates the underlying mechanism behind the elevation of ALP levels in serum upon fluoride exposure,” they report.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-03994-5
Lower Levels of Fluoride in Indian Villages Leads to Widespread Dental Fluorosis
Several villages in India with drinking water fluoride levels of 0.5 or 0.6 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of fluoride suffer dental fluorosis in the majority of children, according to a new report.
While the authors of a new report in Cureus write, “Dental fluorosis is a developmental disturbance of dental enamels, caused by successive exposures to high concentrations of fluoride during odontogenesis, leading to enamels with lower mineral content and increased porosity,” their study found that several villages they examined had widespread dental fluorosis at levels below the concentration deliberately added to water supplies in fluoridated countries.
They report that three villages with fluoride levels of 0.5 mg/L, Alam Shah, Ghurka, and Pacca Chisy had 61, 67 and 59 percent, respectively, dental fluorosis among children. Chak Tahli Wala, with 0.6 mg/L fluoride in the water, had 68 percent fluorotic children. Villages with 1 mg/L, the standard recommended concentration for many years, had populations in which 70 percent of the children had dental fluorosis.
While dentistry claims that this disorder is not a health concern, but only a cosmetic issue, the founder of water fluoridation, H. Trendley Dean, called it a low grade, chronic, poisoning of children.
The authors note:
“Studies have shown that when temperature rises, there is a corresponding rise in both the occurrence and severity of enamel fluorosis. This is attributed to the increased use of drinking water. Brouwer et al. suggested that the elevated occurrence of enamel defects may be attributed to heightened perspiration and increased water consumption resulting from high daily temperatures and high altitudes.”
Source: https://10.7759/cureus.51238
Environment and Natural Resource Committee in Massachusetts Asked to Back Fluoridation Ban
After receiving mostly indifference from the Public Health Committee, activists in Massachusetts have turned to the state legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Joint Committee with bills to ban fluoridation in the state.
Leominster activist Karen Spencer, writing in the Gloucester Daily Times Dec. 27, lists some of the many adverse health effects of ingesting fluoride, in addition to prenatal exposure-induced neurotoxicity.
“As if the subtle damage caused to baby brains isn’t enough, consider the harm caused to consumers every day with every glass of fluoridated water and every meal prepared with that water:
“Do you have bad knees? How about back pain and degenerative disk disease? Fluoride is stored in bones and the symptoms of arthritis are identical to Stages 1 and 2 of skeletal fluorosis.
“Do you suffer with inflammatory conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or IBS? Fluoride is not the cause of all of incidences of inflammatory disease, but it can cause and does worsens all of these conditions.
“Are you on thyroid medication? Canadian and British studies have documented that between 30% and 50% more low-thyroid disease is diagnosed in fluoridated communities.
“How are your kidneys? The “optimal” concentration in fluoridated water communities is 0.7 ppm which is the equivalent of a 0.7 mg/L dose assuming a typical adult consumption of 1 liter of water a day. Scientific studies have validated that so-called “safe” doses of fluoride stresses kidneys. Kidney patients, like diabetics, drink at least three times more water than is typical and so get higher doses of fluoride which damage kidneys. Many kidney doctors, like most thyroid doctors, privately advise their patients to avoid fluoridated water and food prepared with it,” writes Spencer.
The bills in Massachusetts are S460 and H827. The text reads:
“Based on the robust body of science documenting ill effects from even low-dose fluoride exposure for a significant portion of the population including pregnant women, bottle-fed babies, young children, the elderly and many in fragile health; conflicting federal regulations regarding the use of fluoridation chemicals; the questionable ethics of medicating a portion of the population against their will including those with medical reason to avoid fluoride; and concerns about the biomagnification of fluoridation chemicals and tramp contaminants in our environment, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts bans the addition of any fluoride water products to any and all public water supplies.”
Low Dose Water Fluoride Has Severe Effects on Developing Fish Embryos
In an unusually strongly worded exposé of the health effects of fluoride in drinking water, Chinese scientists in a recent study on the effects of fluoride on the experimental model animal zebrafish (Danio rerio), write “To date, fluoridation is becoming one of the most impactful public health challenges, with complex effects on overall health, especially on cognition and intelligence. The threat of fluorosis has plagued over 24 nations, including 80 % of villages in China and India, [because the] progressive malady greatly affects the health of both human and aquatic ecosystem.”
The researchers exposed the fish embryos to sodium fluoride concentrations as low as 3.86 milligrams per liter for 1 to 6 days and examined them for morphological changes, developmental abnormalities and changes in swimming behavior.
They reported, “A low dose of water fluoridation tends to induce abnormal development of the embryonic yolk sac, while vascular malformation is widely observed in all fluoride-treated groups. The effect of fluoride exposure on blood circulation is universally present, even in zebrafish larvae that do not exhibit obvious deformities. Their swimming behavior is also affected by water fluoridation, resulting in reduced activity and delayed reactions,” write the authors from the Fujian Medical University and the Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital December 27 in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.
The authors concluded:
“Our findings highlight that the manifestation of neurotoxicity caused by low-concentration fluoride is particularly prominent. This discovery holds great significance in deepening our understanding of fluoride’s potential hazards and ensuring the well-being of children and expectant mothers.”
Source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.115907
Isle of Man Government Will Take No Action on Fluoridation “At This Time”
The Manx government has confirmed that “no policy position or further action will be taken at this time”on the proposal to implement water fluoridation throughout the country. Similar proposals were defeated in 1986 and 2008. This decision came in response to the publication of a recent report on fluoridation from the Public health department.
The island’s Health and Social Care Minister Lawrie Hooper proposed that the Public Health Directorate prepare a research paper exploring water fluoridation, a move approved several months ago by the legislature 14 to 9, according the 3FM radio station.
Although it was produced after the court-ordered release of the US National Toxicology Program investigation that reported moderate confidence of fluoride’s neurotoxicity at just twice the level added to water supplies, the biased report from the Public Health department of the Isle of Man showed no interest in the subject.
The recent Isle of Man report, released in December, repeated the claim that the only concern from water fluoridation is dental fluorosis.
“Other health risks (e.g. osteosarcoma, skeletal, and neurological effects) have been associated with fluoride, however only when exposure is above the recommended level of 1.5mg/l. This is most commonly associated with geological leaching in areas of very high natural fluoride. No such risks were found in any of the papers in association with water fluoridation, which was found to be safe.”
The National Toxicology Program reported, “This review finds, with moderate confidence, that higher fluoride exposure (e.g., represented by populations whose total fluoride exposure approximates or exceeds the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality of 1.5 mg/L of fluoride) is consistently associated with lower IQ in children,”
The authors added:
“The literature in children was more extensive and was separated into studies assessing intelligence quotient (IQ) and studies assessing other cognitive or neurodevelopmental outcomes. Eight of nine high-quality studies examining other cognitive or neurodevelopmental outcomes reported associations with fluoride exposure. Seventy-two studies assessed the association between fluoride exposure and IQ in children. Nineteen of those studies were considered to be high quality; of these, 18 reported an association between higher fluoride exposure and lower IQ in children.”
Local Opposition
An on-line petition opposing water fluoridation on the Isle of Man garnered 600 signatures since the government’s vote to approve the fluoridation report several months ago.
Iain Mack, who set up the website No Fluoride in Manx Water, started the petition. The local radio station notes that the website, “offers in-depth insights into the arguments against fluoridation, with scientific studies and testimonials from experts in the field.”
The website notes, “As a letter to the Isle of Man News in March 2023 states: ‘The capacity of the Manx government to expose itself to humiliation, ridicule and consistent defeat whenever it promotes this poison is bewildering.’”
Sources:
•• Michael Dolan can be contacted at <mdolan.ecsn@outlook.com>
•• The archives of The Fluoridation Review are available at: https://
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