Due to its high toxicity, fluoride has long been used as a pesticide since the 1950s. In the United States, there are currently two fluoride-based pesticides that are allowed to be sprayed on food: cryolite and sulfuryl fluoride.
Fluoride Exposure from Cryolite
The main way people are exposed to fluoride from the pesticide cryolite is through consumption of grape products, particularly white grapes, grown in the U.S. This is because cryolite use is widespread among U.S. vineyards. According to data from the USDA (2005), the average fluoride levels in grape products are as follows:
- White grape juice = 2.13 ppm
- White wine = 2.02 ppm
- Red wine = 1.05 ppm
- Raisins = 2.34 ppm
Many juice drinks that are not labeled as “grape juice” use grape juice as a filler ingredient. The use of cryolite thus contaminates many juices with fluoride. Cryolite is also allowed to be added to the following products (although it is unclear how many producers actually do so, and what the resulting fluoride levels are):
- Apricot, Broccoli, Brussels Sprout, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Citrus fruit, Collards, Eggplant, Kale, Kiwifruit, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Melon, Nectarine, Peach, Pepper, Plum, Pumpkin, Squash (summer & winter), Tomato, and a number of Berries (Blackberry, Blueberry (huckleberry) Boysenberry, Cranberry, Dewberry, Loganberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Youngberry).
The key way to avoid exposure to fluoride from cryolite is to avoid buying non-organic grape products, particularly beverages made out of white grapes.
Fluoride Exposure from Sulfuryl Fluoride
In 2005, the U.S. EPA granted a request from Dow AgroSciences to use sulfuryl fluoride as a fumigant in food-processing facilities as a means of killing bugs, rodents, and reptiles. Although EPA granted FAN’s request in January 2011 to rescind its approval of sulfuryl fluoride as a fumigant, this was challenged by the agribusiness industry, which successfully lobbied Congress to add a few short sentences to the Farm Bill of 2014 that nullified the phase-out. Thus, as it currently stands, sulfuryl fluoride is still being sprayed on food products made in the U.S.
The EPA allows sulfuryl fluoride as both a fumigant of food-processing facilities (while food is still on the premises) and as a direct fumigant of food. Both forms of fumigation result in the contamination of food with fluoride. Here’s what you need to know about both:
Fumigation of Food Processing Facilities
Structural fumigation is done for the purpose of killing pests in the facility where the food is stored. It usually is performed twice a year in a given facility. Unlike virtually every other western country, the EPA does not require that food processors remove food prior to the fumigation. As a result, any food that is being stored in the facility during a structural fumigation will be contaminated with fluoride.
The level of fluoride contamination that EPA allows for wheat flour (125 ppm) and dried eggs (900 ppm) is sufficient to cause symptoms of acute fluoride toxicity (e.g., nausea, vomiting, etc) in children. Although less than 0.1% of wheat flour and dried eggs will be contaminated with sulfuryl fluoride (due to the infrequency of structural fumigations), several hundred, if not thousands, of children will be exposed each years to doses of fluoride from these products that can induce temporary food poisoning-type symptoms. No other country allows this. There are hundreds of other food products that EPA allows to be contaminated with sulfuryl fluoride.
Direct Fumigation of Food
The EPA also allows food processors to use sulfuryl fluoride as a direct fumigant of certain foods. This means that food processors can purposely spray sulfuryl fluoride directly onto certain foods. Unlike structural fumigation (which takes place once or twice a year), direct fumigation is a routinely performed procedure. Thus, foods that can be directly fumigated with sulfuryl fluoride will consistently have elevated fluoride levels.
According to EPA’s estimates, some of the foods that will be most commonly fumigated are cocoa powder, dried beans, walnuts and dried fruits. EPA estimates that, if the current regulations are not rescinded, 100% of cocoa powder, 100% of dried beans, 99% of walnuts, 69% of dried fruits, 10% of walnuts, 10% of tree nuts, and 3% of rice will be fumigated. When fumigated the average fluoride levels in fumigated food is:
- Brown rice = 12.5 ppm
- Cocoa powder = 8.4 ppm
- Almonds = 5.3 ppm
- Tree nuts = 5.3 ppm
- Dried beans = 4.5 ppm
- White rice = 4.5 ppm
- Walnuts = 2.4 ppm
- Dried fruits = 1 ppm
The Fluorinated Pesticides
Many of these pesticides are extremely toxic – most particularly the ones that contain both bromine and fluorine because this combination has shown severe effects on the brain. These particular pesticides are: Bromethalin, Chlorfenapyr, Fluazolate, Fluorosalan, Halfenprox, Tralopyril, and Thifluzamide.
The fluorinated pesticides do not leave a “fluoride” metabolite residue, instead they leave fluorinated metabolites. Basically, we did not have the time nor expertise to understand these fluorinated metabolites and we don’t know of any group who is even interested in them, aside from the companies that want to sell pesticides and the EPA who have to review them. The public needs independent groups to begin to understand fluorinated pesticides and their metabolites because so many have come into existence as alternatives to well known toxic chlorinated ones. It could turn out that the fluorinated pesticides are equally dangerous, or even more so.
Lastly, if any of the fluorinated pesticides catch on fire they will release hydrofluoric acid.
| The Fluorinated and Fluoride Pesticides beginning with the following letters | |||
| A – B | C | D – E | F – Fluc |
| Flud – Flum | Fluo | Flup – Flur | G – L |
| M – N | O – P | Q – S | T – Z |
What you can do:
- Support organic farming practices
- Advocate for stricter regulations on fluoride pesticide use.