Recent successes by campaigners against artificial water fluoridation on both sides of the Atlantic were boosted today when correspondence, dated 4 April, between senior environmental and public health officials came to light.  During a bitterly fought campaign to prevent fluoridation in Wellington, Florida, the Palm Beach County dental director and promoter of water fluoridation, Robert Dumbaugh, wrote to the Director of Environmental Health, Frank Gargiulo, seeking help:

“We will have to come up with a very convincing explanation that defuses the mass hysteria surrounding ‘pollution scrubbers’ and toxic waste dumping. Any suggestions? They even have Tom Reeves on the ropes now. I think we have to have somebody that understands the industrial process . . . ”

In March this year, Jane Jones, campaign director of the National Pure Water Association, wrote to Mr Thomas Reeves, the U.S. Chief Fluoridation Engineer, based at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, asking him to confirm or deny that the fluoridating agent is pollution scrubber liquor and to provide Safety Testing Data for it.

“Reeves replied without answering either question,” said Ms Jones. “The push to fluoridate is largely driven from America, so I also wrote to Dr Michael Easley, the ‘chief fluoridation guru’ over there.  I asked the same questions of Dr Gennady Pakhomov, the Responsible Officer for the World Health Organisation’s Oral Health Programme. He acknowledged my email but ducked the questions. I’ve written three times to each of these top men, who are supposed to be ‘experts’; their silence is scandalous.  We know that the fluoridating agent is, indeed, hazardous waste (fluosilicic acid) which has never been tested as safe for human consumption.”

Public health officials claim that water fluoridation at one part per million is safe and effective and reduces tooth decay in children. About 5.5 million UK people live in fluoridated areas. Few are aware that the product comes from the phosphate fertiliser industry.

Investigative writer, George Glasser, has a special interest in pollution. He readily became involved when several workers at a phosphate plant asked him to assist in their fight for compensation for industrial injuries. Speaking from his Florida home, he said:

“The workers detailed all the processes of the plant, including the pollution scrubbing operations. I’d done some research on the liquor but never realised how bad it really is.  After publishing their stories, I spent the next two years researching official regulations and the PSL itself, and turned up some very frightening facts. ‘Pollution Scrubber Liquor’ is a cocktail of hazardous pollutants which have been washed down and collected to prevent them from being emitted to the air. This toxic mix contains about 19% fluorine, but the bulk of it is dirty water containing arsenic, lead, beryllium, cadmium, vanadium, silica and sometimes mercury and radionuclides.  Yet all the public health officials say it’s as safe as mothers’ milk!  Arsenic and beryllium are classified as Group 1 ‘known human carcinogens.’ There is no ‘safe level’ for arsenic – and it is a cumulative poison.”

Earlier this year, the Dept. of Health commissioned a review of water fluoridation which has been carried out at the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at York University. The Government will make a statement in September. If the York report declares water fluoridation to be safe and effective, the Government intends to change the law to compel water companies to fluoridate when requested by local authorities.

“This review has been strongly criticised by scientists around the world,” said Ms Jones. “The NPWA wrote to York in June, criticising the exclusion of all existing animal studies, all biochemistry studies and the failure of the review to take into account fluoride exposure from a wide range of sources. Whatever the final report may conclude, the self-evident deficiencies of the review compromise the security of the NHSCRD’s findings. Our campaign will continue until all legislation permitting fluoridation is repealed.”  ends.

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