Abstract
This article reviews an important phase of the debate concerning a striking association between artificial fluoridation of public water supplies and increased crude cancer death rates in large central cities of the United States from 1940 through 1968. The authors believe that this association reveals a causal relationship between water fluoridation and human cancer. Critics insist that the association is explained by demographic changes in the two groups of central cities which have been compared. The authors evaluate the major papers of these critics, and show that, if all available and pertinent data are standardized by the indirect method for age, race, and sex, the association between fluoridation and cancer remains substantially intact, but somewhat reduced. Attention is also given to a recent suggestion that the association can be explained by changes in population sizes of the twenty cities observed. Analysis of this proposal reveals that, in the cities considered during the period observed, changes in population size were essentially an inverse index of population aging, and yielded adjustments parallel to those of age, race, and sex. It is concluded that artificial fluoridation appears to cause or induce about 20-30 excess cancer deaths for every 100,000 persons exposed per year after about 15-20 years.
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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
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Sister chromatid exchange frequency and chromosome aberrations in residents of fluoride endemic regions of South Gujarat
Peripheral blood lymphocytes of residents of three villages and one nearby township in South Gujarat with fluoride concentrations in the drinking water of 1.56 - 3.46 and 0.6 - 0.8 ppm, respectively, were examined for their frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and chromosome aberra-tions. The rates of SCEs and
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Fluoride exposure in public drinking water and childhood and adolescent osteosarcoma in Texas.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between fluoride levels in public drinking water and childhood and adolescent osteosarcoma in Texas; to date, studies examining this relationship have been equivocal. Using areas with high and low naturally occurring fluoride, as well as areas with optimal fluoridation,
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Sodium fluoride-induced morphological and neoplastic transformation, chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges, and unscheduled DNA synthesis in cultured syrian hamster embryo cells
The effects of exposure of early-passage Syrian hamster embryo cells in culture to sodium fluoride have been studied with respect to induction of morphological and neoplastic transformation, chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges, and unscheduled DNA synthesis. Exposure of Syrian hamster embryo cells to NaF concentrations between 75 and 125 micrograms/ml
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Genotoxic evaluation of sodium fluoride in the Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test (SMART)
In this study, genotoxic effect of sodium fluoride (NaF) was investigated in Drosophila melanogaster Somatic Mutation and Recombination Test. Third-instar larvae trans-heterozygous for two genetic markers mwh and flr, were treated at different concentrations (2.5 microg/ml, 5 microg/ml and 10 microg/ml) of the test compounds. After the treatment the observed
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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.
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Fluoride & Liver Cancers in NTP Bioassay
On October 28, 1988, Battelle Columbus Laboratories submitted its Final Report to the NTP concerning the results of the Mouse study. The principal finding of Battelle's report was that a dose-dependent increase of a rare liver cancer (hepatocholangiocarcinoma) had occurred in the fluoride-treated male and female mice.
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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).
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Fluoride's Mutagenicity: In vivo Studies
Consistent with dozens of in vitro studies, a number of in vivo studies, in both humans and animals, have found evidence of fluoride-induced genetic damage. In particular, research on humans exposed to high levels of fluoride have found increased levels of "sister chromatid exchange" (SCE). As noted in one study: "In
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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.
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