Introduction - Skeletal Fluorosis in India & Its Relevance to the West - Fluoride Action Network, May 2004

Included below are recent newspaper articles detailing the impact of skeletal fluorosis in India.

Skeletal fluorosis is a bone disease caused by excessive consumption of fluoride. In India, the most common cause of fluorosis is fluoride-laden water derived from borewells dug deep into the earth

While fluorosis is most severe and widespread in the two largest countries - India and China - UNICEF estimates that "fluorosis is endemic in at least 25 countries across the globe. The total number of people affected is not known, but a conservative estimate would number in the tens of millions."

Common causes of fluorosis include: inhalation of fluoride dusts/fumes by workers in industry, use of coal as an indoor fuel source (a common practice in China), and consumption of fluoride from drinking water.

In China, the World Health Organization recently estimated that 2.7 million people have the crippling form of skeletal fluorosis, while in India, 17 of its 32 states have been identified as "endemic" areas, with an estimated 66 million people at risk and 6 million people seriously afflicted.

According to scientific surveys, skeletal fluorosis in India and China occurs when the fluoride concentration in water exceeds 1 part per million (ppm), and has been found to occur in communities with only 0.7 part per million (SOURCE: Singh 1961; Singh 1963; Jolly 1970; Siddiqui 1970; Susheela 1993; Choubisa 1997; Xu 1997; Bo 2003).

The Chinese government now considers any water supply containing over 1 ppm fluoride a risk for skeletal fluorosis (SOURCE: Bo 2003).

In the United States, an average of 1 ppm of fluoride is purposely added to water supplies for water fluoridation, while the Maximum Contaminant Level (as established by the US Environmental Protection Agency) is 4 ppm.

Relevance to Water Fluoridation?

While the elevated consumption of water in southern climates (which produces a higher intake of fluoride) and the increased incidence of malnutrition (which increases the susceptibility to fluoride toxicity) make comparing the Indian and Chinese experience to the United States difficult, it is still striking to observe how narrow the margin is between the doses which cause advanced skeletal fluorosis in India/China and the doses that people are now regularly receiving in the United States.

For instance, in three recent studies from India, China, and Tibet, the average daily doses found to cause advanced skeletal fluorosis ranged from 9 mg/day to 12 mg/day (SOURCE: Teotia 1998; Bo 2003; Cao 2003). To put these findings in perspective, the US Government has estimated that the daily dose of fluoride in fluoridated communities now ranges from 1.6 to 6.6 mg/day (SOURCE: DHHS 1991).

Of greatest relevance, however, to fluoridated communities, are not the advanced stages of fluorosis, but the early stages of fluorosis.

It is this fact which makes the proximity in doses causing advanced fluorosis in India/China (9-12 mg/day) to the doses ingested in fluoridated communities (1.6-6.6 mg/day) particularly troubling.

For, while the advanced stages produce extreme, visibly crippling, effects on the skeleton, the earlier stages are less obvious, and extremely difficult to diagnose. Indeed, a common finding among researchers investigating fluorosis, is that the early stages are marked by symptoms (stiff and painful joints) which are frequently difficult to differentiate from various types of arthritis.

The difficulties in diagnosing the early stages of fluorosis stem from the capacity of arthritic symptoms to occur before detectable bone changes are evident. As noted by Singh and colleagues, the early symptoms:

"may be misdiagnosed as rheumatoid or osteoarthritis. Such symptoms may be present prior to the development of definite radiological signs" (Singh 1963).

Another difficulty in diagnosing fluorosis is that even when bone changes are apparent (e.g. ligament calcification), they can look strikingly similar to other bone diseases - especially to doctors unfamiliar with fluorosis. Bone diseases which fluorosis may be misdiagnosed as, include: ankylosing spondylitis; renal osteodystrophy; osteopetrosis; and Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH).

Misdiagnosis in the West

According to a recent study from a team of US doctors,

"Our case report illustrates dramatically that fluorosis can lead to severe disability while closely mimicking a wide variety of other disorders... We believe increased awareness of this unusual disease is needed to enable physicians to make the proper diagnosis" (Fisher 1989).

As this study highlighted, the problem of correctly diagnosing fluorosis is further amplified in the US by a notable lack of understanding of the disease within the medical community.

According to a report by Chemical & Engineering News:

"Although skeletal fluorosis has been studied intensely in other countries for more than 40 years, virtually no research has been done in the U.S. to determine how many people are afflicted with the earlier stages of the disease, particularly the preclinical stages. Because some of the clinical symptoms mimic arthritis, the first two clinical phases of skeletal fluorosis could be easily misdiagnosed... Even if a doctor is aware of the disease, the early stages are difficult to diagnose" (Hileman 1988).

Of course, since the early symptoms of fluorosis mimic arthritis, the question naturally arises as to whether the now near-epidemic rate of arthritis in the US, is related to the increased ingestion of fluoride that has occurred over the past 50 years. The question is particularly relevant considering that there is no known cause (other than 'aging') for common forms of arthritis, and that arthritis appears to be impacting adults at increasingly younger ages.

Dental Fluorosis: The Writing on the Wall/The Warning on the Teeth?

Another reason for concern is the increasing rate and severity of dental fluorosis documented among US children. Dental fluorosis, a fluoride-induced mineralization disorder of the teeth, has been found to impact an average of between 30 and 50% of children in fluoridated communities (SOURCE: Heller 1997; York Review 2000).

Fluoride produces dental fluorosis by damaging the cells (ameloblasts) responsible for forming tooth enamel. This raises the question of whether there are other cells in the body (which we can't see) that fluoride may be damaging - particularly in areas like the bone, the pineal gland, and the kidney, where fluoride can accumulate.

As noted by former fluoridation proponent, Dr. John Colquhoun:

"Common sense should tell us that if a poison circulating in a child's body can damage the tooth-forming cells, then other harm also is likely."

According to Dr. Hardy Limeback, former President of the Canadian Association of Dental Research:

"it is illogical to assume that tooth enamel is the only tissue affected by low daily doses of fluoride ingestion."

'Non-Skeletal' Effects: It's not just the bones

Limeback's concern is seconded by an increasing number of scientists studying the fluorosis problem in India and China. The emerging consensus in that part of the world is that fluoride - in addition to damaging the bones - may also damage the brain, the kidneys, the reproductive system, and other organs as well.
According to Dr. AK Susheela, one of India's leading experts on fluorosis, and Director of the Fluorosis Research & Rural Development Foundation:

“I am absolutely certain that large numbers of persons all around the world are suffering from Fluoride Toxicity, to one degree or other. The various and frequent health complaints, caused by fluoride ingestion, are often (or invariably) over-looked due to unawareness at all levels, which include the health professionals or, perhaps, due to the prevailing ill conceived, unscientific notion that 'fluoride is good for teeth.'"

Echoing Susheela's concern, a recent UNICEF report concluded:

"Some governments are not yet fully aware of the fluoride problem or convinced of its adverse impact on their populations. Efforts are therefore needed to support more research on the subject and promote systematic policy responses by governments."

And the 'policy response' from the US? Further promotion of water fluoridation, using industrial waste from the phosphate fertilizer industry, and a recent agreement by the EPA to let DOW Chemical apply the highest level of fluoride pesticide residue ever allowed on food products in US history.

References

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluorosis-india.htm

Yup ...mankind isn't fucking up the Earth at all. We are just here taking up space.

another day at the office.

Good morning all.

Thank you for posting this. Fluoride is highly toxic.

During the Laki volcano eruption of 1783 an estimated 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride was released into the environment.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

Consequences in Iceland
The consequences for Iceland—known as the Mist Hardships -- were catastrophic. An estimated 20-25% of the population died in the famine and fluorine poisoning after the fissure eruptions ceased. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released.[6][7]

from natural event was even poisonous. fascinating subject tethys.