The Menace of Fluorine to Health
Perhaps the most authoritative published report on Sodium Fluoride is the University of New Mexico Bulletin, under the title of The Menace of Fluoride to Health, prepared by John D. Clark and Edward H. Mann of the University of New Mexico, from which we quote:
"Cases are on record which show that ingestion of small amounts of fluorides is fatal to both man and other animals. Tappeiner(1) describes the effects of fluorides on dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs when given by oral ingestion. When 0.5 of a gram of sodium fluoride per hundred grams of body weight is given orally, or 0.15 of a gram is given by subcutaneous or intravenous injection, the symptoms are as follows: a condition of drowsiness and weakness; cramps which may attack a single organ or the entire body, and are epileptic in character; paralysis of the vasomotor centers; acceleration and deepening of the breathing with paralysis following; vomiting; secretion from the salivary and tear glands; and, finally death.
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(1) Tappeiner, H., Arch.f.exp., Path.u. Phar.,25:203, (1889)
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"Certain investigators have observed that vegetation growing in the vicinity of aluminum factories, from which fluorine is given off in the waste gases, absorbs this fluorine. The herbivorous animals of these vicinities exhibit an endemic toxicosis which has been attributed to the consumption of this vegetation, and the above stated characteristics symptoms of fluorine poisoning have reproduced by feeding the suspected forage to guinea pigs.
"From the results of many experiments by Smith and Leverton(2) it has been found that the compound of fluorine used, the method and length of time of administration, and individual susceptibilities vary the toxic effects of fluorine to a very great extent. There is evidence, however, that fluosilicates such as sodium fluoride or calcium fluoride and that sodium fluoride is more toxic than the calcium salt.
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(2) Churchill, H.Vlk Ind. and Eng. Chem.58., 132-56 (1916)
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"There are at least three types of mottled enamel recognized: the mild chalky type, the more severe stained type, and the pitted, corroded type. As taken from a paper by Margaret C. Smith(3) of the University of Arizona, shows the three types of mottling, and, for comparison, a set of normal teeth.
"In addition to being disfigured, mottled teeth are defective in formation and calcification and are consequently structurally weak. The defect is permanent and, once it has taken place is irreparable. Certain dental associations have estimated that it would cost $1,000.00 for the dental care of teeth of the average person with mottled enamel, up to adulthood, at which time the natural teeth must usually be replaced by false.
"Mottled enamel has been produced experimentally by H.V. and Margaret C. Smith(3) of the University of Arizona. Their experiments consisted of feeding small amounts of sodium fluoride or water from a supply which contained fluorides, to rats, guinea pigs and dogs.
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(3) Smith, M.C. and Leverton, T.M., Ind. and Eng. Chem., 26:791-7
(1934). -------------------------------------------------
Experiments show that fluorine passes into the blood stream and interferes with the calcification of the unerupted teeth. Contrary to common belief, it does not act in the mouth upon the enamel of the erupted portion of the teeth. The teeth of children and adults who have not begun the drinking of water containing fluorine until their second set of teeth have erupted, show no mottling or visible effects of fluorine poisoning.
"In humans, as soon as the enamel of the permanent teeth is completely formed and calcified, the enamel organ disappears. The enamel does not regenerate itself but behaves like dead tissue, thus once the teeth are mottled during childhood the mottling is permanent.
"The mottled appearance of human teeth may be explained by an intermittent use of water which contains fluorine, or a daily variation in the amount of drinking water consumed.
"Although it is true that the enamel of adult teeth is unaffected by fluorine, the dentine, which receives nutrients from the blood stream continually and whose composition is subject to change, will suffer. Histological examination shows this to be the case.
"The bones of a young growing dog, fed very small amounts of sodium fluorine by Brandl and Tappeiner(4) for a period of twenty-one months, were examined microscopically. Deposited in the bones were found vivid glistening crystals which were regarded as being crystalline calcium fluoride. It is believed that soluble fluoride salts are deposited in the bones in considerable amounts, giving rise to an increased brittleness. Feeding fluorine to a rat produces a short, square, and stocky appearance in the skeleton, with the enlarged deformed bones and bowing of the legs typical of rickets. The bones of fluorine fed animals are always chalky and fragile as are the teeth.
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(4) Smith, H.V., Am. J. of P.H., Water Works Eng. Nov. 19, 1937.
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"Measuring the storage of calcium and phosphorus, the bone forming elements, by determining the balance between the intake and the output shows that fluorine-fed animals retain only half as much as normal animals serving as controls. Fluorine increases the loss or elimination of these elements, and bone development is retarded proportionally. Addition to calcium to the diet, however, prevents this loss to a great extent, but has no effect in retarding the mottling and decay of the teeth. No signs of the bone defects have so far been observed in children whose teeth are mottled and it is thought that water has to contain at least six parts per million before any appreciable effect upon the bone occur. It seems that the teeth are more sensitive to fluorine than the bones since a more specific effect is produced on them.
"It has been shown by experiment on dogs that the interference of fluorine with calcium metabolism cannot be prevented by the intake of vitamin D in the form of cod liver oil or viosterol, and the effects on the teeth cannot be prevented by an increase in the calcium content of the diet.(6)
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(6) this may be one of the causes for the great increase of Vitamin
D deficiency diseases, especially Arthritis and all those affecting
muscles and bones, as Sodium Fluoride inhibits calcium metabolism.
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"Having seen the effects of fluorine on the teeth and bones, we naturally wonder whether there are not other effects produced in the body from a continued use of fluorine contaminated water. It is known that small doses of fluorine, which are still relatively large compared to the amounts found in natural waters, may go so far as to produce death.
"An inhibitory effect on the action of enzymes, characteristic of antiseptics in general, is a property of all inorganic fluorides. Evidence has been established that there is a specific influence of fluorides on certain enzymatic changes associated with carbohydrates and fats.(7) The results of a study conducted by Kastle and Leovenhart(8) on the effect of antiseptics on the reactions of pancreatic and liver extracts revealed a harmful effect on most substances studied.
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(7) The adverse influence of Sodium Fluoride in foods and drinks
may be a great cause of hardening of the arteries, interfering
as it does with the proper metabolism of fats.
(8) Sanchis, J.M., Ind. and Eng. Chem. Anal. Ed. 6:134-5 (1934)
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"Particularly harmful is the action of Sodium Fluoride on the reactions of lipase, Loevenhart and Pierce(9) investigated the halides of sodium and potassium: the chlorides of calcium, cadmium, barium, and manganese; sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate, dissodium phosphate, potassium chromate, and ammonium thiocyanate, but none of these substances showed an inhibitory effect comparable to the action of fluorides. Solutions of sodium fluoride with a fluorine content as low as one part in 15,000,000 may inhibit the action of lipase as much as 50 per cent.
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(9) Smith, M.C. and leverton, R.M., Ind. and Eng. Chem. 26:791-7.
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"Certain phases of the enzymatic breakdown of carbohydrates are particularly sensitive to the fluorine ion. The ability of amylase to produce dextrose is increased by weak solutions of sodium fluoride.
"It has been shown that the fluoride ion retards glycolysis in the blood by preventing glycerophosphoric acid from changing into phosphoglyceric acid and hence into pyruvic and lactic acids.
"There is a small amount of fluorine in normal blood and it has been shown that continued ingestion of fluorides may increase this amount many fold. Stuber and Lang(10) observed a number of cases of hemophilia in which the fluorine content of the blood was abnormally high. These seemed to be a correlation between the high fluorine content of the blood and the prolonged time of coagulation, and they suspected that the fluorine may be the cause of this condition. Knowing that goose blood and rabbit blood clots slowly, an investigation was made, and it was found that fluorine was present in large amounts in the blood of these animals. Cat and dog blood, on the other hand, clots rapidly and was found to be free from fluorine.
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(10) Stuber, B., and Lang, K., Biochem, Zeitehr. 212:96 (1929)
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"Continuing their observations they found that as a whole, individuals residing in places where the fluorine content of their drinking water was high, had a coagulation time of six to twenty times that of a normal individual drinking fluorine-free water.
"Stuber and Lang are of the opinion that the retarding effect on glycolysis may be responsible for the long clotting time.
"In closing the topic of the physiological effects of fluorine, it may be stated that recently Goldemberg(11) reports that by the ingestion of only two milligrams of fluorine per day for a period of six months, the thyroid gland in rats may be enlarged five to six times in volume, thus showing that fluorine poisoning exhibits a very specific effect on the thyroid gland.(12) It has been suggested that fluorine may play a very important part in endemic goiter.
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(11) Goldemberg,L., Journ. de Physiol. et de Path. Gen. 25:65.
(12) It is generally conceded by Endocrinologists that the Thyroid
has a most profound effect on the mind, and that Sodium Fluoride
has a powerful influence in inhibiting the influence of Thyroxine
on mental activity. This was the Marxists reason for its vicious
use.
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"From these reports it may safely be concluded that Sodium Fluoride is one of the darkest, red-eyed villains of the chemical world and that it is well to beware of it."