Bullock Texas State History Museum
Evenhanded Piece on Fluoridation, Which Can Kill You
RECEIVED Tue., Dec. 1, 2009
Dear Editor,
Wells Dunbar’s thorough, well-researched, and evenhanded coverage of the difficult water fluoridation issue [“Unstable Element,” News, Nov. 27] is to be commended. Just one point bears some clarification. To parse the statement "Fluoride overdoses do occur, although not necessarily associated with municipal fluoridation – it's more often a consequence of industrial production or else a rural anomaly.” The first part is entirely correct. The second part, however, could be taken to mean that most overexposure today comes from industrial production or water wells high in natural fluoride. That’s true of acute overdoses, but not the kind of gradual overload that people drinking artificially fluoridated water acquire. Unfortunately, fluoride is a cumulative toxin, never wholly excreted, building up in the body over years and decades to work its damage down the line.
The standard 1.0 part per million dilution used for municipal fluoridation is more than sufficient to negatively impact the body’s systems – most notably the skeleton. In fact, when a team of crime busters converged on Death Valley last March to search for yet-undiscovered remains of Charles Manson Family victims on the 40th anniversary of the Family’s arrest, they used a high tech diagnostic tool to distinguish human from animal bones – an instrument which detects fluoride buildup in the bones of people consuming fluoridated urban water. If that’s not a scary thought, then nothing is.
Wells Dunbar’s thorough, well-researched, and evenhanded coverage of the difficult water fluoridation issue [“Unstable Element,” News, Nov. 27] is to be commended. Just one point bears some clarification. To parse the statement "Fluoride overdoses do occur, although not necessarily associated with municipal fluoridation – it's more often a consequence of industrial production or else a rural anomaly.” The first part is entirely correct. The second part, however, could be taken to mean that most overexposure today comes from industrial production or water wells high in natural fluoride. That’s true of acute overdoses, but not the kind of gradual overload that people drinking artificially fluoridated water acquire. Unfortunately, fluoride is a cumulative toxin, never wholly excreted, building up in the body over years and decades to work its damage down the line.
The standard 1.0 part per million dilution used for municipal fluoridation is more than sufficient to negatively impact the body’s systems – most notably the skeleton. In fact, when a team of crime busters converged on Death Valley last March to search for yet-undiscovered remains of Charles Manson Family victims on the 40th anniversary of the Family’s arrest, they used a high tech diagnostic tool to distinguish human from animal bones – an instrument which detects fluoride buildup in the bones of people consuming fluoridated urban water. If that’s not a scary thought, then nothing is.
Rae Nadler-Olenick
