Board index » kids » Fluoride Causes Bone Cancer

2005-06-29 02:12:14 AM
New York - June 28, 2005 -- Newly available research, out of Harvard
University, links fluoride in tap water, at levels most Americans
drink, to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer (1).
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a highly-regarded Washington
DC-based organization, urges that fluoride in tap water be declared a
known or probable cancer cause (2), based on this and previous animal
and human studies.
Elise Bassin, PhD writes, in her April 2001 Harvard doctoral thesis,
"...for males less than twenty years old, fluoride level in drinking
water [about 1 part per million] during growth is associated with an
increased risk of osteosarcoma."
Further, EWG charges that Bassin's lead advisor, Chester W. Douglass,
DMD, PhD signed off on her research; but told federal health officials
there is no cancer link to fluoride, according to the Boston Herald
(2a).
Douglass is also editor-in-chief of the Colgate Oral Care Report, a
newsletter that goes to dentists and is supported by toothpaste
manufacturer Colgate Palmolive.
"It appears Douglass violated federal research rules, according to
the group's complaint, which they plan to file with the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences," writes the Boston
Herald.
According to EWG, "Research dating back decades, much of it
government funded, has long suggested that fluoride added to drinking
water presents a unique cancer risk to the growing bones of young
boys." (3)
Citing a strong body of peer-reviewed evidence, including the Bassin
study, EWG urges an expedited review of fluoride for inclusion in a
U.S. government report of substances known or feared to be
cancer-causing in humans. (2)
Richard Wiles, EWG's Sr. Vice President, told the British newspaper
The Observer, "I've spent 20 years in public health trying to protect
kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the
consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now
have with fluoride." (4)
High-quality epidemiological studies show a strong association between
fluoride in tap water and osteosarcoma in boys, reports EWG.
EWG's Wiles writes, "The safety of fluoride in America's tap
water is a pressing health concern....the weight of the evidence
strongly supports the conclusion that millions of boys in these
[fluoridated] communities are at significantly increased risk of
developing bone cancer as a result."
"The Harvard dissertation...obviously had merit because Bassin was
awarded her doctorate," writes The Observer.
Fluoride is added to water supplies in a questionable attempt to reduce
tooth decay. Pro-fluoridation studies are outdated and flawed as
revealed in British (5) and U.S. reviews of the literature (6).
Because osteosarcoma usually develop from osteoblasts (the cells that
manufacture growing bone), it most commonly develops in teenagers who
are experiencing their adolescent growth spurt. Boys are twice as
likely to have osteosarcoma as girls, and most cases of osteosarcoma
involve the bones around the knee. (7)
More about fluoride and bone cancer here:
www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/osteosarcoma.html
www.ewg.org/issues/siteindex/issues.php
References:
(1) "Association Between Fluoride in Drinking Water During Growth and
Development and the Incidence of Osteosarcoma for Children and
Adolescents," A Thesis Presented by Elise Beth Bassin, April 2001
www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/bassin-2001.pdf
(2)June 6, 2005 letter from Richard Wiles, Sr. Vice President,
Environmental Working Group to Dr. C. W. Jameson, National Toxicology
Program, Report on Carcinogens
www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/20050606/petition.php
(2a) "Claim: Doctor fudged fluoride findings,"By Jessica Heslam,,
June 28, 2005
news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg
(3) Environmental Working Group News Release "Government Asked to
Evaluate the Cancer Causing Potential of Fluoride in Tap Water," June
6, 2005 www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/20050606/index.php
(4) "Fluoride water 'causes cancer'," by Bob Woffinden, June
12, 2005, The Observer
observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1504672,00.html
(5) The University of York, Centre for Review and Dissemination "What
the 'York Review' on the fluoridation of drinking water really
found," Originally released: 28 October 2003
www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/fluoridnew.htm
(6) National Institutes of Health, News Release concerning Consensus
statement regarding Diagnosis and Management of Dental Caries
Throughout Life, March 26-28, 2001,Vol. 18, No. 1
consensus.nih.gov/news/releases/115_release.htm
("... the (NIH) panel was disappointed in the overall quality of the
clinical data that it reviewed. According to the panel, far too many
studies were small, poorly described, or otherwise methodologically
flawed" (over 560 studies evaluated fluoride use).)
(7)
kidshealth.org/parent/medical/cancer/cancer_osteosarcoma.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/20050627/index.php
Harvard Fluoride Findings Misrepresented?
Environmental Working Group (EWG) has obtained documents suggesting
that the Chairman of the Department of Oral Health Policy and
Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine falsified
reporting to the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Chester Douglass
has received several years of large federal grants to study the
possible relationship between bone cancer in boys and drinking
fluoridated water. Reporting on the findings of this funding, he told
federal officials unequivocally that there was no relationship, but the
grant-funded publication he cited found exactly the opposite. In fact,
the research was done by a former doctoral student of Douglass's and
was the most rigorous study of its kind to date.
Douglass has made the same assertion to the National Academy of
Sciences panel
now reviewing the safe
ty of fluoridated drinking water. He is the publisher of a
Colgate-funded fluoride journal.
EWG has filed an ethics complaint against Douglass with the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg
Claim: Doctor fudged fluoride findings
By Jessica Heslam
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - Updated: 05:00 AM EST
An environmental watchdog group plans to file a complaint today with
federal medical authorities claiming a Harvard doctor is fudging
research findings.
The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group said Dr.
Chester Douglass reported no link between fluoride and bone cancer in
boys, contradicting extensive research done by one of his doctoral
students.
Douglass, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of
Dental Medicine, has been given grant money, possibly more than $1
million, by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to
research whether there is a link between fluoride and bone cancer in
boys, the non-profit group alleges.
One of his dental doctoral students, Dr. Elise Bassin, did an
extensive study that found a link between fluoridated tap water and
bone cancer in adolescent boys, the group said. Douglass was the lead
adviser on her doctoral thesis and signed off on her research, the
group claims.
Despite his student's findings, Douglass told federal health
officials in his grant report that there is no correlation, according
to the group. Douglass did not send the NIEHS the student's research
but summarized it himself.
Douglass is the editor-in-chief of the Colgate Oral Care Report, a
newsletter that goes to dentists and is supported by toothpaste
manufacturer Colgate Palmolive.
Douglass could not be reached for comment last night. Bassin's
research has never been published and access to it is restricted by
Harvard, the group said.
``It sure seems pretty outrageous,'' said EWG spokesman Mike
Casey. ``We're absolutely perplexed.''
It appears Douglass violated federal research rules, according to
the group's complaint, which they plan to file with the NIEHS.
-

nyscof@gmail.com wrote:
How many billions of man-years of 1 ppm fluoride drinking water
exposure have accumulated worldwide since the 1960s? What is the
claimed excess incidence of osteosarcoma? What is the incidence of
kids drinking fluoridated water getting dental caries vs. natural
fluoride levels? Idiot.
Enviro-whiner spew demands CRT computer monitors need an expensive
extra three pounds of bullshit to actively suppress fluctuating
nanotesla magnetic fields that cause CANCER! Take a magnetometer into
the New York City subway system and watch them gauss hump their bad
asses. If a Hall effect transducer is your anti-christ, take along a
(cheap) magnetic compass instead and watch its needle fly. Ditto in
the E*L*E*C*T*R*I*C car or hybrid automobiles. You don't slop around
400 ampere currents and not get fat magnetic fields associated.
Uncle Al demands every electric vehicle, forklifts to Prius to every
subway system in America, have at least 1000 lbs of magnetic
shielding/passenger compartment added to SAVE OUR CHILDREN! It is a
large price to pay for a small illusory gain, and so is the perfect
Liberal solution.
--
Uncle Al
www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf
-

In article <42C1990D.8AE50FDA@hate.spam.net>,
Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net>wrote, in part:
you're by no means alone. The systematic distortion of fluoride health
research after WWII has yet to be overcome. Bone cancer rates in young
males seems likely to be but a small part of the legacy. In the US at
least, fluoride continues to be "the protected pollutant".
Very truly,
Steve Schulin
www.nuclear.com
See February 6, 2005 entry on home page -- it's about fluoride, and is
titled "The worst aspect of nuclear weapons"
-

kids

In article <steve.schulin-C24725.16302128062005@comcast.dca.giganews.com>, Steve Schulin <steve.schulin@nuclear.com>wrote:
For myself, I have never heard of a single case of bone cancer ... and I
know a lot of peopel who have very few fillings in their teeth because of
fluoride. Seems to me the rewards far outway the risks ... but I'm prepared
to look at the data.
Give us some numbers.
Bruce
-------------------------------------
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw
Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
- Ambrose Bierce
Caution ===== followups may have been changed to relevant groups
(if there were any)
-

Commies are trying to poison our precious body fluids with fluorides!
No, wait, it is the imperialists poisoning us now.
Btw, do you know that the actual dioxin-laced ingredient of Agent
Orange was not made in US but was manufactured in communist
Czechoslovakia and sold to US for a bargain price to be sprayed on
Vietcong?
-

In article <rRjwe.11007$U4.1418839@news.xtra.co.nz>,
bruce.sinclair@NOSPAMORELSEagresearch.NOTco.NOTnz (Bruce Sinclair)
wrote:
application on teeth is an option.
As to the bone cancer numbers:
The Harvard doctoral thesis discussed in the press release which started
this thread is partly transcribed and available at
www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/ -- It cites Link and
Eilber,1997 in pegging the incidence rate of osteosarcoma at 5.6 per
million per year for Caucasian children under 15 years old. Other
studies are cited as indicating that males are affected 1.5 to 2 times
as frequently as females. "Although osteosarcoma is very rare, it is the
most common tumor of bone and one of the principal malignant neoplasms
in children, adolescents and young adults ..."
As to the contribution of fluoride to these numbers, there's a variety
of relevant studies and reviews variously described and excerpted at
www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/osteosarcoma.html
One thing these excerpts do not mention is how difficult it is to get a
good control group when it comes to fluoride studies in US, since so
much processed food comes from outside local area.
A link there --
www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/fan-nrc.part2.pdf -- does go
into methodological matters.
---
And finally, I'd like to stress that I've never seen anybody who claimed
that cancer was the biggest detriment from fluoride exposure. Stuff like
arthritis and hip fractures and heart disease and neurological problems
are considered much bigger burdens. The importance of the osteosarcoma
finding is that it would trigger regulatory prohibition against adding
this pollutant to water supply.
Very truly,
Steve Schulin
www.nuclear.com
[sci.environment restored]

"Bruce Sinclair" <bruce.sinclair@NOSPAMORELSEagresearch.NOTco.NOTnz>wrote
in message news:rRjwe.11007$U4.1418839@news.xtra.co.nz...
occurs at a level above what is needed . In fact, it was my understanding
that in much of the U.S. it naturally occurs above needed levels.
I guess I will die, in about another 50 years or so.
--
Dr. Dickie
Skepticult member in good standing #394-00596-438
Poking kooks with a pointy stick.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries,
is not 'Eureka!' ('I found it!'), but rather 'hmm....that's funny...'"
- Isaac Asimov
-

In article <steve.schulin-475543.21064628062005@comcast.dca.giganews.com>,
Steve Schulin <steve.schulin@nuclear.com>wrote:
that.

muha wrote:
-

In article <d9uect$evt$2@wsc10.lrz-muenchen.de>, monika_hohlmeier@yahoo.de wrote:
Bruce
-------------------------------------
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw
Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
- Ambrose Bierce
Caution ===== followups may have been changed to relevant groups
(if there were any)
-

This is curious:
Thats a lot of people. A whole country full, in fact.
Then it says "a rare form", well how rare can it be?
Well, what is it? Are you causing cancer in 300,000,000
people or aren't you.
More curious, if you are using "most Americans" in the
experimental group, where did you find a control group
large enough for statistical significance wrt a very
infrequent event?
Or maybe it is enough to shout "CANCER, THE CHILDREN",
and "MORE STUDY NEEDED!" to rake in the grant money today?
What has come of science today?
Cheers,
Tony
-

In article <1120077030.504939.215910@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, bjlapen@hotmail.com wrote:
gibberish and scaremongering that is getting the same or more air play.
Does no one teach risk assessment anymore ? ... and if so, why don't
journalists take the course ? :)
Bruce
-------------------------------------
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw
Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
- Ambrose Bierce
Caution ===== followups may have been changed to relevant groups
(if there were any)
-

bjlapen@hotmail.com wrote:
An excellent reply. :)
EL
-

In article <1120078179.730591.174120@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"EL" <hemetis@gmail.com>wrote:
this case, we're talking about a product being purposefully added to
public drinking water. And it's not even pharmaceutical-grade fluoride.
90% of fluoridated public water supplies in the US today use
industrial-grade silicofluoride scrubbed from the smokestacks of the
Florida phosphate industry (Ref: Christopher Bryson, The Fluoride
Deception, 2004, p. 224).
Very truly,
Steve Schulin
www.nuclear.com
-

Bruce Sinclair wrote:
of the only fields in which you can get a graduate degree without ever
having to take a statistics class. That is not really true, of course,
but it is still a good line and makes a good point.
-

bjlapen@hotmail.com wrote:
exposure level claimed to increase risk, not those who develop the
disease.
Maybe Americans prior to fluoridation of most drinking water. Maybe
those Americans who still do not drink fluoridated water. Maybe some
sort of dose-response analysis if fluoridation levels differ in
different areas.
All that said, there is a decent chance this claim is essentially
baseless -- or at least that the risk is completely swamped by the
benefits of fluoridation.
-

In article <steve.schulin-C75E2F.17420329062005@comcast.dca.giganews.com>, Steve Schulin <steve.schulin@nuclear.com>wrote:
with this practice. If you start to shout "cancer" without any data, you
will hopefully be ignored. :)
There are risks and rewards with everything.
Bruce
-------------------------------------
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw
Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
- Ambrose Bierce
Caution ===== followups may have been changed to relevant groups
(if there were any)
-

<bjlapen@hotmail.com>wrote in message
ALL this paranoia is because of the hordes of class 3 enviros,
who provide fat pensions for the class 1 enviros and the grand
profiteering for/by the class 2 enviros.
= Pure politics is driving dozens of public health issues, notably
= global warming, tobacco and other green shit. Great lies do
= service for/in/of a "noble cause" which now trump truth & fact.
ahahaha... ahahahanson
PS:
Modern, attributal definitions of enviro classifications:
(1) Green shit(s): ...are the ones who advocate, promote,
support, legalize, institute and extort the permit charges,
the user fees, the enviro surtaxes and the CO2/Carbon tax,
all reflected in HIGHER PRICES of goods and services!,
and being responsible for much of the OUT-SOURCING!
(2) Green turd(s):... are the ones who are recipients and
beneficiaries from the lootings of (1), directly or indirectly.
(3) Little green idiot(s):.. are the unpaid, well-meaning ones
who think they do something for the "environment", when in
fact they are only the enablers and facilitators for (2) who
are harvesting the green $$$ that (1) has extorted.
-

no, the most toxic part, the 2,4,5T component, was actualy produced by
Spolana Neratovice. The reason for their low price and high dioxine
content was that they were "inovative": 2,4,5-trichlorophenol used for
making 2,4,5-T was obtained by reaction utilizing polychlorinated
cyclohexanes oftained from waste stream after Lindane.
Spolana is a huge chlorine company making vinyl and all kinds of
chlorinated compounds (i.e. used to make insecticides and transformer
oils for the entire eastern block) and their problem was what to do
with hundreds of tonns of waste isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane (the
used gamma HCH = lindane is only about 30% of the crude and is
separated by crystallization). So somebody came up with idea of doing
basic hydrolysis on the mix to produce chlorinated phenols. The trouble
is that under forcing basic conditions dioxines form from
polychlorophenols. (Seveso dioxine disaster happened because of
overheating a mix of trichlorophenol with base).
Apparently, with price of their stuff Czechs undercut everyone else and
US government was not picky about the purity.
-

In article <steve.schulin-C75E2F.17420329062005@comcast.dca.giganews.com>,
Steve Schulin <steve.schulin@nuclear.com>wrote:
eat.

In article <rhFwe.1042$8f7.722@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
"hanson" <hanson@quick.net>wrote:
believe protection of the environment is a commie plot and there is no
global warming who are behind the "fluoride is bad" hysteria, not
environmentalists.
-