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Fluoride Report Confirms EPA Union's 20-year-old Concerns
US Environmental Protection Agency National HQ Union Chapter 280 | 3-23-2006 | J. William Hirzy, PhD

Posted on 03/23/2006 12:03:36 PM PST by nyscof

The NRC reports that adults drinking 2 liters of water fluoridated at 4 mg/L (or 8 milligrams of fluoride) daily risk broken bones and joint pain. EPA employees reported this years ago; but were ignored.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: bonefractures; bones; enameldefects; fluoride; teeth; watercontaminants
The National Research Council’s (NRC) report, “Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Standards,” was released yesterday. It vindicated this union’s expressed concerns about fluoride toxicity dating back to 1986, when we defined severe dental fluorosis as an adverse health effect as the NRC just did.

The NRC Committee also found that it was likely that there is an increase in bone fractures and increased risk of Stage II skeletal fluorosis among people drinking water at the 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter (mg/L) level. Again, our union has been saying this for years.

Furthermore, the Committee expressed concerns similar to those of the union over adverse effects on the brain and central nervous system, as well as endocrine disruption, including effects on thyroid function. The Committee report also cautions against assumptions - put forward by proponents of fluoridation – that there is no evidence that fluoride can cause cancer.

When EPA first issued its primary drinking water standards for fluoride in 1986, the union, which then was Local 2050 of the National Federation of Federal Employees, told the public that the standards were not protective of public health. That is exactly what the NRC Committee of independent scientists said yesterday in its 450 page report. The Committee recommended that EPA lower its standards from 4 mg/L to an unspecified lower level.

EPA sets two primary drinking water standards for each regulated pollutant: a non-enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), based solely on toxicity concerns to protect against any known or anticipated adverse effect on health; and an enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level, set by law as close to the MCLG as feasible. Both EPA standards for fluoride are currently 4 mg/L (or 4 parts per million per liter of water).

The report defines severe dental fluorosis, which occurs in a significant fraction of people drinking water at 4 mg/L, an adverse health effect, something the union has been saying for twenty years. In contrast, the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control, while pushing to increase the public’s exposure to fluoride through nation-wide fluoridation of drinking water supplies, have always referred to the condition as a “cosmetic” effect. The NRC now joins our union in putting the lie to this propaganda ploy by those whose devotion to an out-dated and dangerous policy overrode their obligations to protect public health.

The union got involved in this fight in 1986 as a matter of scientific integrity and to protect the right of EPA employees to live up to their Civil Service oath, which binds them to defend the Constitution. The union believes that in violating the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1986 by failing to set the MCLG at a level to protect against the adverse health effect of severe dental fluorosis, EPA management perpetrated an assault on the Constitution.

The NRC Committee also found that it was likely that there is an increase in bone fractures and increased risk of Stage II skeletal fluorosis among people drinking water at the 4 mg/L level. Again, our union has been saying this for years as its representatives have traveled around the United States helping citizens fight off efforts of the ADA and the CDC to add more fluoride to their water supplies and diets.

Furthermore, the Committee expressed concerns similar to those of the union over adverse effects on the brain and central nervous system, as well as endocrine disruption, including effects on thyroid function. The Committee report also cautions against assumptions - put forward by proponents of fluoridation – that there is no evidence that fluoride can cause cancer.

###

CONTACT: J. William Hirzy, PhD Vice-President U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - National Headquarters - NTEU Chapter 280

email: whirzy@american.edu

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS - NTEU CHAPTER 280

BEN FRANKLIN STATION

P.O. BOX 7672

WASHINGTON, DC 20044

Website www.nteu280.org

1 posted on 03/23/2006 12:03:38 PM PST by nyscof
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To: nyscof

We're all doomed!.........


2 posted on 03/23/2006 12:04:41 PM PST by Red Badger (And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him...)
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To: nyscof
From today's Wall Street Journal:

Only 200,000 people in the U.S. live in places where water has fluoride levels of at least 4 mg. But an additional 1.4 million live where the concentration is at least half that, a level that can produce mild to moderate dental fluorosis. Most are in South Carolina, but there are thousands in Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia as well.

Fluoride levels as high as 4 mg are caused by natural rock and soil formations, not by the addition of fluoride to water. The government's recommended level for fluoride deliberately added to prevent cavities is only 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter.

3 posted on 03/23/2006 12:07:15 PM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

Thanks for your post. I don't doubt it at all but it won't fit in with the alarmists agenda. Many chemicals are harmful at high doses but beneficial at low or recommended doses.


4 posted on 03/23/2006 12:15:18 PM PST by jazusamo (Excuse me Helen, I'm answering your first accusation. - President Bush)
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To: nyscof
No matter how you struggle and strive, You'll never get out of this world alive.

All of the old fear mongers are still with us.
Fluoride, Agent Orange, Depleted Uranium, Global Warming and others of their ilk.
We will either freeze in the dark or be drowned by the oceans.
Or maybe be poisoned by the others.
5 posted on 03/23/2006 12:23:32 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO")
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To: jazusamo

Wanna start an argument? Mention hormesis in radiation health physics. Hormesis is the name of the phenomenon to which you refer.

A study found a positive correlation (not cause) from low level radiation exposure to general good health. They hated it. I was a datum.


6 posted on 03/23/2006 1:52:35 PM PST by dhuffman@awod.com (The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

The NRC panel found that the scientific evidence proves that an adult drinking 2 liters of water naturally fluoridated at 4 mg per liter or 4 ppm (or 8 mg fluoride) daily is at great risk of bone fractures.

Anyone can easily unknowingly consume 8 mg fluoride daily from various sources the NRC report lists such as foods, beverages, air pollution, pesticide residues, pharmaceuticals and dental products. However, the greatest percentage of fluoride is ingested via the drinking water. With such horrible side effects when unknown amounts of fluoride are ingested, why or why would anybody waste good tax money ADDING, not removing, fluoride from water supplies.

And there's no credible evdience that proves it's reducing tooth decay


7 posted on 03/23/2006 5:21:57 PM PST by nyscof (Fluoridation is a Fraud)
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