The Dentist's Tale By George Glasser The Ecologist, September 2000 11-3-00

Fluoride can kill. Prepare yourself for the tragic fable of the chemist, the water board, the dentist and his life. Once, there was a dentist. His name was Lester. For many years, like all the other dentists he knew, Lester believed that fluoride in the drinking water was good for everyone. Like all the other dentists, Lester had learned in dental school that fluoride reduces tooth decay. And, like all the other dentists, Lester believed that fluoride was fluoride. Then, one day, he met a chemist and began discussing drinking water fluoridation. The chemist asked what kind of fluoride was being used to fluoridate the drinking water. Lester replied: "We are simply adjusting the fluoride level in the water by adding one part per million of, well, just fluoride." There is no such thing as "just fluoride", said the chemist. Lester scratched his head. But they told me that it was only fluoride they are adding to the water. The chemist laughed heartily. "Fluorine is the most reactive, electronegative element and it's never found alone in nature," he said. "There are many kinds of fluorides: for instance, calcium fluoride is found naturally in water. Then there are other fluorides such as lead fluoride, aluminium fluoride, etc. If you add fluoride to the water it has to be a compound. You can't just add fluoride to the water, so which one is it?" Lester felt silly. He didn't know. The next day Lester went to the library to check the chemistry books and learned that calcium fluoride is, indeed, found naturally in the water. He also discovered that calcium fluoride is almost insoluble and could not be easily absorbed by the body. And his friend the chemist was quite right - there were innumerable fluoride compounds. Now intrigued, Lester looked up some scientific studies about water fluoridation. He read that in laboratory tests, workers use a very pure grade of sodium fluoride and purified water to do their research. He discovered that sodium fluoride is taken up by the body much more readily than calcium fluoride. His friend was right. The dentist wondered how anyone could say that calcium fluoride is the same as sodium fluoride. The next day, Lester called his water department to ask if they were adding sodium fluoride or calcium fluoride to his drinking water. The Water Department (WD) manager said that they were adding a product called silicofluorides to the water.The WD manager said they bought a very low grade product because it would be too expensive to use a good grade and, anyway, the public health people would not pay for a good quality calcium fluoride, because, they said, fluoride is fluoride, no matter where it comes from. By now, Lester was completely bewildered. "Where do you buy these silicofluorides from?" he asked. The WD manager said that the silicofluorides - known as hexafluorosilicic acid - are the toxic waste product from phosphate fertilizer pollution scrubbers. The dentist was aghast. "You have to be crazy putting that stuff in the water!" The water department manager agreed because, he said, the hexafluorsilicic acid also contains other toxic substances such as arsenic, beryllium, mercury, lead and many more. He said he didn't drink the city water because many of the contaminants in the fluoridation agent cause health problems. "For instance," he said, "arsenic causes prostate, bladder, kidney, skin and lung cancers and there is no safe level for arsenic." Lester was appalled. He asked the manager why he did not stop fluoridating the water with this pollution scrubber liquor. "And why would anyone add any amount of a known carcinogen to the water?" Shrugging, the manager replied, "I'm just doing my job. The public health people have their agenda, and I have a family to feed." After a sleepless night, Lester contemplated the fluoridation dilemma as he soaped himself in the shower. "They say they are simply adjusting the level of natural fluoride in the water - which is calcium fluoride - but they are using a pure grade of sodium fluoride and very pure water for the rat experiments in the laboratory. But they are adding toxic pollution scrubber liquor to my drinking water!" It didn't make sense. He called a man at the dental association and told him what he had learned. The man said, coldly: "If you value your licence to practise, don't ever mention this subject again!" Lester was shocked. He had worked hard and was very proud of his practice and his two classic cars. He couldn't bear to lose them. He thought about his wife and family and how they would miss their luxury home with its four bathrooms and a jacuzzi, the private schools and foreign vacations. After a while he made a decision. "We won't drink the tap water. We'll buy bottled water." But he was not a happy man as he walked into the reception room and greeted his first patient of the day. Several months later he visited his friend the doctor for his annual check-up and was stunned to learn that he had prostate cancer. He recalled the words of the water department manager. "Arsenic causes prostate cancer." Lester was shattered. He couldn't"t understand it. Yet there was a reason. Despite taking care to drink only bottled water, Lester didn't know that much more of the pollution-laced tap water is absorbed through the skin from bathing and washing clothes. Poor Lester. Although 64-91 per cent of exposure to waterborne contaminants is known to occur via dermal absorption, no studies have ever been done to determine the toxicity of pollution scrubber liquor - the fluoride used in water fluoridation schemes. ### George Glasser is an investigative journalist who focuses on environmental issues. Taken from The Ecologist, September 2000 Vol 30 No 6. (www.theecologist.org ) DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: As my long-time readers know, I am no fan of water fluoridation. Please click on the links below for more information and also check out our fluoride links page, with links to lots of great sites dedicated to exploring this issue fully. If you live in the New Jersey vicinity, you had the opportunity to see a very rare event take place this past Monday, October 23. There was an actual debate between a pro-fluoridation dentist and one of the leading and most well-respected anti-fluoridation activists, Dr. Paul Connett, PhD, who is a Professor of Chemistry at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. It was chaired by the Morris County League of Women Voters. The reason that this was such a rare event is that the pro- fluoridation forces have been sticking to a strict "No-Debate" policy, saying that this lends credibility to the anti-fluoridation cause. Can you imagine the Democrats refusing to debate the Republicans (or vice-versa), because this would lend too much credibility to the other party? Dr. Connett has been asking for a pro-fluoridation authority to debate him for four years and this is the first time anyone has accepted. Be sure to visit Dr. Connett's website at www.fluoridealert.org. Dr. William J. Randall Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Lewis & Clark College 0615 S. W. Palatine Hill Road, MSC 55 Portland, OR 97219-7899 503-768-7598

-- Pure Water (Purity@of.essence), November 05, 2000

Answers

Link for those who want to keep from getting a headache.

-- Linker (Links@for.all), November 05, 2000.

My Colgate tube of toothpaste, like a stubby fat snake, reclines very quietly on the bathroom sink top, waiting patiently until I squeeze some more deadly flouride pasty pus onto my bristling toothbrush.

Insidiously slow poisoning... but no caries!

Oh, the floss, the floss!

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), November 05, 2000.

Thanks Pure Water~

Who knew? I'll be calling MY water dept tomorrow to see what they use!! Kind of you to give us a "heads up" on this potential health hazard. And it beats the hell out of political threads!!!! It is a nice change of pace these days.

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), November 05, 2000.

For those, who have pursed the internet, the Fluoride thing is old news. Guess why I derive shower water from a man driven well, and only drink water from bottled Springs. I am convinced. When first, I encountered this statement, I thought the person(s) making this statement about the perils of Fluoride, were nuts. But I have volumes of references of Scientist who refute the benefit of Fluoride. Then I had to to fall to my knees, on logic. Where is the logic, that your Government would be so concerned about the state of your caries, and yet deny prescriptions for poor people with cancer and all the other illnesses? Think about it.................

-- My Story (andI@sticking.com), November 05, 2000.

P.S, I don't wear or buy "Dry-cleanable clothes. They use a chemical in the Dry Cleaners, similar to embalming a body. Your Choice, to investigate.

-- My Story (andI@sticking.com), November 05, 2000.