- April 18, 2024
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Palm Coast residents and others have spoken out on the issue of water fluoridation on the Palm Coast Observer's Facebook page and through a change.org petition and a new Facebook page opposing fluoridation in Flagler County. Here's a look at some common concerns expressed in those places by people critical of fluoridation, and some responses from major medical associations.
"Please protect our children and our citizens! Fluoride is highly toxic to humans and pets and negatively affects multiple systems in our bodies, especially in the amounts put into water supplies! The damage that is done to both humans and pets far outweighs any potential good it may do to prevent cavities. …"
— Jeri Cooke, Palm Coast
Experts say ...
Fluoride can cause health problems — if ingested in highly excessive amounts. However, “The question of possible secondary health effects caused by fluorides consumed in optimal concentrations throughout life has been the object of thorough medical investigations which have failed to show any impairment of general health throughout life,” a fact sheet put out by the American Dental Association states. The ADA also says the following: “There have been claims that exposure to fluoride presents a neurotoxic (harmful or damaging to nerve tissue) risk or lowered intelligence. Such claims are based partly on one 1995 study in which rats were fed fluoride at levels up to 125 times greater than that found in optimally fluoridated water. … However, two scientists who reviewed the 1995 study have suggested that the observations made can be readily explained by mechanisms that do not involve neurotoxicity. The scientists found inadequacies in experimental design that may have led to invalid conclusions. For example, the results of the experiment were not confirmed by the use of control groups which are an essential feature of test validation and experimental design.” In addition, the American Medical Association has endorsed community water fluoridation since 1951.
"We don’t want or need fluoridation. ... Hitler used fluoride to sedate prisoners. Fact!"
— Mike Wilson, on the Observer’s Facebook page
Experts say ...
This is not true. The myth that the Nazis used fluoride to pacify or poison Jewish victims of the Holocaust has been bandied about websites such as Alex Jones’ infowars.com for years. Fact-checking site PolitiFact checked the claim after a resident mentioned it during a Pinellas County Commission meeting. The site rated it “pants on fire” false after checking with recognized Holocaust experts who readily debunked it. See http://bit.ly/1p8rNKE to read their full report.
"I have a flouride allergy. I lived on a military base for a short time with flouridated water. I experienced swollen lymph glands, and itchy skin after showering. Having an autoimmune disorder and being constantly exposed to an allergy causes wide spread inflammation. It’s not avoidable if it’s in my water supply."
— Michele Hoffman, Palm Coast
Experts say ...
The ADA states there has been no evidence that there is such a thing as a fluoride allergy, “or of any positive skin testing in human or animal models.” The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, after being asked to look into the possibility of allergies from water fluoridation, stated the following on its website: “As a result of this review, the members of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Allergy have adopted unanimously the following statement: ‘There is no evidence of allergy or intolerance to fluorides as used in the fluoridation of community water supplies.’”
"I’m signing this because I do not want to give my child fluoridated water, which has been scientifically proven to lower children’s IQs and is carcinogenic."
— Chris Cittadino, Neptune, New Jersey
Experts say ...
The claim that fluoride lowers IQ is often cited to a Harvard study which did, in fact, find a “possible” link — but the researchers were using data from areas of China which had levels of fluoride many times higher than recommended in the U.S. The drinking water people in the study were exposed to had fluoride rates of about 11.5 parts per million. The recommended amout in the U.S. is 0.7 ppm. The difference in IQ was so small it was potentially within the margin of error for IQ testing — something acknowledged by the paper’s authors. On the possibility of fluoride being carcinogenic, the ADA says that a 1990s study using high levels of fluoride — 25, 100 and 175 ppm — in rats and mice found that some male rats in one group from the study showed “equivocal” evidence of carcinogenicity. The Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Fluoride of the U.S. Public Health Service combined the results of that study and a related one, and stated: “Taken together, the two animal studies available at this time fail to establish an association between fluoride and cancer.” The American Cancer Society, in a fact sheet, was more circumspect, stating the following: “More than 50 population-based studies have looked at the potential link between water fluoride levels and cancer. Most of these have not found a strong link to cancer. ... The conclusions reached by any single study must be looked at with caution.”
Since Flagler County announced plans to fluoridate the county’s water supplies for unincorporated areas, Palm Coast residents have taken to the internet to oppose fluoridation in Palm Coast.
A change.org petition titled “Stop Palm Coast from adding fluoride to the municipal water supply” had 172 supporters as of the morning of Aug. 24, and a Facebook page titled “Fluoride Free Flagler” had 75 likes.
Palm Coast City Councilwoman Heidi Shipley has spoken against water fluoridation.
“I do not feel that government should decide what your children drink,” she wrote. “People know the benefits of fluoride and I’m sure dentists tell parents their views. The choice ends there.”
City Councilman Steve Nobile encouraged people on either side of the issue to contact the City Council, and posted a graphic with the words, “Get the F out! Fluoride is a poison.”
Mayor Jon Netts, who has a background in biology, noted in a council meeting that fluoride occurs naturally in the water in many areas — including Jacksonville — in the amount recommended for water fluoridation, and has been shown to reduce tooth decay.
“Over the years, going back to the ’40s and ’50s, there has been outcry about, ‘Oh, fluoride is poisonous.’ Well, so is chlorine,” he said. “They’re all in the same family of chemicals. But there’s no question that where fluoride is in the water there is a reduction in tooth decay.”
The issue has yet to come before the City Council: The County Commission’s measure concerns only unincorporated areas, and Flagler County Health Department Administrator Bob Snyder has said he plans to speak with Palm Coast officials about fluoridation after the November elections.
City officials aren’t the only ones who have spoken out since the County Commission made its decision.
In an Aug. 16 School Board meeting, School Board member Janet McDonald said she was dismayed that the County Commission had voted to “chemicalize” the water in Flagler County “without so much as a workshop.” That was incorrect: There was a County Commission workshop on fluoride Aug. 1.
McDonald continued: “This is going affect our students. … It’s a neurotoxin when taken internally. Even on our mouthwashes and our toothpaste, it says do not swallow if it’s fluoride included in it.”
A total of 52 out of Florida’s 67 counties already either fluoridate or already have the optimal amounts of fluoride naturally occurring in their water sources.
About 3,200 reputable studies have showed fluoride's safety and effectiveness in the amounts recommended for community water fluoridation, Snyder said.
The fluoride levels in toothpaste should not be confused with those in water: The level in toothpaste is generally 1,000-1,500 parts per million, and the recommended amount for water fluoridation is 0.7 ppm.
Fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash generally wears off within an hour or two. The advantage of fluoridated water, according to the ADA, is that it keeps fluoride levels in the mouth at optimal levels throughout the day.
