February 18, 2008

Rep. Tom Campbell

Chair, Select Committee on Environmental Health

PO Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

Sent by FedEx

Dear Rep. Campbell,

Regarding fluoride there is now broad agreement on the following points:

Fluoride, the negatively charged ion of fluorine. is not an “essential nutrient. … There is no known essential biochemical role for fluoride in any animal, including humans.”  University of Kansas Letter from 15 MDs, PhDs, and DDSs, to the National Academy of Sciences, October 15, 1997, http://sonic.net/kryptox/nutri/alberts.htm.

Fluoride does not protect teeth against decay unless it is added topically. Adding it to drinking water makes bone more heavy and brittle. The fluorosis of the bones is gradual and cumulative. Around 50% of fluoride taken in is retained in bones. Hip fractures among the elderly are increased by fluoride consumption. Some old folks fall down and break their hips. Others break their hips and fall down. University of Kansas Letter; Professionals’ Statement Calling for an End to Water Fluoridation, August 9, 2007,

http://www.fluoridealert.org/statement.august.2007.html.

There is mounting evidence that fluoride in the percentages currently consumed can cause bone cancer, osteosarcoma, particularly in young male humans and young male mice. (University of Kansas Letter.)

Seattle water is fluoridated to a level of 1 ppm, but we are consuming a lot more fluoride than just what is in the tap water, and that is because much of the food and drink we eat is made with fluoridated water. Fluoride is in our bread, pastries, pasta, candies, colas, reconstituted juices, beer, and any food prepared using fluoridated water. Further fruits and vegetables are fertilized with fluoridated fertilizers and treated with fluoride pesticides, and the EPA allows fluoride residues of 7 ppm in grapes, fruits, and potatoes, and up to 15 ppm in kiwi fruit. Fluoride and Fluorinated Pesticides, The Campaign Against Sulfuryl Fluoride, http://www.fluoridealert.org/f-pesticides.htm. See the copy attached.

I call your attention to:

Infants Should Not have Fluoridated Tap Water

American Dental Association Press Release, November 13, 2006, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3351.cfm

In this press release, the American Dental Association warns that fluoridated water has a profound on young children and particularly infants. Mothers are absolutely forbidden to use fluoridated tap water to make formula.

Formula made with fluoridated water contains 250 times more fluoride than the average 0.004 ppm concentration found in human breast milk in non-fluoridated areas.

To prevent tooth damage, the American Dental Association (ADA) warned its members that fluoridated water should not be mixed into concentrated formula or foods intended for babies one year and younger…. The Environmental Protection Agency is required to consider the most vulnerable populations when setting allowable water fluoride levels. To protect babies, allowable water fluoride levels must be near zero.

The problem with such advice is that it is hard for poor people to follow. Distilled water bought at the grocery store is somewhat expensive. A water distiller can cost $300.

The “fluoride” added to Seattle water is not medical grade sodium fluoride. These “fluoridation materials,” as I call them, are the unprocessed scrubber liquor that filters out the gasses produced when sulfuric acid is added to raw phosphate rock to produce phosphate fertilizer. The rock contains 2% to 4% fluorine compounds, which are captured in the scrubber liquor and sent unprocessed to Seattle in rail tanker cars, each carrying around 50,000 pounds of the liquor. Fluoride and the Phosphate Connection by George C. Glasser in the Earth Island Journal Online, http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html:

I call your attention to the attached:

Certificate of Analysis

Fluorosilic Acid

Car No: SHPX204519

March 12, 2005

This shipping label was obtained from documents delivered to me by the City of Seattle.  It shows that the active ingredient in the trailer tank car is fluorosilicic acid, which makes up 24% of the brew. It includes other unnamed acids, designated on the Certificate of Analysis as “.54% free acid.”

See also the Landsburg Fluoride Shipment receipt showing a tanker shipment of 45,920 pounds. A copy is attached.

The respected National Research Council had done a peer reviewed study about these issues entitled

Fluoride in Drinking Water:

A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards

http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11571

Read this document online at the above address or purchase a print copy at the same e-mail address.

See also:

Review of the 2006 United States National Research Council Report:

Fluoride  in Drinking Water,

Robert J. Carton,

Fluoride 39(3) 163-172, July-September 2006,

http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/epa/nrc/carton-2006.pdf.

I am enclosing a print copy of the review for your convenience.

The NRC scientists who issued the report stated their conclusions on points where the science was certain or virtually certain. They did not speculate. They did not state conclusions regarding points where there is any significant doubt. It is a cautious and conservative report.

Nevertheless, the NRC scientists concluded that the current allowable EPA drinking water maximum level of fluoride which can safely be consumed, the Maximum Contaminant Level should be reduced from the current 4 ppm level to some lower level. When the fluoridated food and drink we consume is added in, and especially for those who exercise a lot or who work hard or who drink a lot of water, including those who drink a lot because of medical conditions, they are probably exceeding this equivalent level.

The NRC scientists found that levels of fluoride currently allowed in drinking water cause unsightly dental fluorosis in 10% of children or more, increased bone fractures, and Stage 1 skeletal fluorosis (arthritic joint stiffness and pain).

The NRC scientists cited evidence which they said caused them to be concerned about the connection between fluoridation materials and the following health problems: “decreased thyroid function, impaired glucose tolerance (Type II diabetes), and earlier sexual maturity.” Some of these maladies result from fluoridation levels as low as .7 ppm. They called for more research on these issues.

The NRC scientists expressed concern about a possible connection between fluoridation materials and “four different human lueukemic cell lines.” The NRC scientists again recommended more research.

I call your attention to a document entitled

Seattle Public Utilities, Surface Water Analysis,

February 10^th – 11^th, 2004.

For your convenience I am enclosing a copy.

This document compares Cedar River water before and after treatment at Lake Young. See columns 3 and 4. It also compares Tolt River water before and after treatment at an unnamed treatment facility. See columns 7 and 8.

This chart makes it clear that certain heavy metals are not present at any detectible levels before treatment but are present immediately after treatment and before the water begins its trip by pipe to Seattle. Conversely the assay makes it clear that the following dangerous heavy metals are present in Tolt and Cedar water as it emerges from the treatment plants: aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, fluoride, lead, nickel, selenium, silver, sulfate, thallium, and zinc.

The chart identifies at least 16 different elements which were not present before treatment and were present after treatment. The obvious conclusion, is that these heavy metals are contained in the fluoridation materials.

The assay registers contaminants down to one milligram per liter (1mg/L) or one part per million (1 ppm) and also down to less than one microgram per liter (.001mg/L) or one part per billion (1ppb).

Lead and arsenic are so nasty that the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal or MCLG for lead and arsenic is set at zero, meaning that we should not be adding any lead or arsenic to our drinking water. The Maximum Contaminant Level, or MCL, was 50 ppb since 1942. The Clinton administration lowered it to 10 ppb, but upon taking office, the Bush administration reversed this policy, rolling it back to the 50 ppb MCL. Experts say that a better MCL would be 3 ppb or less. We are injecting arsenic and lead into our water at levels of 1 ppb. That’s not a great margin for error, especially considering that there are other avenues for lead and arsenic to enter the water system once the water gets to Seattle. The real question is why we are injecting any arsenic or any lead into our water at all?

Bear in mind that old buildings, including schools, contain pipes soldered with lead. The use of lead solder in pipes was banned in 1986. Fluorine acids are the most aggressive of all acids. Fluoridation materials added to Seattle water add to levels of lead in school drinking fountains, because they contains lead and also—my speculation—because they can dissolve the solder in the pipes. Reporters express complete bewilderment as to how lead and arsenic could get into the water. Elevated Lead Levels Found in 35 Seattle Schools, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 8, 2006, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ local/291566_lead08ww.html. See attached.

The fluorosilicates themselves contain lead and arsenic. The hypothesis to be tested is whether the fluorosilicates sitting in the pipes over the summer dissolve the old lead solder, releasing even more lead.

Let’s look at another heavy metal added as part of fluoridation materials: thallium. Thallium is used mainly in semi-conductors. It is not an essential nutrient. It is poisonous, used in the past as rat poison. It is a suspected carcinogen according to the Wikipedia article on Thalium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thallium. The Maximum Contaminant Level Goal or MCLG for thallium (TL) is .5 ppb. After Seattle water is treated with fluoridation materials, thallium level goes from an undetectable level to.2 ppb, which is to me uncomfortably close to the .5 ppb MCLG. See the EPA Consumer Factsheet on Thallium,  http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/contaminants/dw_contamfs/thallium.html.

For a point-by-point rebuttal of the Centers For Disease Control’s support of fluoridation, see:

The Emperor Has No Clothes:

A Critique of the CDC's Promotion of Fluoridation

by Paul Connett, Ph.D.
Revised October 3, 2000

http://fluoridealert.org/cdc.htm

See also

The Phosphate Fertilizer Industry:

An Environmental Overview

Michael Connett

May 2003

http://www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm

See also:

Alzheimer’s in America:

The Aluminum-Phosphate Fertilizer Connection

Lynn Landes

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0819-06.htm

See also:

Why Fluoride Is An Environmental Issue

Bar Smith

Earth Island Journal

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluroide_editorial.html.

I call your attention to:

10 Facts AboutFluoride

December 2006

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-facts.htm

I call your attention to:

Professionals’ Statement Calling for an End to Water Fluoridation

August 9, 2007

http://www.fluoridealert.org/statement.august.2007.html:

Some 1,400 dentists, medical doctors, research doctors, toxicologists, and other scientific professionals have signed this statement. A copy is enclosed for your convenience along with the comments of many of the signers, found at:  http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.quotes.aug.2007.pdf.

A short summary of the points made in the Professionals’ Statement is as follows:

Fluoridation results in the following maladies: an increased risk of bone fractures, decreased thyroid function, lowered IQ, arthritic-like conditions, dental fluorosis and, possibly osteosarcoma.

Fluoridation and other exposures to fluorides causes 32% of American children to have dental fluorosis.

Studies since the 1980s show that when fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities are compared, there is no difference in levels of tooth decay.

The American Dental Association recommends that tap water not be used to reconstitute infant formula during the first 12 months of life because it results in ingestion of too much fluoride. Formula made with fluoridated water contains 250 times more fluoride than the average 0.004 ppm concentration found in human breast milk in non-fluoridated areas.

Fluoride reduces tooth decay only if it is applied topically, not when it is ingested. Thus, adding fluoride to drinking water does not reduce tooth decay.

There is a causal connection between water fluoridation and osteosarcoma, particularly in young boys.

Fluoride used in drinking water is an industrial grade waste product which has never been subjected to toxicological testing nor received FDA approval for human ingestion

The Seattle Public Utilities assay was apparently not sensitive enough to detect heavy metals present in amounts below .2 parts per billion. However, it is clear from reading from the general literature regarding fluoridation materials produced by the phosphate fertilizer industry, which produces the fluoridation materials used by the city of Seattle, that the fluoridation materials contain other elements, including those which are “hot.” I mean “hot” in the sense that they are radioactive. Yes, radioactive.

The rock out of which phosphate fertilizer is made contains substantial amounts of fluoride, arsenic, and lead. It also contains uranium and radium, which decay into radioactive lead, radioactive bismuth, and radioactive polonium. Mines in Florida and Louisiana that produce phosphate fertilizer have also produced uranium, and they will produce uranium again when uranium prices rise. Meanwhile trace amounts of uranium and the elements it decays into are being added as fertilizers and pesticides to our grains, fruits, and vegetables, and added to our water. While the levels of radionuclides is low, they are there in our drinking water, continuously emitting alpha and gamma rays.

I call your attention again to an article mentioned previously:

Fluoride and the Phosphate Connection

by George C. Glasser

Earth Island Journal Online, http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/

fluoride_phosphates.html.

I quote from George Glasser’s article:

While the uranium and radium in fluorosilicic acid are known carcinogens, two decay products of uranium are even more carcinogenic: radon-222 and polonium-210.

… EPA Office of Drinking Water official Joseph A. Cotruvo and Public Health Service fluoridation engineer Thomas Reeves have acknowledged the presence of radionuclides in fluorosilicic acid.

Radon-222 is not an immediate threat because it stops emitting alpha radiation and decays into lead-214 in 3.86 days. Lead-214 appears to be harmless but it eventually decays into bismuth-214 and then into polonium-214. Unless someone knew to look for specific isotopes, no one would know that a transmutation into the polonium isotope had occurred.

Polonium-210, a decay product of bismuth-210, has a half-life of 138 days and gives off intense alpha radiation as it decays into regular lead and becomes stable. Any polonium-210 that might be present in the phosphate concentrate could pose a significant health threat. A very small amount of polonium-210 can be very dangerous, giving off 5,000 times more alpha radiation than the same amount of radium. As little as 0.03 microcuries (6.8 trillionths of a gram) of polonium-210 can be carcinogenic to humans. (http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html.)

The lead isotope behaves like calcium in the body. It may be stored in the bones for years before turning into polonium-210 and triggering a carcinogenic release of alpha radiation.

Drinking water fluoridated with fluorosilicic acid contains radon at every sequence of its decay to polonium. The fresher the pollution concentrate, the more polonium it will contain.

As long as the amount of contaminants added to the drinking water (including radionuclides in fluorosilicic acid) do not exceed the limits set forth in the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA has no regulatory problem with the use of any contaminated products for drinking water treatment.

If you have read this far, I suspect that you are wondering three things: First, why we are still adding fluoridation materials to our water? Second, how could the dental “experts” have been so wrong for so many years about fluoride?

The explanation is simple: The production of phosphate fertilizer, uranium, and aluminum all produce fluorosilicate wastes. Big industrialists would rather sell the waste at a profit than dispose of it at a loss. So the big industrialists hired dentists and other experts to sell their toxic product at a big profit to state legislatures and city councils.

I am an attorney. I have a special interest in public health and environmental law. We attorneys have a duty to do pro bono publico work. My work for the public good is to shed light on these issues and ask these questions and explain to you how so many “experts” could have gotten it so wrong and how so many of us could let ourselves be suckered for so long.

We humans are suckers. We are innately gullible. We are conformists. We have huge brains, but they are mostly blank computing space badly programmed. We construct rationalizations that justify the status quo and allow us to be manipulated by dental “experts” and big industrialists. A majority believed them.

But being in the majority does not prove you are right. The majority has been wrong on many issues: The majority advocated slavery, anti-Semitism, the subjugation of women, exposing unwanted children and selling them into slavery, killing witches, and the idea that the earth was flat. The majority changed on those issues, and it will soon change on the fluoridation issue.

Your Committee will hold a "Water: Raindrop to Tap" work session on February 20 at 6:00 pm.

May I have ten minutes on February 20 to address your Committee? The point I will address in my ten minutes is whether your Committee should establish a task force to study the current science on water fluoridation.

I have written to Governor Gregoire regarding this matter. Her staff has responded in a way which does fully or correctly address the questions I have raised. The general theme of the response, authored by Denise Clifford, Director of the Office of Drinking Water, is that the fluoridation materials added to our water only contain small amounts of pollutants, and therefore I should not be concerned.

I drive to a well on 164^th Street SW, just west of I-5, and fill big jugs with artesian well water, which we use for cooking and drinking. But this only partially protects me. There are fluoridation materials in many of the foods we eat and drink. Phosphate fertilizer is actually fed to cattle. Insecticides made of fluoride are sprayed on my fruits and vegetables. When I take a shower, the fluoride and other toxins are absorbed through my skin. For profit, rich industrialists are poisoning us, themselves, and even their children.

I do not have a research staff to call on. You do. I am asking that you set up a task force and call on the scientists working for or under contract to the state of Washington to do its own thorough assay of fluoridation materials and make an accurate list of all the dozens, maybe hundreds of compounds it contains along with the concentrations. I suggest your staff then study the literature regarding whether it is wise to be adding any amount of them to our drinking water.

Recall the difficulty which anti-tobacco forces had because cigarette smoke contains so many different compounds. It is entirely possible that the many elements and compounds in fluoride could potentiate each other.

Further, I disagree with the generalization typically made that the contamination is down in the parts per million and parts per billion and therefore cannot be of any significance. Our water should be as pure as possible. Fluoride only hardens teeth if applied to the surface, not when it is drunk. We do not have any obligation to the fertilizer industry to take its toxic waste off its hands.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening.

Sincerely,

James Robert Deal

Attorney at Law

Enclosures:

University of Kansas Letter from 15 MDs, PhDs, and DDSs, to the National Academy of Sciences, October 15, 1997, http://sonic.net/kryptox/nutri/alberts.htm

Professionals’ Statement Calling for an End to Water Fluoridation, August 9, 2007, http://www.fluoridealert.org/statement.august.2007.html

Quotations from many of the signers of Professionals’ Statement, found at:  http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.quotes.aug.2007.pdf

Fluoride and Fluorinated Pesticides, The Campaign Against Sulfuryl Fluoride, http://www.fluoridealert.org/f-pesticides.htm

Infants Should Not have Fluoridated Tap Water

American Dental Association Press Release, November 13, 2006, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3351.cfm

Fluoride and the Phosphate Connection by George C. Glasser in the Earth Island Journal Online, http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html

Certificate of Analysis, Fluorosilic Acid, Car No: SHPX204519, March 12, 2005

Landsburg Fluoride Shipment receipt showing a tanker shipment of 45,920 pounds

Fluoride in Drinking Water, A Scientific Review of EPA’s Standards, National Academy of Sciences, http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11571

National Academies Press order form, and online copy of United States National Research Council Report: Fluoride in Drinking Water

Review of the 2006 United States National Research Council Report: Fluoride in Drinking Water, from Fluoride, July – September 2006

Seattle Public Utilities, Surface Water Analysis, February 10^th – 11^th, 2004.

Elevated Lead Levels Found in 35 Seattle Schools, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 8, 2006, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/291566_lead08ww.html

Thallium, Wikipedia

Consumer Factsheet on Thallium, EPA

The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Critique of the CDC's Promotion of Fluoridation, by Paul Connett, Ph.D., Revised October 3, 2000, http://fluoridealert.org/cdc.htm

The Phosphate Fertilizer Industry: An Environmental Overview, Michael Connett, May 2003, http://www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm

Alzheimer’s in America: The Aluminum-Phosphate Fertilizer Connection

Lynn Landes, http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0819-06.htm

Why Fluoride Is An Environmental Issue, Bar Smith, Earth Island Journal

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluroide_editorial.html.

10 Facts AboutFluoride, December 2006, http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-facts.htm

Professionals’ Statement Calling for an End to Water Fluoridation, August 9, 2007, http://www.fluoridealert.org/statement.august.2007.html

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