FLUORIDATION AND BONE CANCER

Fluoride has been recognised as mutagenic for many years.^1,2,3 In the U.S., a comparison between the ten largest fluoridated cities and the ten largest non-fluoridated cities showed that, while cancer rates had been similar initially, after 20 years the fluoridated cities had 10 percent more cancer deaths than the non-fluoridated ones.⁴ The U.S. National Cancer Institute checked these figures and confirmed their validity in 1976. In Poland, scientists at the Pomeranian Medical Academy reported that as little as 0.6 parts per million produced chromosomal damage to human white blood cells.⁵

Following these results, Dr. Dean Burk, the Chief Chemist Emeritus of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, stated: “In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer death, and causes it faster, than any other chemical”.⁶

Dr. Perry Cohn of the New Jersey Department of Health discovered an epidemiological correlation between osteosarcoma (one of the principal cancers of childhood) and fluoridation.⁷ He surveyed its incidence in seven counties of New Jersey relative to water fluoridation. He found that, as demonstrated in Table I, in the fluoridated areas, the incidence of osteosarcoma in boys under the age of 10 was 4.6 times higher than in the unfluoridated areas, 3.5 times higher in the 10 to 19 age group and over twice as high in the 20 to 49 age group.

Table 1

Fluoride and osteosarcoma in young males
Seven Counties, New Jersey, 1979-1987
Age		Cases	Population	Rate/100,000
0-9	Fluoridated	2	48,129	4.6
0-9	Unfluoridated	1	102,123	1.0
10-19	Fluoridated	10	62,990	17.6
10-19	Unfluoridated	7	151,384	5.1
20-49	Fluoridated	5	141,429	3.9
20-49	Unfluoridated	5	348,570	1.5
Municipalities, NJ, 1979-1987
Age		Cases	Population	Rate/100,000
0-9	Fluoridated	2	38,654	5.7
0-9	Unfluoridated	1	46,708	2.3
10-19	Fluoridated	10	50,297	20.0
10-19	Unfluoridated	2	67,678	3.2
20-49	Fluoridated	4	115,367	3.8
20-49	Unfluoridated	2	153,713	1.4
Cohn PD. A brief report on the association of drinking water fluoridation and the incidence of osteosarcoma among young males. N J Dept of Health, Trenton, New Jersey. Nov 8, 1992.

1. Klein W, et al. DNA repair and environmental substances. Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Bader-und Klimaheilkunde. 1977; 24 (3): 218-223.

2.Mohamed A, Chandler ME. Cytological effects of sodium fluoride on mice. Fluoride. 1982; 15 (3): 110-18.

3.Jagiello G, Lin J-S. Sodium fluoride as potential mutagen in mammalian eggs. Archive Environmental Health. 1974; 29: 230-5.

4.Yiamouyiannis JA, Burk D. Fluoridation of public water systems and the cancer death rate in humans. Presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biologists and Chemists and the American Society of Experimental Biologists. June 1976.

5. Jachimczak D, Skotarczak B. The effect of fluorine and lead ions on the chromosomes of human leucocytes in vitro. Genetica Polonica. 1978; 19 (3): 353-7.

6. Yiamouyannis JA. Fluoride: The Aging Factor. Health Action Press, Delaware, Ohio. 1983.

7. Cohn PD. A brief report on the association of drinking water fluoridation and the incidence of osteosarcoma among young males. N J Dept of Health, Trenton, New Jersey. Nov 8, 1992.