From:
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002
Subject: information quality request for correction of influential scientific information
This is to inform you that an information quality request for correction of influential scientific information is being submitted herewith. I am a United States citizen currently living in Grenada to avoid fluoride in the air, water, and food.
Detailed Description Of The Specific Information That Needs To Be Corrected:
"Extensive research conducted over the past 50 years has shown that fluoridation of public water supplies is a safe and effective way to reduce tooth decay for all community residents." [See: Frequently Asked Questions - Community Water Fluoridation. URL: (http://www.cdc.gov/nohss/guidefl.htm)]
Specific Reasons For Believing The Information Does Not Comply With OMB, HHS or CDC Guidelines:
According to the CDC Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the Public, "For quantitative risk assessments in support of the dissemination of influential information, CDC intends to apply the following principles:
- The agency will use
- the best available science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices, including peer- reviewed science and supporting studies when available.
- data collected by accepted methods (if reliability of the method and the nature of the decision justifies use of the data).
- In the dissemination of public information about health risks, the agency shall ensure that the presentation of information is comprehensive, informative, and understandable, within the context of its intended purpose."
This has not been done.
Supporting Documentation:
There has been no scientific method available in the United States which is capable of detecting the pre-crippling phases of chronic fluoride poisoning.
According to the U.S. Public Health Service the symptoms of skeletal fluorosis include "stiffness of joints; sporadic pain; chronic joint pain; arthritic symptoms; slight calcification of ligaments." [See: Public Health Service Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs. Review of fluoride: benefits and risks. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 1991.]
Obviously, no reliable conclusions can be drawn regarding the safety of fluoridation or the probable existence of millions of cases of chronic fluoride poisoning misdiagnosed as arthritis. There is no reliable method to detect the difference between a case of arthritis caused by excess fluoride and a case of arthritis caused by something else.
As noted above "reliability of the method" is crucial. Similarly, there can be no legitmate statistical evaluation of epidemiological data when the data is nonexistent. Legitimate fluoridation safety studies which encompass the full spectrum of chronic fluoride poisoning simply do not exist, despite repeated claims to the contrary. The publications of the CDC create the impression that hundreds - if not thousands - of studies support recommendations to fluoridate public water supplies. If fact, there is no epidemiological data on arthritis and no control group. Virtually everyone consumes unknown quantities of fluoride on a daily basis throughout their lifetime; and sooner or later, virtually everyone complains of arthritic symptoms.
We simply do not know how many cases of chronic fluoride poisoning have been diagnosed and treated as arthritis. Prior to 1950 the total daily fluoride intake for adults living in a 1 ppm fluoridated area was about 0.02 mg/kg/day. Today the figure is reported to be 0.05 mg/kg/ day. [See: The problem of providing optimum fluoride intake for prevention of dental caries, Food and Nutrition Board, Division of Biology and Agriculture, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Pub. #294, November 1953. ... and ... Institute of Medicine. Fluoride. In: Dietary reference intakes for calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, and fluoride. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997:288--313. URL: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309063507/html/index.html]
In 1977 the following statement appeared in Drinking Water and Health: "... Recent studies indicate that the total intake of fluoride is as high as 3 mg/day rather than the earlier figure of 1.5 mg/day, primarily because of increases in the estimated levels of fluoride in food. (1970) Balance data presented by Spencer also suggest a higher retention by bone, nearly 2 mg/day rather than the 0.2 mg/day indicated earlier. ... These findings are important . . . a retention of 2 mg/day would mean that an average individual would experience skeletal fluorosis after 40 yr, based on an accumulation of 10,000 ppm fluoride in bone ash." [Safe Drinking Water Committee, National Academy of Sciences, NAS/NRC, 1977 p. 371- 372]
According to the CDC's MMWR Weekly Report for October 25, 2002; "The findings in this report provide the first direct measurements of arthritis/CJS prevalence for all states. Self-reports are required to estimate prevalence in the population because many persons with arthritis/ CJS do not see a clinician for their symptoms, and their conditions remain undiagnosed (5)." Prevalence of Self-Reported Arthritis or Chronic Joint Symptoms Among Adults --- United States, 2001 MMWR 51(42);948-950
Specific Recommendations For Correcting The Information: Documents published by the CDC which make claims for the safety of fluoridation based on safety studies should be modified to indicate that a) the methods used were not capable of detecting the arthritic pre-crippling phases of skeletal fluorosis, and b) there is no data available regarding the prevalence of fluoride-induced arthritis, and no laboratory tests available to physicians who may suspect a patient is experiencing fluoride-induced arthritic symptoms.
Description Of How The Person Submitting The Complaint Is Affected By The Information Error: The myth of hundreds of legitimate safety studies has denied me access to effective health care services because the vast majority of health care providers have been taught that no harm can come from typical daily doses of fluoride taken over a lifetime, and no methods have been developed which are capable of identifying fluoride as the cause of a typical case of arthritis.
Physicians are not trained to recognize cases of arthritis caused by excess fluoride, and therefore, not equipped to offer reliable advice to their patients. From 1948 to 1965 I was treated by numerous physicians for arthritis. Avoidance of fluoride since that time has resulted in a 32- year 'remission,' broken only briefly following a few accidental exposures to fluoride in foods, beverages, and air pollution. None of the physicians who prescribed drugs or other treatments for my 'arthritis' were able to order lab tests or X-Rays to determine the cause of my chronic joint and muscle pain or stiffness. The CDC's influence on public policy has assisted special interests in obtaining legislation to mandate fluoridation in many states without monitoring health effects, without disclosure of the side effects, and without recourse for harmful effects suffered by members of the population.
No one can prove their arthritis was caused by fluoride because there is no method available to do so. This means there is no method available to researchers who are supposedly looking for adverse health effects associated with water fluoridation.
The claim for safety is bogus.
Last Revised: August, 2004