Union of EPA Professionals Opposes Fluoridation

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  May, 2001  by Jule Klotter

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On June 29, 2000, Dr. J. William Hirzy, Vice-President of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 280, testified before the US Senate Subcommittee on Wildlife, Fisheries and Drinking Water. The union represents the professional employees, including scientists, engineers, and lawyers, of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. The union voted to oppose water fluoridation in 1997. In his statement before the Subcommittee, Dr. Hirzy, who is a toxicologist, explained why the union opposes fluoridation and asked for a national review of current fluoridation policy by a Joint Select Committee of Congress. He noted the lack of research on the long-term effects of fluoride exposure and pointed out research that links fluoride toxicity to bone pathology, including cancer, and to diverse brain and neurological problems.

Dental fluorosis, the only officially-recognized negative consequence of over-exposure to fluoride, is a mottling of teeth that the Centers for Disease Control, the EPA, and the American Dental Association consider simply 'cosmetic.' Dr. Hirzy explained to the Subcommittee that fluorosis is a sign that the body is accumulating more fluoride in its tissue than metabolic processes can handle: "We can see the effect on teeth. Few researchers, if any, are looking for the effects of excessive fluoride exposure on bone and other tissues in American children."

A two-year study conducted by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), using rats and mice, linked sodium fluoride in drinking water to osteosarcoma (bone cancer). "The positive result of that study (in which malignancies in tissues other than bone were also observed), particularly in male rats, is convergent with a host of data from tests showing fluoride's ability to cause mutations (a principal 'trigger' mechanism for inducing a cell to become cancerous)... and data showing increases in osteosarcomas in young men in New Jersey, Washington and Iowa based on their drinking fluoridated water." Dr. Hirzy told the Subcommittee that the initial results of the National Toxicology Program study, published in 1990, "would have ended fluoridation." Instead, a special commission reviewed the initial report and changed the NTP's findings of 'clear evidence of carcinogenicity in male rats' to 'equivocal evidence of carcinogenicity in male rats.' Senior Science Adviser and Toxicologist in the EPA's Office of Drinking Wat er, Dr. William Marcus, publicly objected to the change and was then fired. A judge later ordered that he be reinstated with back pay and damages.

In addition to asking for an independent review of the tumor slides from the NTP bioassay, the union asked the Subcommittee to "order an epidemiology study comparing children with dental fluorosis to those not displaying overdose during growth and development years, for behavioral and other disorders." Since 1994, animal studies have shown that a prenatal exposure to fluoride can result in hyperactive behavior. Fluoride also has adverse effects on the pineal gland, the brain, and kidneys -- even at the 'optimal' dosage of one part per million. Fluoride has also been linked to lower IQ scores in children.

The union's third recommendation to the Subcommittee was that it order future toxicity studies to use the actual chemicals -- hydrofluosilicic acid and its sodium salt -- now used in 90% of fluoridation programs instead of a substitute chemical. Hydrofluosilicic acid is a toxic waste product of the phosphate fertilizer industry. The EPA states that it cannot identify any chronic studies using these chemicals. Recent studies have linked these chemicals to elevated lead levels in children's blood and to anti-social behavior.

Dr. Hirzy told the Subcommittee that "...since federal agencies are actively advocating that each man woman and child drink, eat and bathe in these chemicals, silicofluorides should be placed at the head of the list for establishing a MCL [Maximum Contaminant Level] that complies with the Safe Drinking Water Act. This means that the MCL be protective of the most sensitive of our population, including infants, with an appropriate margin of safety for ingestion over an entire lifetime."

Meanwhile, the rationale for adding fluoride to the water supply, i.e. prevention of tooth decay, is not being supported by recent scientific studies. A study involving 39,000 school children (ages 5-17) found "no significant differences (in terms of decayed, missing and filled teeth) among caries incidences in fluoridated, non-fluoridated and partially fluoridated communities." Likewise, a comparison between Newburg, New York, which has fluoridated its water for 50 years, and Kingston, New York, which does not add fluoride to its water, found no appreciable difference in dental decay. Children in Newburg, however, did show much higher rates of fluorosis. Furthermore, Dr. Hirzy noted that Europe and the US have about the same rates of tooth decay even though most European countries do not fluoridate their drinking water.