Fluoride: We’re All Retarded

According to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, aluminum “is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal, in the Earth’s crust.” But, prior to 1886, when the smelting process of aluminum was discovered, this copious metal was somewhat of a rarity. In fact, there were probably a very small number of places worldwide – a single-digit quantity of places – that produced the metal. Discovered by Charles Martin Hall, this new method of producing pure aluminum by electric smelting was put into practice by The Pittsburgh Reduction Company (PRC), in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, in 1891. In 1903, PRC opened production in Niagara Falls, and in 1907 PRC changed its name to The Aluminum Company of America, or ALCOA. Today, this is the primary way that aluminum is processed, and ALCOA is the world’s third-largest producer of aluminum.

As with most industrial processes, the refinement and processing of materials produces additional materials. Hall’s method of electric smelting passes electricity through a substance called crolite, which is a combination of aluminum and sodium fluoride. The by-product is relatively pure aluminum and sodium fluoride. ALCOA soon found that they had an abundance of sodium fluoride. At the time, the remaining substance was disposed by normal means at the times, and verily deposited in the surrounding water and land. In 1931, ALCOA chemist, Harry V. Churchill, proved the evidence of sodium fluoride in the surrounding drinking water as a result of dumping it in the Allegheny River. When approached by the City of Pittsburgh, ALCOA disputed the proof of contamination, by arguing that the levels of natural and unnatural sodium fluoride weren’t significant. Yet by the time the war effort of the 1940′s came about, the pollution of the water had increased, due to the increased production of aluminum. By the end of the decade, dentists began to notice the positive effects of sodium fluoride upon people’s teeth, and therefore ALCOA began to market its sodium fluoride with the Journal of the American Water Works Association, offering their (by-)product for water fluoridation. (Peter Meier, Fluoridation Chemicals)

The aluminum industry isn’t the only producer of fluoride chemicals as a byproduct of their primary processes. Peter Meier goes on to explain that in 1950, the National Institute of Health suggested using sodium fluosilicate, a by-product of the fertilizer industry, to provide sources of fluoride for water fluoridation. This proposal was made without any sort of testing or accounts of the effects of such chemicals in the water supply, but was argued that less of the substance could be used relative to the amounts necessary for sodium fluoride to be used. As a result, Du Pont’s Grasselli Chemicals Department in Wilmington, Delaware released a statement indicating that sodium fluosilicate was toxic. But the decision to discontinue using the term “sodium fluoride” in 1951, in favor of using more descriptive terms such as sodium fluosilicate and hydrofluosilicic acid to refer to the other forms of fluoride, was put into motion by the Wisconsin State Board of Health, when remarks regarding the common use of sodium fluoride as a rat poison were made. In other words, the individuals in favor of putting fluoride into our drinking water didn’t want us to realize that the drinking water contained rat poison, so they stopped referring to it as sodium fluoride.

Wait a minute.

There could be rat poison in our water supply?

Surely, somebody would have seen the error in this and discontinued, if not banned, fluoridation of water, right? Well, some people have, in fact, banned the use of fluoridation of drinking water. A multitude of countries have banned water fluoridation including: France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria. China has banned the use of fluoride in drinking water.  India, Israel, and Japan have each banned the fluoridation of water. Why have these countries banned water fluoridation? Several of these countries cite health problems, such as skeletal fluorosis (brittle bones) and dental fluorosis (abnormal development of tooth enamel). Other countries cite ethical concerns and the “problematic nature of compulsory medication”. Another argument for the ban on water fluoridation is that there isn’t enough evidence to suggest that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of water fluoridation. Moreover, another argument is that it’s more practical to use alternative methods (such as an occasional fluoride pill) to receive recommended dental fluoridation rather than using water fluoridation. Finally validated, in 2006 as cited by the Portland Tribune, the National Academies of Science (NAS) “found persuasive evidence that fluoride in water increases bone fractures as well as stiffness in the joints of the elderly, and that it also may be related to Alzheimer’s disease, marginally reduce IQ in children and alter the endocrine and hormonal levels that control most of the functions of the human body…with unknown effects.”

Disease and Disorder

Skeletal fluorosis is a disease that’s caused by overexposure to fluoride, and results in brittle bones, pain and joint damage, by the combination of fluoride with that of the bone itself. For many years, the rest of the world has done intense studies on many aspects of skeletal fluorosis, but in the United States there has been little research on the matter. A couple of the problems in the diagnosis of this disease is that it can take a long time to develop skeletal fluorosis, and often the symptoms begin the same way that arthritis begins. This causes a mechanism for misdiagnosis. This condition can result in osteoporosis and the calcification of the blood and ligaments. With the increased fluorine, the bones become harder and are not as elastic as they may have once been. This leads to more frequent fractures and thickening of the bone causing joint pain. In the case of dental fluorosis, the teeth develop pits and minor discoloration. Unlike its skeletal variety, dental fluorosis is primarily seen between the first eight years of a child’s development. In 2010, the EPA reported that 40% of all cases of dental fluorosis are due to water fluoridation. Contrary to this assessment, the American Dental Association said, in 2006, that water fluoridation is “safe, effective, and healthy”.

In 2006, the National Research Council (NRC) reviewed the EPA’s safe water standard (4 ppm), and concluded that “EPA’s safety standard for fluoride is not safe”. In the report, the NRC states that “it is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain and the body by direct and indirect means.” The report also notes “Chinese populations have reported IQ deficits in children exposed to fluoride”. This notion is not one that is new, either. Let us not forget that the first use of water fluoridation was in Nazi Germany, where the idea was to produce a number of effects. In his 1978 book, The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farbin, Joseph Borkin points to information detailed in a 1954 letter between a Russian Communist and a chemist, Charles Perkins, in Wisconsin, stating “repeated doses of infinitesimal doses of fluoride will in time reduce an individual’s power to resist domination, by slowly poisoning and narcotizing a certain area of the brain, thus making him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him.” According to research by Dr. Jennifer Luke at the University of Surrey in England, the pineal gland is the primary focus of fluoride effects of the brain. In her research, she has concluded that fluoride “results in altered melatonin production [by the pineal gland] and altered timing of sexual maturity.” Going back to Joseph Borkin’s letter from the Russian Communist, we find this statement: [The German General Staff] “could control the population in whole areas, reduce the population by water medication that would produce sterility in women, and so on.”

To better understand the pineal gland, let’s learn a few things about it. The pineal gland is located in the center of your brain, for the most part. It is about the size of a pea, and is responsible for the production of melatonin and a substance called dimethyltriptamine, or DMT. Melatonin primarily regulates the stages of puberty and protection from cell damage. Altered levels of Melatonin can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. It is known that, over time, the pineal gland calcifies. As previously discussed, a high concentration of calcium in the blood can also be caused by skeletal fluorosis. The pineal gland has also been referred to as the seat of the soul, and is believed to serve as a link between other dimensions of reality and our own. DMT can be a hallucinogen. DMT is the happy drug that our body produces that helps us to deal with the evils of the world.  It influences our beliefs in mystical things such as religion and UFOs, altered states of consciousness, and things of those natures. According to some, the calcification of our brain over time inhibits the production of DMT. Without DMT, we would have a general feeling of lethargy, passiveness, and overall reduction in our daily activities. In fact, it would probably make you seem as if you were on Prozac. (Oh, by the way, Prozac is mostly fluoride.)

The effects of fluoridation on the body aren’t localized to the brain and skeleton. The relationship between problems of the thyroid gland and fluoride have a long and storied history that date back to 1854, when it was noted that dogs’ goiters were caused by iodine deficiency. What does iodine have to do with fluoridation of water? Well, iodine reduces the absorption of fluoride in the body. The thyroid gland is a very important gland to the body. This gland is the one that controls “how quickly our body uses energy, makes proteins, and how sensitive we are to other hormones.” (Wikipedia, Thyroid) The thyroid also is responsible for producing a substance, calcitonin, that regulates the amount of calcium in our body.  Today in the United States, one of the top-selling medications is a treatment for Hyperthyroidism. According to Dr. Paul Connett, sodium fluoride was used to treat Hyperthyroidism in the 1930s. In 1955, the Department of Nutrition for South Africa reported that concentrations of fluorine in drinking water resulted in higher numbers of people with goiters, a grand swelling of the thyroid gland. In 1946, The Atomic Energy Commission acknowledged the German understanding that all fluoride compounds inhibit thyroid hormone production in the body.

In 2000, the researchers at the Foundation for Neuroscience and Society from Dartmouth University published, in the Journal of Toxicology, an article finding that people had higher concentrations of lead in their bodies, as a result of water fluoridation. In fact, the concentration of lead in the subjects’ bodies “was equal to or worse a contributor of blood-lead levels as old house paint.” Lead is quite toxic to the tissues of the human body, including the heart, bones, kidneys, intestines, and the reproductive and nervous systems. Lead has been linked to learning and behavioral disorders, and has been cited as one of the causes of anemia. Children are especially susceptible because they are undergoing a developmental process in their first years, and absorb chemicals, such as lead, more readily. High lead concentrations in children can lead to mental retardation. “Lead exposure in children is also correlated with…attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and antisocial behavior.” (Wikipedia, Lead Poisoning) In the 1970s, both leaded gasoline and leaded paint were actively removed from direct use, due to the health concerns.

Water fluoridation has a long and storied history. Today, the majority of water fluoridation is done using fluorosilicic acid, with some cases being sodium fluorosilicate and sodium fluoride. But, it makes no difference what form the fluoride takes, they are all bad. Clearly, the benefits of removing fluoride compounds from our water outweigh the benefits of keeping them in the water supply. Whether to prevent adverse health conditions or to prevent things like communists or socialists from controlling the people through a worldwide plot of domination, fluoride should not be ingested. Children are the most susceptible, as they absorb these toxins more easily. The long withstanding effects of fluoride poisoning continue into adulthood, shortening the lifespan of people and causing a great deal of pain and suffering. There is no amount of money or apologies that can be taken, to undo the atrocity that is water fluoridation. No amount of money can take back the lives and generations that have been affected by the diseases and disorders that have been a result of water fluoridation. A quick trip down to Wal-Mart won’t get us back the progress that we have lost, due to the loss of opportunity to better humanity, because we didn’t have the mental capabilities for cognition to progress. There’s no pill that we can take that will restore what we never had, as a result of generational poisoning from lead and fluorides. But one thing we can still do in this country is mobilize and unify our concerns, and lobby to our leaders and representatives. Recent events have proven that the voice of the people is loud and momentous, when brought together. We can also educate ourselves not only of the dangers of ingesting fluoride, but what contains fluoride and what does not.

Attempting to make sense of his universe, Invino Veritas bubbles outward from the chaos, sometimes submitting to its infinite whirl, and other times raging against its disregard for its own elements. His writings incorporate multiple styles and energies which can be found on his own blog of random things at http://musingsfortheinsane.blogspot.com/.