Are You at Risk? |
There’s nothing like a glass of cool, clear water to quench one’s thirst. But the next time you or your child reaches for one, you might want to question whether that water is, in fact, too toxic to drink. If your water is fluoridated, the answer may well be yes.
Gary Null, PhD
Ireland
All cities and most towns in Ireland, covering about 75 per cent of the population, are served with fluoridated water: thus most are at risk. Your water supply company can tell you whether you are one of the lucky few who are not. They can also tell you what the fluoride content is if you live in a fluoridated area.
Despite the forum on fluoridation, there are plans to extend fluoridation to the following areas as soon as possible:
North Western Health Board
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Ballyshannon, Fanad East and West, Lough Inn, West Inishowen, The Pollen Dam, County Donegal |
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North County Sligo region |
Midwestern Health Board
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North County Clare region |
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Croom, County Limerick |
South Eastern Health Board
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Kilmacthomas, Ballyduff, County Waterford |
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Fardystown, County Wexford |
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Hacketstown, County Carlow |
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Coalbrook/Ballincurry, Graigue and Glengurra, County Tipperary |
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Youghal UDC, Bula Treatment Plant, County Cork |
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Brosna/Knocknagoshel, County Kerry |
North Eastern Health Board
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Athboy, County Meath |
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Virginia, County Cavan |
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Clontibret, County Monaghan |
Eastern Regional Health Authority
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The Curragh, County Kildare |
Midland Health Board
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Martinstown, County Westmeath |
Britain
Many people believe that all British tap water is fluoridated. This is not so. Scotland and Wales are not fluoridated at all (yet), and only about 9 per cent of people in England live in areas where drinking water is polluted with fluoride. You are one of those people only if you live in one of the following postal districts:
These districts have naturally occurring calcium fluoride in their water at more than 0.5 ppm:
Durham: DH1, DH2; part of DH6
Essex: CO1–6, CO8–10
Lincolnshire: Part of LN13
Peterborough: PE2, PE4
Suffolk: IP1–8, IP13, IP14, IP28–30, IP33
Teesside: TS27, TS28
Tyneside: NE25, NE26, NE29; part of NE30
These districts have artificially fluoridated drinking water:
Berkshire: RG1, RG4–6, RG40, RG41
Birmingham: B6–11, B13–21, B23–34, B37, B40, B42, B45, B60–62, B65–71; parts of Central Birmingham and B36, B38, B43, B44, B46, B47, B63, B64, B90, B92, B97
Buckinghamshire: Parts of SG18, SG19
Chelmsford: CM1
Coventry: CV1–6, CV10, CV11; parts of CV 7–9, CV12, CV13
Crewe: Parts of CW1, CW2, CW5–7, CW12, CW17
Cumbria: CA24, CA25, CA27, CA28
Dartford: DA1
Derbyshire: DE13–15
Doncaster: DN15, DN16, DN18–21, DN38–40; parts of DN9, DN10, DN17, DN22, DN31, DN37
Dudley: Parts of DY6, DY9, DY10
Durham: DH2, DH7–9; parts of DH15
Kent, around Ashford: TN26
Lancaster: Parts of LA19
Leicestershire: Parts of LE10 and LE18
Lincolnshire: LN1, LN2, LN4–7
Milton Keynes: MK17, MK43–46
Nottinghamshire: NG18–20; parts of NG17, NG21–24, NG31, NG32 and NG34
Oxfordshire: Part of OX9
Sheffield: Parts of S80
Shrewsbury: Parts of SY13, SY14
Stoke: Parts of ST7, ST8
Tonbridge: TN26
Tyneside: NE1–6, NE8, NE12, NE15–18, NE21, NE23, NE25–27, NE39, NE42, NE43, NE45, NE46; parts of NE9–11, NE13, NE19, NE20, NE24, NE28, NE44, NE46–48, NE65
Walsall, Wolverhampton: WV2, WV3, WV13, WV14; parts of WV6–8
Warwickshire: There may be fluoridated areas in the south of the county.
Worcestershire: Parts of WR7, WR9–11
Contact your local water authority for analysis figures of your tap water’s fluoride content. They are legally obliged to give you this information and, in my experience, are very willing to do so.
If your water contains more than 0.4 ppm, your only recourse (other than to complain to your water supply company) is to install a water purification system that removes fluoride. Note, however, that most water filters do not remove fluoride. Fluoride is not removed by boiling, home water-softening systems, sediment filters or ultraviolet systems. Carbon filtration systems alone will not remove fluoride from the water, although carbon filtration units that contain activated alumina can reduce the amount. Fluoride removal can be achieved either by distillation or by using a reverse osmosis system. Depending on the size and the type of the system, it will remove between 90 and 99 per cent of the fluoride in the water.1
A suitable filter may be purchased from the following companies:
•Ecowater, Mill Road, Stokenchurch, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP14 3TP
•Fresh Water Filters Co. Ltd., Carlton House, Aylmere Road, Leytonstone, London, E11 3AD
•Crouch Water Softener Services, 631 London Road, Westcliffe-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 9PE
Minimising the risk from fluoride
Fluoride is the thirteenth most abundant element, so it is impossible to remove it all. But you can reduce the risk of getting an overdose by taking the following precautions.
•Avoid anything that you know contains fluoride.
•Use fluoride-free toothpaste: Boot’s Non-Fluoride, Tom’s, Tea Tree, Sarakan, Kingfisher Natural Propolis, Weleda, Aloedent and shops’ own brands are available from supermarkets, pharmacies and health-food shops.
•Eat foods low in fluoride: milk, eggs, red meats (not organ meats), fruit with a protective rind (watermelon, orange, banana, coconut), fruits packed in their own juices (pineapple) and those canned in non-fluoridated or low-fluoridated countries.
•Peel apples and grapes before eating, and avoid apple and grape juice. Apples and grapes are commonly sprayed with high-fluoride cryolite pesticides. The fluoride stays in the fruits’ skin and is incorporated into juices and wines.
•Avoid all canned drinks and canned produce from fluoridated countries: the USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
•Avoid wines and other drinks from fluoridated countries.
•Don’t drink tea without milk: tea contains between 4.4 and 12 ppm of fluoride. Just one cup can be enough for an overdose. The calcium in milk mitigates the effects of fluoride.
•Stay away from areas that fluoridate water supplies (see list above for UK areas).
•If you live in a fluoridated area, do not use aluminium cookware.
•Avoid using non-stick kitchenware: non-stick coatings, such as Teflon and Tefal, are made of fluoride. Scrapes and other damage can release a significant amount of fluoride into food. Non-stick coatings are usually applied to aluminium pans. This combination increases the risk enormously even if you do not live in a fluoridated area.
•Avoid drugs containing fluoride: if you are taking any of the following, contact your doctor for a fluoride-free alternative.
•Prozac (fluoxetine)
•Rohypnol (flunitrazepam)
•Diflucan (fluconazole)
•Flixonase or Flixotide (fluticasone)
•Stelazine (trifluoperazine)
•Fluanxol or Depixol (flupenthixol)
•Floxapen (flucloxacillin)
•Asthma drugs that use propellants containing fluoride: Ventolin and Becotide
•Take vitamin B6 and C supplements. These minimise the effects of fluoride.
•Take supplements of calcium and magnesium salts to help reduce fluoride absorption from the stomach and assist in elimination.
•Maintain good general and dental health with meat, dairy products, varied vegetables, fresh fruits and pulses. Reduce intakes of starches (bread, pasta, cereals, rice) and sugars.
Symptoms of fluoride toxicity are similar to those for hypothyroid. If your symptoms are caused by fluoride, you should notice a marked improvement within days or weeks. And symptoms will return once you are re-exposed to a source of fluoride.
The following can test for fluoride poisoning:
•Biolab Medical Unit, 9 Weymouth Street, London, W1N 3FF
For a test on fluoride sensitivity and white-cell depression:
•British Fluoridation Exposure Group, PO Box 5484, Leicester, LE3 3WH
For a test measuring 24-hour urine output of fluoride, contact:
•Dr Peter Mansfield, Templegarth Trust, PO Box 6, Louth, Lincs., LN11 8XL
. . . and a banana to finish?
Incidentally, the international news magazine Newsweek, reported that French scientists are currently working on a genetically modified banana capable of fighting tooth decay. Jos Bov, a former director of the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Bordeaux, says, ‘In some African countries where they may not have the money to buy toothpaste, why not eat a transgenic banana that will prevent cavities instead?’2
I wonder if they will engineer fluoride into it?
1.Proceedings of the International Conference on Fluorides, 21–24 March 1989, Pine Mountain, Georgia, USA, J Dent Res (Special Issue), February 1990: 69.
2.‘Like father, like son’, Newsweek, 5 February 2001: 28.