Untested Type of Fluoride Used in the Overwhelming Majority of U.S. Water Supplies

Untested Type of Fluoride Used in the Overwhelming Majority of U.S. Water Supplies
Published on 01-11-2011	Email To Friend    Print Version
Share| Source: Washington's Blog Dartmouth University wrote in 2001: In a recent article in the journalNeuroToxicology, a research team led by Roger D. Masters, DartmouthCollege Research Professor and Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor ofGovernment Emeritus, reports evidence that public drinking watertreated with sodium silicofluoride or fluosilicic acid, known assilicofluorides (SiFs), is linked to higher uptake of lead in children. Sodium fluoride, first added to public drinking water in 1945, is now used in less than 10%of fluoridation systems nationwide, according to the Center for DiseaseControl's (CDC) 1992 Fluoridation Census. Instead, SiF's are now usedto treat drinking water delivered to 140 million people. While sodiumfluoride was tested on animals and approved for human consumption, thesame cannot be said for SiFs. Masters and his collaborator Myron J.Coplan, a consulting chemical engineer, formerly Vice President ofAlbany International Corporation, led the team that has now studied theblood lead levels in over 400,000 children in three different samples.In each case, they found a significant link between SiF-treated waterand elevated blood lead levels. "We should stop using silicofluorides in our public water supply until we know what they do," said Masters. Officialsat the Environmental Protection Agency have told Masters and Coplanthat the EPA has no information on health effects of chronic ingestionof SiF-treated water. *** Also requiring further examination isGerman research that shows SiFs inhibit cholinesterase, an enzyme thatplays an important role in regulating neurotransmitters. "If SiFs are cholinesterase inhibitors,this means that SiFs have effects like the chemical agents linked toGulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and other puzzlingconditions that plague millions of Americans," said Masters. "We need abetter understanding of how SiFs behave chemically and physiologically." Here is Masters' scientific paper on SiFs (also called "fluosilicic acid" and "fluorosilicic acid"). Where does this compound come from? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Toxicology Program, reported in 2001: Sodium hexafluorosilicate is produced bytreating fluorosilicic acid with sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, orsodium chloride; alkalinity is adjusted to avoid the release of thefluoride.Fluorosilicic acid is mainly produced as a byproduct of the manufactureof phosphate fertilizers where phosphate rock is treated with sulfuricacid. *** The major use of sodium hexafluorosilicate and fluorosilicic acid is as fluoridation agents for drinking water.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey: An estimated 40,000 tons of fluorosilicic acid (equivalent to about 70,000 tons of 92% fluorspar) was recovered from phosphoric acid plants processing phosphate rock. Fluorosilicic acid was used primarily in water fluoridation, either directly or after processing into sodium silicofluoride. The USGS also noted in a 2000 report: Fluorosilicic acid is a byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry and is not manufactured for itself alone ... In other words, even though neither theEPA or any other government agency has studied the effects of long-termingestion of fluorosilicic acid, it is being used instead of sodiumfluoride because it is cheaper. As Edward Urbansky from the EPA's Office of Research and Development,National Risk management Research Laboratory, Water Supply and WaterResources Division wrote in 2002: The most common fluoridating agents usedby American waterworks are sodium fluoride (NaF), hexafluorosilicicacid (H2SiF6), and sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na2SiF6) as shown in Figure 1.14 Although 25% of the utilitiesreported using NaF, this corresponds to only 9.2% of the U.S.population drinking fluoride-supplemented tap water. ... The cost savings in using fluorosilicates result in large systems using those additives instead. *** In the United States, the primary sources of fluoridating agents arerocky mineral deposits containing mixtures of fluorite and apatite; thefluoridating agent itself is produced as a byproduct of phosphate fertilizer manufacture. *** The EPA is aware of papers positing links between fluoridation agentsand lead in the bloodstream or challenging the accepted chemistry. Totruly investigate such hypotheses, better chemical knowledge of thespeciation is required. http://blacklistednews.com/Untested-Type-of-Fluoride-Used-in-the-Ov... And see this.