EPA Scientists Workers Call for an End to Water Fluoridation Because of Cancer Risk

[CVX]

Flouride? A cancer risk? Since when has the ingestion of a poisonous substance ever caused cancer? :-5

From: Environment News Service www.ens-newswire.com

EPA UNIONS CALL FOR NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON FLUORIDATION, CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON ADVERSE EFFECTS, YOUTH CANCER COVER UP

WASHINGTON, DC, August 30, 2005 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Eleven EPA employee unions representing over 7000 environmental and public health professionals of the Civil Service have called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people. The unions acted following revelations of an apparent cover-up of evidence from Harvard School of Dental Medicine linking fluoridation with elevated risk of a fatal bone cancer in young boys.

The unions sent letters to key Congressional committees asking Congress to legislate a moratorium pending a review of all the science on the risks and benefits of fluoridation. The letters cited the weight of evidence supporting a classification of fluoride as a likely human carcinogen, which includes other epidemiology results similar to those in the Harvard study, animal studies, and biological reasons why fluoride can reasonably be expected to cause the bone cancer - osteosarcoma - seen in young boys and test animals.

The unions also pointed out recent work by Richard Maas of the Environmental Quality Institute, University of North Carolina that links increases in lead levels in drinking water systems to use of silicofluoride fluoridating agents with chloramines disinfectant.

The letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson asked him to issue a public warning in the form of an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking setting the health-based drinking water standard for fluoride at zero, as it is for all known or probable human carcinogens, pending a recommendation from a National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council committee. That committee's work is not expected to be done before 2006.

The unions also asked Congress and EPA's enforcement office, or the Department of Justice, to look into reasons why the Harvard study director, Chester Douglass, failed to report the seven-fold increased risk seen in the work he oversaw, and instead wrote to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the federal agency that funded the Harvard study, saying there was no link between fluoridation and osteosarcoma. Douglass sent the same negative report to the National Research Council committee studying possible changes in EPA's drinking water standards for fluoride.

The unions who signed the letters represent EPA employees from across the nation, including laboratory scientists in Ohio, Oklahoma and Michigan, regulatory support scientists and other workers at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. and science and regulatory workers in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco.

They are affiliated with the National Treasury Employees Union, the American Federation of Government Employees, Engineers and Scientists of California/International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the National Association of Government Employee/Service Employees International Union.

The unions' letter is online at: http://nteu280.org/Issues/Fluoride/fluoridesummary.htm

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dr. William Hirzy Vice-President, NTEU Chapter 280

Phone (cell) 202-285-0498 This is complete notice.

USA Citizens can easily back-up the 7,000 EPA 'career employees.' Consider, you and your family need CLEAN & SAFE Drinking Water, every day. This is your opportunity to back those 7000+ EPA union members that care about scientific integrity and exposing the truth about 'corporate hazardous waste fluorosilicates' being metered into our drinking waters. Their common sense demand for a 'moratorium on fluoridation' along with Congressional Investigation incl. 'under oath' hearings is critical!

We, the undersigned, join with members of eleven EPA unions in their call for an immediate Congressional act placing a national moratorium on water fluoridation pending a full Congressional investigation into this public policy, which affects - directly and indirectly - every resident of the United States.

Read & Sign Citizens PETITION at: http://petition.powalliance.org/index.html

[PurpleChicken]

Peanut butter is also a carcinogen, if you have enough of it....



I work in the water industry. Personally I don't believe that we should be adding anything to our water supply without good reason. On that basis, I'm not convinced that Flouride should be added as a general principle. It really comes down to a risk assessment - weighting up the risks of introducing the substance into our water supplies vs the potential benefits.



All of that said, we don't need to panic. If it is a carcinogen, it will be a chronic problem, ie casued by long term exposure. We shouldn't be reactionary and panicking unnecessarily. Don't forget, this is not a new issue. I'm sure for every study saying that there is a possible correlation (note also that there is a difference between correlation and causation), there will be several indicating that there is no evidence to support such a link. If, as the article suggests, the issue hasn't been debated in congress since the late 70s, it is probably time for thorough investigation and research to uncover the latest scientific knowledge on the issue.

[CVX]

Environmental groups petition EPA to retract fluoride pesticide tolerances on food

Two national environmental organizations, Environmental Working Group and Beyond Pesticides, joined today with the Fluoride Action Network in challenging the safety of new food tolerances issued by the EPA for the fluoride based pesticide, sulfuryl fluoride. This action marks growing concern among mainstream scientists and environmental organizations that total exposure to fluoride, from water, food, and dental uses like toothpaste and rinses, is not safe for vulnerable populations, particularly young children.

The challenge was directed at the maximum legal limits for the fluoride-based pesticide in foods, which have been set at levels that dwarf the amount allowed in tap water. In just one case, the EPA is allowing 900 parts per million of fluoride in dried eggs, as opposed to the maximum 4 ppm allowed in tap water. One third of the nation’s eggs are sold and consumed in dried, reconstituted form.

The groups noted that 900 ppm set for dried eggs is extremely close to that used in toothpaste (1,000 ppm), a level that is considered toxic if consumed in greater than pea sized portions. “How can the EPA consider 900 ppm in eggs safe, while the Food and Drug Administration directs parents to call poison control centers if their children consume more than a pea sized portion of toothpaste with fluoride at 1,000 ppm?” asked Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director of FAN. “Unlike toothpaste, eggs are meant to be eaten, not spit out.”

The precise FDA required label on toothpastes with fluoride levels of 1000 ppm is:

"WARNING: Do not swallow. Use only a pea-sized amount for children under six… If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately."

The EPA has set fluoride tolerances for over 200 foodstuffs ranging from 5 ppm in cheese all the way up to 900 ppm in powdered eggs. The groups warn that at the maximum level of fluoride a serving of scrambled eggs made with as few as two egg equivalents could make a child vomit and a four egg omelet could have the same effect on an adult.

The tolerances were requested by Dow AgroSciences, which is expanding its use of the pesticide sulfuryl fluoride (trade named ProFume) to fumigate food processing facilities and storage areas. Dow has never conducted crucial safety tests on fluoride residues yet scientific studies point to serious health risks from ingesting even small amounts. A wealth of independent, peer reviewed studies have found adverse effects on children’s developing brains, the male reproductive system, kidneys, and bones.

According to Fluoride Action Network (FAN) researcher Chris Neurath, “It isn't just powdered eggs that will have dangerous levels of fluoride allowed. All processed foods will be allowed 70 ppm fluoride residues. That includes everything from breakfast cereal to hamburger helper to cake mix. Wheat flour is allowed up to 125 ppm. For comparison, the maximum level of fluoride allowed in drinking water is 4 ppm and the natural level of fluoride in mothers’ milk is approximately 0.008 ppm. The EPA argues that most fumigated foods won’t contain the highest allowed levels so there is no need to worry. Yet the USDA’s surveillance program for pesticide residues on foods routinely finds samples bought at stores that exceed the EPA tolerances. The potential for a significant number of acute poisoning cases every year is very real.”

"We are very concerned that total fluoride exposure is not safe for children,” said Richard Wiles, Senior Vice-President of Environmental Working Group (EWG). “EPA is relying on outdated science to support this increase in fluoride exposure, and in our view has not discharged its legal duty to thoroughly consider the effects of fluoride on infants and children, from all routes of exposure, based on a thorough review of the most recent peer-reviewed science.”

Jay Feldman of Beyond Pesticides adds, "This is yet another example of the EPA pesticide division protecting the bottom line of Dow AgroSciences rather than the health of the American public.”

According to Connett, "It is ironic that, while 11 EPA Unions, representing over 7000 professionals, are calling for a moratorium on water fluoridation because of its likely role in causing osteosarcoma in young males, the EPA’s pesticide division has approved the highest fluoride tolerances in US history. With the Centers for Disease Control admitting that 1 in 3 American children have dental fluorosis now is not the time to be adding more fluoride to the nation's food supply.”

The appeal by FAN, EWG, & Beyond Pesticides can be accessed at:

http://www.fluorideaction.org/pesticide ... ssion.html

The EPA Unions resolution can be found here:

http://www.fluorideaction.net/epa-unions1.pdf

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For further information, contact:

Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network

315-379-9200 or 315-229-5853; paul@fluoridealert.org