June 27, 2005
Newly available research, out of Harvard University, links fluoride in tap water, at levels most Americans drink, to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington D.C. based organization, urges that fluoride in tap water be declared a known or probable cancer cause, based on this and previous animal and human studies.
Elise Bassin, PhD writes in her April 2001 Harvard doctoral thesis, “…for males less than 20 years old, fluoride level in drinking water [about 1 ppm] during growth is associated with an increased risk of osteosarcoma.”
According to EWG, “Research dating back decades, much of it government funded, has long suggested that fluoride added to drinking water presents a unique cancer risk to the growing bones of young boys.”
Citing a strong body of peer-reviewed evidence, including the Bassin study, EWG urges an expedited review of fluoride for inclusion in a U.S. government report of substances known or feared to be cancer causing in humans.
Richard Wiles, EWG’s senior vice president, told the British newspaper, The Observer , “I've spent 20 years in public health trying to protect kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now have with fluoride.”
High-quality epidemiological studies show a strong association between fluoride in tap water and osteosarcoma in boys, reports EWG.
EWG’s Wiles writes, “The safety of fluoride in America’s tap water is a pressing health concern….the weight of the evidence strongly supports the conclusion that millions of boys in these [fluoridated] communities are at significantly increased risk of developing bone cancer as a result.”
“The Harvard dissertation…obviously had merit because Bassin was awarded her doctorate,” writes The Observer .
Fluoride is added to water supplies in a questionable attempt to reduce tooth decay. Pro-fluoridation studies are outdated and flawed as revealed in British and U.S. reviews of the literature.