This is the type of warning that I've noticed on the back of most toothpastes lately. This concerns me since I know enough about the body’s biochemistry to know that whatever I put into my mouth is going to be absorbed into my body through my mouth’s mucosal cells, whether I actually swallow something or not. Then I started to wonder what the common ingredient was in these top brand toothpastes that called for such a warning. I did some research and was surprised to find out that the culprit was the very stuff that we’ve all grown up to trust, that "dentist-recommended" product called fluoride. Wow, have we, once again, been given a bill of goods. I’m so tired of it. Wouldn’t it be nice if mega-enterprise made billions of dollars by helping people instead of slowly killing them? Maybe one day, but for now, who knows, perhaps it’s a world conspiracy to keep overpopulation down.

Fluoride may, and I emphasize "may," offer some protection from tooth decay, but at what price? I mean, would it be appropriate for us to put varnish on our skin to protect us from the sun? Let's face the facts. Fluoride is a binary compound of fluorine, which is a highly corrosive and poisonous element used in a wide variety of industrial compounds. The misinformation about how great it is may continue, but the reality is that fluoride is an acute toxin with a rating slightly higher than lead, and is one of the most bone seeking elements known to mankind. In fact, the US Public Health Service has stated that fluoride makes our bones more brittle and our dental enamel more porous. No wonder why great minds like microbiologist Professor Albert Schatz (winner of the Nobel Prize and the man who discovered Streptomycin, the cure for tuberculosis and numerous other bacterial infections) has been quoted as saying, "Fluoridation is the greatest fraud that has ever been perpetrated, and it has been perpetrated on more people than any other fraud has."

According to an article that appeared in the 1998 April-May issue of Nexus Magazine (some 50 years after United States authorities began adding fluoride to public water supplies to reduce cavities in children's teeth), there are quite a few declassified government documents suddenly turning up that are revealing a surprising connection between the use of fluoride and the dawning of the nuclear age.

Today, two-thirds of US public drinking water is fluoridated, yet many municipalities still resist the practice, disbelieving the government's assurances of safety. And who can blame them? I mean, after reading what fluoride is, how could anybody think it was a good idea to add it to the water we drink? What is wrong with us? Nature designed drinking water to help us clean out our system, to help us flush it out, not pollute it! Ever since the US prevailed by building the world’s first atomic bomb, our nation’s public health leaders have maintained that low doses of fluoride are safe for people and good for children’s teeth. Well, I think it’s a bunch of boloney and I think we should now be re-examining the facts in light of the hundreds of once-secret WWII-era documents that are starting to come forth, including declassified papers of the Manhattan Project -- the ultra-secret US Military program that produced the atomic bomb. According to these documents, fluoride was the key chemical in atomic bomb production, and millions of tons were essential for the manufacture of bomb-grade uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. And as one of the most toxic chemicals known to the environment, it shouldn’t surprise you that fluoride emerged as the leading chemical health hazard of the US atomic bomb program, both for workers, local farmers, and for nearby communities.

What's also scary is that the US Government's conflict of interest and its motive to prove fluoride safe in the furious debate over water fluoridation since the 1950's has only recently been made clear to the general public, let alone civilian researchers, health professionals and journalists. These declassified documents resonate with a growing body of scientific evidence and a chorus of questions about the health effects of fluoride in the environment. Human exposure to fluoride has mushroomed since WWII, due not only to fluoridated water and toothpaste, but to environmental pollution by major industries, from aluminum to pesticides, where fluoride is a critical industrial chemical as well as a waste by-product. Fluoride is everywhere! -- the environment, food, water, you name it.

Open your eyes, people! The impact can be seen literally in the smiles of our children. Large numbers (up to eighty percent in some cities) of young Americans now have dental fluorosis, the first visible sign of excessive fluoride exposure, resulting in whitish flecks or spots, particularly on the front teeth, or dark spots or stripes in more severe cases. It's a nightmare. And even less known to the public is the damage fluoride does to the bones, and how scientists are finally beginning to link the increase of stress fractures among young people in this country with the increase of water fluoridation over the years.

I don't think I'm over-reacting when esteemed voices over the years, like the ones below, have warned the American public that water fluoridation has dangerous long-term consequences to health:

"I am appalled at the prospect of using water as a vehicle for drugs. Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long-range basis. Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable." -- Dr. Charles Gordon Heyd, Past President of the American Medical Association

"The American Medical Association is NOT prepared to state that no harm will be done to any person by water fluoridation. The AMA has not carried out any research work, either long-term or short term, regarding the possibility of any side effects." -- Dr. Flanagan, Assistant Director of Enviromental Health, American Medical Association.

"Fluoride may be destroying our bones, our teeth, and overall health… it doesn’t need to be added to our water and we may be taking unnecessary risks by doing so." -- Dr. Hardy Limeback, a le Canadian fluoride authority, former fluoride advocate and long-standing consultant to the Canadian Dental Association. Now a Professor of Dentistry at the University of Toronto.

"The evidence against the safety of this public health policy keeps mounting; it is too compelling to ignore." -- Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, Children's Hospital, Boston.

"By 1983, I was thoroughly convinced that fluoridation caused more harm than good. I expressed the opinion that some of these children with dental fluorosis could, just possibly, have suffered harm to their bones." -- Dr. Colquhoun, former Principal Dental Officer for Auckland New Zealand.

"Based on data from the National Academy of Sciences, current levels of fluoride exposure in drinking water may cause arthritis in a substantial portion of the population long before they reach old age." -- Dr. Robert Carton, former EPA scientist.

EPA should act immediately to protect the public, not just on the cancer data, but on the evidence of bone fractures, arthritis, mutagenicity and other effects." -- Dr. William Marcus, Senior Toxicologist at EPA.

My research further tells me that much of the proof of fluoride's alleged safety in low doses rests on the postwar work done at the University of Rochester in anticipation of lawsuits against the bomb program for human injury. The University of Rochester's classified fluoride studies, code-name "Program F", were started during the war and continued up until the early 1950's. Program F was not about children's teeth. It grew directly out of litigation against the bomb program, and its main purpose was to furnish scientific ammunition which the government and its nuclear contractors could use to defeat lawsuits for human injury. It was quite clear that the bomb program required human studies of fluoride’s effects, just as it needed human studies of plutonium’s effects. So what happened? In May of 1945, Newburgh, New York quietly fluoridated its water, and over the next 10 years, its residents were secretly studied by the New York State Health Department. Nice, huh? And what’s so ridiculous is that the study was conducted by potential law suit defendants who were obviously bias to begin with. Who, in their right mind, given all the facts, would knowingly believe anything they said anyway? Even recent Newburg Mayor, Audrey Carey (she held office from 1992-1999), was quoted after learning about these experiments, "I'm shocked… beyond words. It reminds me of the Tuskegee experiment that was done on syphilis patients down in Alabama." Carey was appalled that any kind of experimentation could be done to people without their knowledge and consent. And so am I.

So, then, you ask, "How much fluoride is too much? Well, if you do ask me, any amount is too much! 50 years ago, when fluoride was first recommended for municipal water supplies, there were no other sources of fluoride in a person's diet. The "optimum" dose of 1 PPM (parts per million) was proposed because if a person drank four 8 oz glasses of water, they would be receiving about 1 mg of fluoride. Now, however, because fluoride can be found in just about everything you eat or drink, if your son or daughter has only one soft drink, a glass of milk, and a bowl of processed cereal (and no other food the entire day), he or she will more than likely be receiving 230% of the recommended "optimal" dose. That's equivalent to a pill a little bigger than an aspirin. This, to me, is pretty frightening, and I guess to a lot of other citizens, too.

The following is a list of 56 cities rejecting fluoridation since 1990. I say, good for them!

        Whitehorse, Yukon Terr., Can.
        Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
        Salt Lake City, Utah
        Grand Island, Nebraska
        Norfolk, Nebraska
        Scottsbluff, Nebraska
        Aurora, Nebraska
        Stromsburg, Nebraska
        North Platte, Nebraska
        Washington, Missouri
        Santa Cruz, California
        Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada
        Hot Springs, Arkansas
        Ridgefield, Oregon
        Methuen, Massachusetts
        Brisbane, Australia
        Spokane, Washington
        Largo, Florida
        Clearwater, Florida
        North Redington Beach, Florida
        Amsterdam, New York
        Suisun City, California
        Yardly, Pennsylvania
        Erie, Pennsylvania
        Western Nassau County, New York
        Kelowna, British Columbia, Can.
        Gothenburg, Nebraska
        Worcester, Massachusetts
        Bloomer, Wisconsin
        Kodiak, Alaska
        Carle Place, New York
        Winter Springs, Florida
        Pasco, Florida
        York, Pennsylvania
        Bradenton, Florida
        Thurmont, Maryland
        Albany, New York
        Middletown, Maryland
        Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
        Barnstable, (Cape Cod) Mass.
        Wagoner, Oklahoma
        Redwood Valley, California
        Los Altos Hills,(Purissima) California
        Campbell River, British Columbia, Can.
        Port Hardy, British Columbia, Can.
        Squarnish, British Columbia, Can.
        Milltown, Wisconsin
        Bellingham, Washington
        Washoe County, Nevada
        Comox Courtenay, B. C., Can.
        Palm Beach County, Florida
        Ketchikan, Alaska

For much more on this subject please visit these links: http://www.fluoridealert.org. http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-deception.htm.