- It was due to my growing concerns about our country's
growing health problems as well as the erosion of our civil liberties that,
in November of 2002, I published a paper focusing upon both of these issues
and spoke about them on several radio programs. The paper quietly made
its way through Washington, D.C., and then around the world.
-
- The paper detailed the "revolving door" in
Washington, D.C., an apparent turnstile between private industries and
the United States government. Through this invisible door, industry managers
pass directly into the very agencies that govern industry - the government's
food, drug, agricultural and chemical regulatory departments - in order
to influence regulations or speed the approval of their company's products.
The paper, "Let Them Eat Anything," showed this unholy alliance,
the conflict of interest that has contributed to a mounting epidemic of
health problems in the United States. (1)
-
- I expected the paper to provoke comments, but I did not
expect it to result in my being contacted by a nutrition expert who had
worked in the USDA. She called to thank me for writing the paper. Incredibly,
because light was the topic of my previous book detailing a personal Near
Death Experience and ongoing, unexplained encounters with light phenomena,
in an example of incomparable synchronicity, the name of the former USDA
expert who contacted me was Luise Light.
-
- I read the first email I received from Luise Light with
a sense of astonishment. Luise had been the former team leader and Special
Nutrition Assistant to USDA's Carol Tucker Foreman - who is described as
"a prominent food safety advocate" by Eric Schlosser in his best-selling
book, Fast Food Nation.
-
- From her personal experience, Dr. Light confirmed not
only the revolving door I had described in my paper, but in addition, the
corruption within the "government" taking place just on the other
side of that door. Here, from an eyewitness, came the truth that individuals
representing corporations are not only holding key government positions,
they have also been determining which studies are done, who receives grants,
and they have been "adjusting" the reports in order to create
a false sense of security about their favored products and services.
-
- With the promise of corporate gain and personal profit,
the industry "representatives" have been making important decisions
affecting all of us profoundly. For the most part, the general public has
been unaware of this partnership between private business and our publicly
funded federal government.
-
- Of special interest to Luise was what I had presented
as the "absurd American food pyramid" - a dietary guide that
first came out in the 1980s, and in which our "government" recommended
starch as the foundation of our diet. This was of particular interest to
Luise because, as I read in awe, it was she and her team of nutrition experts
who had created the concept of the food pyramid - but with a very major
twist. The real food pyramid, Luise wrote, was completely different from
the "adjusted" pyramid that was distributed to an unsuspecting
American public.
-
- The true pyramid that Luise and her team developed was
not absurd, at all. It did not have starch as the foundation. Instead,
it called for a base of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, with 5
to 9 servings daily. Whole grain cereals and grains were recommended in
amounts of 2 to 4 servings daily - with the smaller amount for females
and those with less active lifestyles. The real pyramid that Luise and
her team created placed baked goods, crackers, sweets and other low-nutrient
foods up with the sugars and fats at the top of the pyramid, where they
were recommended only as occasional treats.
-
- "But what happened?" Luise wrote, stating that
there had been a deliberate, unexplained switch made at the political level
that completely distorted the pyramid - which is the subject of her forthcoming
book, Ketchup is Not a Vegetable; Sane Eating in a Toxic Food World.
-
- "Instead of fruits and vegetables making up the
base of the diet," she wrote, "the cereals and wheat products
were made the base of the pyramid, and the recommendation [for starchy
foods] was no longer 2 to 4 as we had determined but switched 6 to 11 servings!
We couldn't believe it! What possible rationale could there be for such
an unprecedented and unjustified switch? In fact the health consequences
of encouraging the public to eat so much refined grain, which the body
processes like sugar, was frightening! But our exhortations to the political
heads of the agency fell on deaf ears. The new food guide, replacing the
'Basic Four,' would be a promotional tool to get the public to buy and
consume more calories, sugar and starch." Ultimately, this would result
in a poorer quality diet.
-
- What was given to the public in the 1980s was a pyramid
with a foundation based (in more ways than one) on dough. And the American
people - with full and innocent trust in the health advice given to them
by the government - then attempted to follow the new health-based plan.
The result would be profit and gain for some, and the torments of ill health
and weight gain for countless others.
-
- As Americans complied with the new dietary suggestions,
within a few years the results of this unsuspecting compliance began to
surface.
-
- According to studies and charts provided by the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC), during the years 1988 to 2000 the percentage
of children and teens suffering from obesity more than doubled. During
those same years, the CDC reported that the prevalence of adults suffering
from overweight and obesity rose steadily to 64%. In 2001, the second most
frequently prescribed drug sold in America was a synthetic hormone drug,
indicating a vast number of individuals were now suffering from thyroid
malfunction. Tied in with the overweight and obesity problems resulting
from thyroid malfunction are a host of additional, potentially deadly afflictions
suggesting that "overweight" might be only a symptom rather than
a diagnosis - it is actually only one of the more visible clues that something
is not right, that something is out of kilter. (2, 3, 4)
-
- According to the CDC, between the years 1980 and 1994
the overall incidence of asthma increased 75%. Since 1991, the number of
US adults with diagnosed diabetes has increased 61%, and the number is
projected to more than double by the year 2050. (5, 6)
-
- An article in the New England Journal of Medicine stated
that the incidence of gastric/esophageal cancer (adenocarcinoma) has inexplicably
risen more rapidly than any other cancer incidence in the United States.
Yale New Haven Hospital and the National Cancer Institute list that rate
of increase at 350%. Also noted was the observation that the majority of
the unfortunates suffering from gastric cancer in this particular study
were white males, and the majority of those white males first presented
with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Adult white males were not
the only ones suffering from GERD, however. By the CDC's own definition
of "epidemic," GERD appears to be an epidemic of staggering proportions
in the United States, today. (7)
-
- The motto of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
is "Safer, Healthier People." The CDC mission statement is, "To
promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease,
injury, and disability." Yet, when I contacted the CDC because I was
having difficulty in locating their statistical reports on the increasing
prevalence of GERD, the response I received was, "CDC does not have
activities related to GERD."
-
- With CDC unable to supply statistics on this epidemic,
it was necessary to look elsewhere. A reasonable idea of prevalence and
trends could be obtained by "following the money" and looking
at pharmaceutical marketing data.
-
- What was found was stunning, and it suggested that medicine
focused on the treatment of chronic symptoms results in a dependency on
chronic treatment. People struggling for relief and a chance to live normal
lives become dependent on the pharmaceutical industry for relief. If they
can pay the price, they will be served.
-
- Americans are apparently now paying the price because
the marketing information indicates this country is now considered "the
world leader" in the overall consumption of pharmaceutical products.
-
- By following records of drug sales, one can follow the
trend of GERD, and America once again has somehow become a "world
leader," this time in the prevalence of caustic heartburn in its citizenry.
-
- Beginning in 1997, the top-selling prescription drug
being purchased by Americans was a pharmaceutical preparation that promised
relief from ulcers, GERD and other conditions related to excessive, corrosive
acid in the stomach and esophagus. In 1998, 1999 and 2000, that acid-relief
drug remained the number one prescribed drug in the country.
-
- An editorial that appeared in the March 18, 1999 issue
of the New England Journal of Medicine, (Volume 340:878-879, Number 11),
by Sidney Cohen, M.D. and Henry P. Parkman, M.D. noted, "It is ironic
that the incidence of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus has increased dramatically
in the very period in which highly effective therapies have provided symptomatic
relief and mucosal healing."
-
- Indeed.
-
- In treating the symptoms of GERD, are we silencing true
"gut instinct?" Are we silencing a divinely designed warning
system that is trying to tell us we are ingesting something toxic, corrosive
and dangerous? Are we silencing with drugs a signal that is warning us
we must stop ingesting a toxic substance before it kills us?
-
- It was not until 2001, that the most popularly prescribed
drug was overtaken by drugs being purchased by Americans seeking relief
from something else tormenting them within. In 2001, Americans were spending
their money in an attempt to seek relief from personal and profound depression
- another symptom that, along with weight problems, is known to occur as
a result of thyroid malfunction. It was another signal telling us that
something was affecting not only our bodies, but our minds and emotions.
-
- While this surge in both corrosive gastric disorders
and mental anguish was easily dismissed as the price to pay for "the
daily stress of life," the same theory cannot be used to explain away
the surge in rates of mental torment and GERD now afflicting infants and
children.
-
- During the five-year period ending in 2001, the sale
of drugs prescribed to treat reflux, heartburn and other gastrointestinal
disorders in children soared 660 percent. In a report looking at four of
those same years, the cost of treating behavioral problems presently referred
to as ADHD in children also increased 120 percent. (8, 9)
-
- According to an annual report of the US Department of
Education to Congress, the number of "children aged 0 to 21"
being treated for autism and traumatic brain injury rose from the first
5,000 reported cases in 1992/93 (at the start of mandatory reporting),
to 94,000 cases in 2000/01. In looking at individual states, a troubling
mosaic forms. States showing the highest increase (a two thousand percent
increase or greater) in the number of children being treated for autism
include Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, Maryland and Oregon. This
is not to say that the other states were faring well - in California from
1987 through 2002, the number of people being treated for autism by the
Department of Developmental Services increased by 634%. In Indiana the
percentage of children suffering from autism rose by 860%. In Michigan,
the increase was over 1000%. The 1999 Journal of Pediatrics indicated that
the majority of autistic children who were followed in one study were also
suffering from reflux and other digestive problems. (10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15)
-
- Unfortunately, it appears that little boys are far more
likely than little girls to suffer from autism as well as from a variety
of childhood behavioral disorders. Typically, even as infants these boys
also appear to be suffering from reflux and sleep disturbances. It is while
noting the surge in ADHD that another disturbing fact emerges: Some of
the states with the worst surges in behavioral problems - including Colorado,
Kentucky, Mississippi, Alaska and Oregon - are also states in which still-unexplained
behavior in juvenile males has manifested in horrific school shootings.
-
- While the brain and its workings are still not fully
understood, it is within the frontal lobes of the brain that the capacities
for moral judgment, attention and memory are now thought to be situated.
PET scans and functional MRIs of the boys afflicted with autistic disorders
have revealed what appears to be "decreased glucose metabolic rate
in the medial frontal region,"and "hypometabolism [lowered metabolism]
demonstrated in the temporal and parietal regions." (16)
-
- Tests have also indicated that, in the brains of the
afflicted boys there is a "decreased activity and reduced anatomical
size, particularly in the right brain . . . " Other brain disturbances,
including disturbances in the brain's processing of tryptophan, serotonin
and melatonin are becoming known, as is damage to the hippocampus area,
thought to be associated with memory problems and obsessive thoughts. (17)
-
- Pharmaceuticals such as methylphenidate, now in popular
use, stimulate the frontal lobes in order to heighten the brain's ability
to filter out noncritical parts of the daily barrage of stimuli. This pharmaceutical
appears to at least temporarily improve the behavioral symptoms of agitation,
hyperactivity and inattention in children whose brains are otherwise unable
to filter stimuli on their own.
-
- While stimulants might improve outward symptoms, though,
research now indicates that within the right brain, most notably within
the right temporal lobe and hippocampus regions, there exists an extremely
unusual area of neuroreceptors and transmitters. It is this area of the
brain that is believed to be the connection between the human individual
and the still unexplained realm of the mystical and the divine - the realm
of divinely perceived Light. For this reason, this area of the brain is
now being referred to by some researchers as the "God Spot"-
what might be our most important connection of all.
-
- Despite the fact that this extraordinary realm of Light
is largely bypassed as noncritical by the majority of researchers, many
individuals have now described numerous, similar experiences with the Light,
indicating such experience is not as uncommon as orthodox science has assumed.
In examining some of the oldest texts in human history, it is apparent
that interactions with Beings of Light have, since the earliest of times,
been the most cherished and desired of all human experiences. Writings
from ancient Egypt describe journeys into the Light and contact with beings
and messengers. "Manna," was the expression voiced by startled
Egyptians on seeing the living entities emerging from the light. "Manna,"
meant, "what is this?"
-
- We can judge from the unprecedented volume of prescriptions
for psychiatric drugs that something is having a profoundly depressing
influence upon the human mind at this time. Something is happening within
our brains that is manifesting as anxiety, depression and impaired cognitive
abilities - this much we know. Because adequate research of the God-Spot
is not an "approved" field of study, however, we have no scientific
reports warning us if the God connection in the brain is also being damaged
at this time. Again, we have only outward signs to observe - signals indicating
something is blocking our access to the most important light of our lives,
and symptoms that speak to a growing angst, darkness and the loneliness
of godlessness.
-
- Researchers who dare to study this area of human experience,
do so facing professional humiliation from peers, although such research
may actually be critical to the well-being of humanity. Those who guard
the borders of acceptable research are often quite skeptical or disapproving
of what they contend is mere "paranormal" speculation, and for
this reason, that area of study has been largely avoided by professionals
and researchers.
-
- Melvin Morse, M.D., pediatrician and author of Closer
to the Light, is one of very few professionals who has dared to explore
this uncharted territory. In summing up this unfortunate situation of acceptable
study versus study that is dismissed as paranormal, he writes, "This
lack of a theoretical scientific model to allow interaction with an interconnected
universe has led to a 100 year 'skeptic' versus 'believer' debate which
has not advanced our understanding of human consciousness." (18, 19,
20)
-
- Although our increasing inability to perceive the divine
and understand the full extent of our human capabilities remains largely
ignored by those discrediting or rejecting "paranormal" research,
the growing epidemic of anxiety, depression and overwhelming despair in
this country's children deserves the attention of all of us. It should
be considered a national emergency, and a national tragedy.
-
- In Colorado, the rate of suicide among teenagers, children
and young adults has been consistently above the national average since
1980. Suicide is, sadly, the second-leading cause of death in children
between the ages of 10 through 19 in Colorado. In Kentucky, suicide is
also the second leading cause of death in children, teens and young adults.
In Mississippi, the number of teen and young-adult suicides has increased
126% since 1969, with more than 90% of the victims being males. In Alaska,
the suicide rate among teenagers is nearly twice that of the national average
- twice. (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
- Other strange surges in human suffering have been noted,
as well. In Colorado, from 1990 through 1999, the percentage of children
with orthopedic impairments rose 484%. In Alaska, during 1990-98, the incidence
of diabetes increased by 152%, (much greater than the national rate), and
now Alaska is among the top three states with the highest incidence of
squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. (25, 26)
-
- In the midst of all this growing and tragic suffering,
in the year 2000 the Surgeon General issued a "first ever" call
to action in response to what was noted as a "silent epidemic"
of dental problems in the United States. Something strange is happening
in the mouths of Americans. (27)
-
- According to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial
Research, an estimated 80% of American adults currently have some form
of periodontal (gum) disease. In parts of Kentucky, nearly half of the
toddlers have cavities in their teeth, which is approximately twice the
national average. In addition to Kentucky, the top five states cited in
a 1997 table used in the Surgeon General's report on toothlessness included
West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Maine. (28, 29, 30)
-
- Perhaps it is at this point that one might begin to reasonably
suspect that whatever lies at the cause of this epidemic of epidemics -
whatever is disabling Americans in body, mind and spirit - just might be
something we are putting into our mouths or otherwise absorbing into our
bodies. This is not an unreasonable suspicion.
-
- Given the avalanche of starch that is now figuratively
suffocating us and literally fattening us, given the strange new bioengineered
oddities now secretly passing as food in America, given the relatively
new insertion of soy compounds in seemingly infinite forms and aliases
into nearly every packaged, jarred and canned food on the grocery shelves
- given the chemicals, the mandatory cocktails of highly questionable and
extremely toxic vaccines all being inserted into the American population
- it does not appear at all unreasonable to think that what is wrong with
our health and well-being might have something to do with what we are taking
in with mouths, skin and lungs.
-
- It does not appear to be at all unreasonable to suspect
that our new status as world leader in pursuit of relief-seeking drugs
has a cause, and that cause just might be something unnatural that is entering
our bodies en masse.
-
- The list of possible suspected toxins, though lengthy,
can be shortened by a deductive process. Not all of us consume soy - some
avoid it by preference, others because of allergies, and still others avoid
it who have been alerted to questions raised by research about its safety.
Not all parents permit their children to take the vaccines mandated by
government. A significant number of Americans avoid bioengineered food
by purchasing organic, GE-free products, and still others have cut large
amounts of starch from their diets in order to maintain proper weight and
health. Not all of us have similar lifestyles that might be blamed as the
cause for physical distress, mental despair, stress, cognitive malfunctions
and uncompassionate apathy now upon us.
-
- The toxic suspect is unlikely to be an elective, avoidable
substance. More likely the toxin is in something that we all consume because
we need it, like flowers need the rain. It might be something undetectable
at first - something that we willingly ingest without knowing it. It would
be a toxin that could be added into virtually every food and beverage,
with no mention of it required on the labels.
-
- The substance would also be now causing problems in a
bizarre geographical manner. As though it were seemingly able to sense
invisible county boundary lines, it would be a toxin that is leaving a
trail which jumps from county to county, state to state, missing some counties
and entire states while hitting other counties and states particularly
hard.
-
- The search is for a substance that can be absorbed through
the skin and lungs as well as by swallowing it. Undetectable to us except
by scientific measuring, it is a substance that does its work quietly and
in extremely low doses. Working at a molecular level, it would cause a
gradual onset of disease and disability observable only after the slow
passage of years. It is then, after that slow, slow passage of years, that
an epidemic of epidemics would be noticed while its cause long forgotten
in the mists of time.
-
- After a process of elimination, the substance that meets
all of the criteria and stands alone in the crosshairs of our search is
a substance that does not appear to be suspect. In fact, it raises no suspicions
in most of us, whatsoever, because most of us are unaware of the research
pertaining to this substance.
-
- It is a substance that, according to government reports,
has been known since 1930 to have such a powerful effect upon thyroid function,
it has been used in prescription medications to treat hyperthyroidism (overactive
thyroid). It can, therefore, along with our pyramid of dough, be reasonably
marked as a suspicious agent contributing to the current epidemic of obesity
and thyroid problems. (31, 32, 33, 34)
-
- It is a substance that has also long been known to cause
or exacerbate the exact periodontal disease resulting in the tooth loss
that has caught the attention of the Surgeon General. In addition to being
a causative agent in periodontal disease, it is a substance that is known
to accumulate in the teeth and bones creating brittleness, and for this
reason it has also been associated with osteoporosis and other bone diseases
and disorders that are also now being seen in America.
-
- The mysterious substance is so corrosive, when added
to water it will eat its way through a titanium container. Since it will
eat its way through titanium, perhaps it should not come as a great surprise
to learn that it is also known to act as a severe corrosive agent on human
gastric and mucosal tissues. (35, 36, 37, 38)
-
- As Americans' afflictions continue to unfold unlike anything
else that humanity has known and brought upon itself, we also learn that
the material, once thought unable to cross the blood-brain barrier, crosses
it rather well. It also concentrates in the pineal gland that is located
within the brain. (39, 40, 41, 42)
-
- Any agent that passes through the brain can be expected
to affect behavior, mood and cognitive function, and this substance has
been repeatedly shown to create a depressing, numbing effect.
-
- As early as 1954 this substance was reported by George
L. Waldbott, M.D., to cause his patients to become "incoherent, drowsy,
lethargic and forgetful." His reports are not isolated. Government
reports indicate similar findings of "impaired cognition and memory."
So well-known is the impact of this chemical on the human brain and mental
function, it continues to be incorporated in and sold in a variety of popular,
well-known psychiatric drugs. (43, 44, 45)
-
- Given the existing reports of this substance's presence
within the brain - including its effects on the right temporal lobe, hippocampus
and the pineal gland - perhaps it should come as no wonder that a growing
number of people, children in particular, are now behaving strangely, unpredictably,
and sometimes very badly while also noting gross memory impairment after
ingesting or absorbing this substance.
-
- Reports also indicate that the substance is not as effectively
eliminated from the body in young males as it is in others. Thus retained
in the body, its effect upon juvenile males appears to be quite different
from its effect on females or even adult males. (46)
-
- Because of its known toxic side effects, this substance
requires a prescription when administered by medical professionals, but
in a bizarre and quite deadly paradox enabled by industry masterminds working
within the government, it can be administered en masse to the general public
by dealers who have no medical training whatsoever, no license to dispense
medications whatsoever, and who, in fact, have no idea to whom they are
administering this corrosive, toxic, mind-altering substance.
-
- Those who avoid non-prescribed pharmaceutical substances
might feel safe as a result of personal choices to refrain from unapproved
drugs and substances. We have dutifully repeated the "just say no
to drugs" mantra, and we have instructed our children to repeat the
same after us. We would not think of taking mind-altering drugs from a
dealer, and would never consider giving such a substance in unregulated
doses to our infants and children.
-
- However, we have been innocently doing just that. In
a growing number of geographical areas that begin and end with invisible
county lines, the substance is almost impossible to avoid. Some of the
hardest hit counties are located in Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan
and Mississippi.
-
- As the old saying goes, when no other agent can be located
as the cause for our problems, blame it on the water. "It must be
something in the water," the saying has been said for ages, usually
with a shrug and chuckle.
-
- Perhaps it's time for us as individuals and as a nation
to repeat this phrase again - this time as though our lives depended upon
it, this time without a shrug and chuckle - and while we are at it, take
a closer look at our water.
-
- Maybe there is something in the water, after all.
-
- * * * * * * * * *
-
- The strange, corrosive, toxic but still controversial
agent in the water is fluoride.
-
- The atomic symbol for the negatively charged halogen
known as fluorine is, simply, "F" or "F-." When the
negatively charged ions - or anions - of fluorine gas combine with another
element, a fluoride compound is formed. If the F combines with sodium (Na),
for instance, the compound would then be known as sodium fluoride, or NaF.
If it combines with calcium (Ca), the compound formed is calcium fluoride,
or CaF. If it combines with arsenic, it becomes AsF. And so on.
-
- Fluoride is a trace element in nature, but manmade fluoride
compounds became grossly abundant as a result of the invention of weapons
of mass destruction in World War II. Fluoride and uranium are key components
in the atomic bomb, and fluoride is also a key ingredient in fluorinated
organophosphate nerve agents, such as Sarin.
-
- Radioactive uranium is naturally present in phosphate
ore, but it must be "enriched" if it is to become a nuclear weapon
or a reactor fuel. After the phosphate is mined, the uranium "yellow
cake" is removed and sent to an enrichment facility such as the plant
owned by the Department of Energy in Paducah, Kentucky. There, the uranium
is fluorinated and uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is produced. Paducah's enrichment
plant stopped making UF6 for weapons in the 1960s, and began creating it,
instead, for commercial purposes as a reactor fuel.
-
- Uranium fission was first discovered in the late 1930s
by German scientists. In 1939, there was a reported fear that the Nazis
were about to develop a bomb using uranium fission. In 1942, Americans
began similar research, facilitated by the knowledge of scientists who
had fled their own countries and moved to the United States. Thus, America
was the first to achieve both creation - and use - of atomic weaponry in
1945.
-
- That year, 1945, was one of many changes. With World
War II over, 1945 marked the year in which the Nuremberg Trials began -
trials that presumably reaffirmed the sanctity of life, and human rights
- trials which would eventually address the atrocities of Nazi human experimentation.
-
- As the world breathed a sigh a relief in knowing that
the Nazi health officials' experimentation on human beings had been halted
in Germany, 1945 marked the year that "public health officials"
in America began their experimentation on human beings with water fluoridation.
-
- In what would turn out to be the biggest human experimentation
in history, sodium fluoride - NaF - was added into American's drinking
water in selected communities under the medical claim that the F would
prevent dental caries (cavities) in children. Those receiving this experimental,
medicinal treatment in their drinking water, received it then as they do
now: They are forced to ingest it, inhale it, bathe and shower in it, whether
or not they want or even need this toxic chemical in their bodies.
-
- As with all medicinal compounds - indeed, as with virtually
everything on Earth - some individuals can be expected to have extreme
side effects and allergic reactions. Individuals having severe allergic
reactions to penicillin, poison ivy or peanuts are very likely to use common
sense and avoid those substances. Unlike the penicillin, poison ivy or
peanuts, however - in fact, unlike any other medicinal compound in history
- over 60% of Americans at this time are now unable to electively avoid
the F product unless they also can find a way to avoid their water. While
the list of side effects from fluoride has been falsely minimized or completely
concealed by fluoride promoters, the side effects are well documented.
Side effects have been so severe that previously approved medications containing
high-grade F compounds have been removed from the market by the FDA. (47,
48, 49, 50, 51)
-
- In a recent paper authored by Myron Coplan, PE, and Roger
Masters, PhD, a professor at Dartmouth, the authors discovered that a subtle
but potentially lethal change in F additives took place shortly after the
fluoride experimentation on Americans began. In 1947 instead of higher-grade
NaF or sodium fluoride - silicofluorides, or SiFs, were substituted as
the fluorinating compound in drinking water. This switch was carried out
under the gross misconception that all F compounds are the same. As outlined
in some largely ignored research, however, one part of SiF is substantially
more potent than six parts of NaF. Despite this evidence, and despite the
fact that it is now SiF rather than NaF primarily being used in American
water fluoridation, Masters and Coplan found that "virtually all the
extensive laboratory research on the biological properties and effects
of fluoride in water has been performed using NaF rather than SiFs..."
(52)
-
- Merck gives the definition of silicofluoride as, "fluorosilicate
is a compound of silicon and some other base with fluorine, such as sodium
silicofluoride; fluorosilicates are sometimes used as insecticides, and
are very toxic when ingested. Called also silicofluoride." (53)
-
- While many are still assuming that the SiF compounds
being added to drinking water are high-grade pharmaceuticals, the CDC's
National Fluoridation Engineer has publicly stated that all fluoride compounds
currently used for water fluorination are "byproducts of the phosphate
fertilizer industry." (54)
-
- Because of the toxic nature of this compound, the SiF
being added to drinking water is an industrial waste that would otherwise
have to be disposed of by the industry that created it, and it would have
to be disposed of according to the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HAZMAT).
Disposal of toxic substances under hazmat regulations, however, results
in an expense for the industries.
-
- This costly disposal dilemma - and its clever marketing
remedy - was expertly summed up in a 1983 letter written by EPA's Rebecca
Hanmer, (formerly the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water), who stated
that by putting the SiF waste into drinking water rather than disposing
of it, an important financial savings is made for the industry. Miss Hanmer
wrote that this industrial plan is "...an ideal solution to a long
standing problem. By recovering by-product fluosilicic acid (sic) from
fertilizer manufacturing, water and air pollution are minimized, and water
authorities have a low-cost source of fluoride..." (55)
-
- Ongoing research by Dr. Roger Masters' team revealed
that the effect of SiF in young, growing boys differs from its effects
on adult males. In juvenile males, ingested fluoride is not excreted from
the body as efficiently as it is excreted from the body of adult males.
It is this finding that perhaps explains why this substance might be creating
an extreme reaction in boys. In addition, after comparing blood lead levels
of over 400,000 children in communities using SiF-treated water, it was
found that SiF water was also significantly associated with increased levels
of lead in the children tested. This should be cause for alarm because
the findings of other recent studies show a distinct correlation between
blood concentrations of lead and unusual, aggressive behavior. (56)
-
- Information published in 2003 detailed the findings of
a controlled study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers
found in this study that elevated amounts of lead in the blood "may
cause aggressive and even violent behavior." Dr. John D. Bogden, Professor
of Preventive Medicine and Community Health participated in this study
at the New Jersey Medical School. He stated, "The data of this study
demonstrate that lead exposure enhances predatory aggression in animals,
and provide support for lead exposure as a cause of aggressive behavior
in humans." Among other researchers also participating in this study
was Dr. Donald B. Louria, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Preventive
Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Louria stated, "The results support
other recent investigations that have found associations between lead in
blood or bones and delinquent and aggressive behavior in teenagers."
(57)
-
- In seeking further documented evidence regarding aggressive
behavior and its association with SiF water, Dr. Masters contacted personnel
in the EPA in 2000 and asked them if they had empirical, scientific data
on the effects of SiFs on health and behavior. Robert Thurnau, Chief, Water
Supply and Water Resources Division of the EPA responded. ". . . our
answer is no." (58)
-
- In spite of the increasing evidence pointing directly
to a potential calamity stemming from massive fluoride poisoning, there
remain outspoken groups that continue to advocate the blanket dosing of
entire communities with still-untested, unapproved fluoridation. Among
them is a group known as "Quackwatch."
-
- Quackwatch is chaired by retired psychiatrist, Stephen
Barrett, M.D. He and the Quackwatch associates have gathered together for
the purpose of acting as both watchdog and instructor for the gullible,
unlettered public. The group has apparently done some substantial instructing,
because it claims to be one of the three most popular medical websites
on the entire internet. Dr. also serves as a Fellow of the "Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal."
-
- Quackwatch uses an FDA quotation to describe what, exactly,
quackery or health fraud is, and it also provides the public with guidelines
to help us more easily identify the "quacks" among us. According
to Quackwatch, "The FDA defines health fraud as 'the promotion, for
profit, of a medical remedy known to be false or unproven.'"
-
- In reading through the reports published on Quackwatch,
one will read claims that opponents to fluoridation have no supporting
evidence to back their opposition to fluoridation. In fact, the only suspicions
regarding F that seem to be embraced by Quackwatch are suspicions raised
about individuals who oppose or question fluoridation. In one report that
appears on Quackwatch, "Community Water Fluoridation in America: The
Unprincipled Opposition," Michael Easley, DDS, another outspoken promoter
of fluoride, refers to fluoridation opponents as "health quacks,"
and quotes from a 1983 paper which likens fluoride opponents to "parasites"
who "steal undeserved credibility just by sharing the stage with respected
scientists," all of whom (we are apparently to believe) are pro-fluoridation.
(59, 60)
-
- Quackwatch warns that one of the tactics of an "anti"
(an opponent to the mass fluoridation of drinking water), is to use tactics
based upon "those of Hitler," and to state that fluoride is the
cause of an entire laundry list of problems. Quackwatch is correct about
the laundry list. This is not a "tactic," however. It is a mere
statement of facts.
-
- Those who have dared to ask a few questions in spite
of the potential risk of public humiliation by Quackwatch and other fluoridation
promoters, have discovered information that flatly contradicts the information
being generated by the promoters.
-
- In a journal found in the National Library of Medicine,
studies have shown that in doses as low as 3 mg per day, fluoride has produced
toxic effects on male reproductive hormones. Despite what Americans are
being told by fluoridation promoters, the negative effects of F upon both
body and mind have not only been discovered, but they have also been duly
reported, albeit in areas and texts that most Americans - including professionals
- do not regularly access, subscribe to or read. (61, 62, 63, 64)
-
- Perhaps the most amazing fact of all discovered by those
daring to ask questions, is the fact that the F compound being added into
our drinking water under a promised, medicinal claim, has not ever been
approved by the FDA.
-
- Representative Glenn Donnelson of Utah summed this fact
up during the winter, 2003, National Conference of State Legislatures.
When asked about fluoride he stated, "A major concern is that the
Food and Drug Administration has never approved fluoride for safety or
effectiveness . . . When a product, substance or chemical is added to the
public water supply for the purposes of treating or preventing a disease,
that chemical must have an approved health claim by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. To say that 'fluoridated water will decrease tooth decay'
is an illegal health claim." (65)
-
- Amid the Quackwatch reports, is a report reprinted from
the 2002 FDA Consumer magazine focusing on the Surgeon General's "silent
epidemic" of oral/dental problems, previously mentioned above. The
article is named, "Fighting Gum Disease: How to Keep Your Teeth."
The paper focuses on "Americans' bad oral health," and on the
high incidence of gum disease in the US. A portion of this scientific paper,
however, reads suspiciously like a product promotion and endorsement. It
is in that particular area of this paper on "how to keep your teeth,"
that the inevitable endorsement of a fluoride product is made. (66)
-
- A more realistic paper focusing on "Fighting Gum
Disease: How to Keep Your Teeth," might have actually contained a
warning about fluoride.
-
- According to a patent application that can be located
through the US Patent and Trademark Office, the following statement was
given as supporting evidence by researchers applying for patent #636150,
filed on April 22, 1996: "We have found that fluoride, in the concentration
range in which it is employed for the prevention of dental caries, stimulates
the production of prostaglandins and thereby exacerbates the inflammatory
response in gingivitis and periodontitis." The claim for which these
researchers were seeking a patent was, "A method for preventing dental
caries and at the same time controlling periodontal bone loss precipitated
by the fluoride..."
-
- Could it possibly be that fluoride does not belong on
the list of the "Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the Twentieth
Century," as is claimed by the CDC and seconded by popular fluoride
promoters such as Quackwatch?
-
- Is it possible that along with the "adjusted"
reports that have been given to the public from the USDA as well as from
the EPA (as has recently been charged by angered EPA scientists), that
individuals in the CDC, the FDA and those crying foul and quack in the
private sector might be giving us - albeit with great authoritarian bluster
- more inaccurate information in order to promote and market this product?
-
- Most of the dental problems in the Surgeon General's
report are broken down according to race, income and educational levels
in the government's apparent attempt to find a reason behind the appalling
increase in gum disease. It is in the midst of this data that the following
lament is made: ". . . about 40 percent of the public does not receive
the benefits of community water fluoridation." Because the mention
of "fluoride-deficient" communities is listed in this report,
one might reasonably draw a conclusion that fluoridated drinking water
must be working wonders for those more fortunate folks in the fluoridated
counties. Certainly, the five states mentioned on the Surgeon General's
list as having the worst toothlessness problems - Kentucky, West Virginia,
Arkansas, Louisiana and Maine - must be five of the most embarrassingly
"fluoride-deficient" states in the entire United States. (67)
-
- A brief review of a state-by-state CDC score card of
"optimally fluoridated" communities reveals just the opposite.
-
- Predictably, and in keeping with research that reveals
fluoride causes gum disease, the two states with the worst edentulous problems
in the country - Kentucky and West Virginia - were 96% and 87% "optimally
fluoridated" in 2000. In fact, Kentucky, which was mentioned earlier
above as also having twice the rate of cavities in toddlers as the national
average, was actually 100% fluoridated in 1992.
-
- Among the other top five states of now-toothless-Americans,
Maine was 75% fluoridated, Arkansas was about 60% fluoridated and over
53% of Louisiana's residents were being "optimally fluoridated"
via hazmat waste in their drinking water. (68)
-
- Adding to the overall contradictory statistics is yet
another report, this one a 2001-02 "report card" issued by a
fluoride-promoting group calling itself "Oral Health America"
(OHA). They gave the United States an oral health grade of only "C,"
a grade that was in part lowered because each state not "optimally
fluoridated" automatically received one "F"to be figured
into their grade. According to OHA's data, there were only four states
that actually received a better grade than the national average of C. Two
of those four states that received the highest grades in America for overall
oral health were Utah and Hawaii. Both Utah and Hawaii received a B minus.
-
- Utah and Hawaii, however, are the two "hold-out"
states in America. Both states have been roundly rejecting water fluoridation
for some time. (69)
-
- Once again, the list of areas being "optimally fluoridated"
or "fluoride deficient" pertains only to fluoridation of drinking
water. There is no mention of the other sources of fluoride pollution in
America. Among the other sources are ongoing fluoride contamination of
the air and environment by Superfund sites, fluoride contamination in animal
feeds, pesticides, cigarette smoke, coal combustion, in fertilizers being
incorporated into soils, the fluoride that is contained in plastics and
in nonstick cookware, the fluoride contamination of human foods as well
as canned/bottled juices, soft drinks and other beverages, and the fluoride
that is added to an overwhelming number of pharmaceutical products, including
antibiotics, steroids, molecular imaging tracking agents, anesthetics,
vitamins and antidepressants.
-
- As though even more fluoride were somehow needed by a
nation that is clearly already overdosed, the list also does not include
one of the most highly concentrated sources of fluoride that is purchased
by most Americans and used daily: Conventional toothpastes. Most toothpastes
have a fluoride content that is so potentially lethal, a poison warning
must be displayed on their labels. In what must be the most bizarre examples
of conflicting and confusing in formation, while "public health officials"
in many states are using words such as "enforcement" when it
comes to keeping fluoride in people's drinking water, the notice on the
toothpaste tubes warns specifically against the ingestion of the fluoride
product. The government's Medline encyclopedia gives the following prognosis
following an ingested toothpaste overdose: "For fluoridated toothpastes
-- If the patient survives for 48 hours, recovery is usually likely."
(70)
-
- Amid the confusion, one might wonder why topical fluoride
dental products would even be necessary when the fluoridation of drinking
water is now being enforced in so many communities. The answer to this
question can be found in statements from the CDC and other fluoride promoters:
Ingested fluoride only affects teeth prior to tooth eruption. According
to the CDC, after the tooth has erupted from the gums in toddlers and children,
ingested fluoride no longer affects the tooth. (71, 72)
-
- There are only preliminary estimates available regarding
how much F is absorbed through the skin and lungs even though over half
of all Americans now have no choice but to stand naked in their showers
and be completely contaminated by F water - and then pay for it in their
utility bill. Estimates suggest that dermal and pulmonary absorption of
F are far more efficient routes than ingestion by mouth, as was demonstrated
over a half century ago by the Nazis during their experimentation with
lethal, fluorinated nerve gases.
-
- It is perhaps of interest to note that while Quackwatch
includes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its list of "Reliable
Agencies and Organizations," several important pieces of literature
pertaining to F and published by EPA Headquarters Union of Scientists have
either escaped the Quackwatch notice or have simply been ignored.
-
- It appears that a number of scientists in the EPA have
also been able to uncover existing information that documents the dangers
of F. In fact, some of the scientists of the EPA have been issuing warnings
about the dangers of fluoride in our drinking water for over ten years,
but - again - reports that do not further the sale of this product have
been seriously "adjusted" by overseers occupying jobs within
the government. Only after being adjusted are the reports then given to
the unsuspecting public. In other cases, the scientists' warnings appear
to be completely ignored by major news media, as well as by some of the
more popular medical sites that profess to keep Americans informed.
-
- One statement prepared by J. William Hirzy, Ph.D. of
the EPA Headquarters Union of scientists, summarizes the stand of approximately
1500 scientists and professionals in Washington, D.C. "... our opposition
to drinking water fluoridation has grown, based on the scientific literature
documenting the increasingly out-of-control exposures to fluoride, the
lack of benefit to dental health from ingestion of fluoride and the hazards
to human health from such ingestion. These hazards include acute toxic
hazard, such as to people with impaired kidney function, as well as chronic
toxic hazards of gene mutations, cancer, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity,
bone pathology and dental fluorosis." In another statement issued
before the Subcommittee on Drinking Water in D.C., Dr. Hirzy urged an immediate
moratorium on water fluoridation, citing among other possible links, the
growing psychological problems children are now suffering. (73, 74)
-
- While research on the destructive role that F is playing
in the human body continues to unfold, a much earlier clue regarding the
toxic effects of cellular message disruption was given years ago in an
old book written by Adelle Davis, Let's Get Well. (Ms. Davis, who was suspicious
of fluoride, was posthumously inducted into the lengthy Quackwatch list
of Quacks for misinforming the public.)
-
- Although she was not writing about fluoride when she
mentioned the words "xanthurenic acid" in that old book - she
was writing about diabetes - both xanthurenic acid and diabetes fit well
into any study of fluoride and America's health problems.
-
- Referencing research done in the 1950s, on page 94 Ms.
Davis wrote: "When too little vitamin B6 (pyridoxin) is obtained,
an essential amino acid from complete proteins, tryptophane, is not used
normally; instead it is changed into a substance known as xanthurenic acid.
If animals are deficient in B6, xanthurenic acid in the blood becomes so
high that it damages the pancreas within 48 hours and diabetes is produced."
-
- On the next page, she stated that magnesium plays an
important partnership role with B6 by decreasing the need for B6. A more
recent study shows that a magnesium deficiency impairs B6 status by inhibiting
the uptake of B6 in the tissues. On page 342, Adelle Davis stated that
many foods grown in America today using chemical fertilizers are deficient
in magnesium content. (75)
-
- These are important statements in that old book, as they
clearly demonstrate that the need for appropriate nutrition as well as
the devastating effects of an improper diet were well-known by researchers
in the 1950s - long before adjusters gave us our pyramid of dough. Information
available through the CDC also states that a poor diet - something that
is now quite easy to come-by in the United States - can lead to a depletion
of B6. (76)
-
- In order to better understand what, exactly, xanthurenic
acid is, and how important each small piece of the puzzle is, one must
look at the symphonic workings of the nerves, chemicals, proteins and hormones
that are receiving and transmitting messages in the brain and throughout
the body each moment of every day of our lives. It is the very ability
of the receptors and transmitters to give and receive their accurate messages
that creates the symphony that is the song of life.
-
- Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that must be obtained
through a proper, balanced diet. The tryptophan is then further dependent
upon - and influenced by - other nutrients and messages for its destined
work in the body.
-
- If the tryptophan is not able to metabolize in the brain
because of missing nutrients or due to incorrect messaging, the tryptophan
degrades into xanthurenic acid, a toxin that causes cells to self-destruct
in a cellular suicidal action called "apoptosis." All of the
B complex vitamins are essential for proper cellular messaging, but in
studying the specific roles of each of the B vitamins, a deficiency of
vitamin B6 has, indeed, been shown to lead to tryptophan degradation. What
little B6 that is gained from a poor diet can be further depleted by something
else as easy to come by in the US as a poor diet - stress. (77, 78, 79,
80)
-
- On the other hand, if all goes well and all nutrients
are present, instead of metabolizing into xanthurenic acid the tryptophan
will interact and then form serotonin, which is a powerful neurotransmitter.
Serotonin's molecular messaging role is so vast and important in the body,
it is sometimes referred to as the "serotonin system." It is
a key player in the regulation of mood and behavior. It also directly affects
the gastrointestinal tract, and low levels are being found in the development
of heart disease. Serotonin is also thought to play a regulatory role in
insulin production, and a disruption of serotonin levels has also been
found to worsen the behavior in some autism cases. (81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
-
- In a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal, the
point is made that, "Evidence is mounting that abnormalities of serotonin
metabolism play an important role in individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Whole-blood serotonin often is elevated in children with autistic disorder
and normal intelligence. Also, in boys with autistic disorder, serotonin
synthesis typically is decreased in the frontal region and thalamus on
one side of the brain and increased in the dentate nucleus of the opposite
cerebellum." (86)
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