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FLUORINE/FLUORIDE
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Fluoride is a real 'hot potato' issue lately. Many municipalities are adding it to their drinking water, either with or without the consent of their residents.
Why is the addition of fluoride such a controversial subject? What is fluoride? Why the distinction between fluoride and fluorine? And what are each of these good for?
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Fluorine is a naturally occurring gas with an atomic weight of 19.0 and a specific gravity of 1.31. It does not combine readily with oxygen, but it does combine easily and naturally with calcium (calcium fluoride). This is why it is so important in maintaining the integrity of bones and tooth enamel.
Fluorine is also important for healthy hair and nails and reinforces the blood vessels. The body has an amazingly small amount of fluorine ( 3 to 4 ounces ). Fluorine is a natural disinfectant, but it is not invincible. Certain diseases (mumps, tuberculosis, syphilis, and vaccines) can destroy fluorine. Aluminum salts also destroy it. The most obvious deficiency symptom is dental caries. It must be remembered that if the diet is rotten (ie. processed foods, sugar, etc.) no amount of fluorine will prevent cavities. Dr. Jensen cites several other symptoms of fluorine deficiency as being difficulty thinking, hallucinations, disorganization, slow healing fractures, partial or total blindness, swollen and granular eyelids, clammy and puffy or scaly skin, nervous stress, hair falling out, fondness for fatty foods, and catarrh and pus development.
Natural sources of fluorine include seafood, sunflower seeds, oats, garlic, gelatin, potatoes, apples, spinach, kale, wheat germ, soybeans, grapefruit, brown rice, beef, beef liver, chicken, eggs, corn, avocados, black-eyed peas, brussels sprouts, cabbage, caraway seed, cauliflower, raw cheese, dates, endive, garlic, goat milk and whey, mother's milk, sea cabbage, sea lettuce, tomatoes.
Herbal sources of fluorine include alfalfa, black walnut, hops, kelp, juniper berries, licorice, and parsley.
Fluoride, on the other hand, is a chemical waste product (sodium fluoride). It can cause problems with vitamin metabolism, calcium utilization, discoloration of teeth, liver and kidney damage, and damage to the central nervous system and the heart. Fluoride has also been shown to cause calcification of soft tissues in the body and such things as brittle bones that break easily. And while adding fluoride to the water sounds good for the prevention of dental caries, many states have found that fluoridation made little or no difference in the prevalence of cavities, and had no impact on adult teeth.
Sodium fluoride in the drinking water does not make sense to me. It is usually added in quantities high enough to give and average person 1 mg of the element per day. Being healthfully minded, however, and drinking far more water than average people means that most of us will be getting far more of this element than is intended if our water is fluoridated. Also consider that no firm recommended daily allowance has been determined. A 1979 recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition recommended an allowance of 25 parts per million for children from 2 weeks to 2 years of age. This recommendation parallels the one made by the Council of Dental Therapeutics of the American Dental Association in 1977. So, if you have a young child who drinks a fair amount of fluoridated water or who drinks formula that has been reconstituted with fluoridated water he may be getting more fluoride than even the professionals recommend.
That fluoride is possibly dangerous is not even open for debate. When I was in the waiting room of a city run dental clinic (it also happened to be the waiting room for the well baby clinic from which fluoride drops are dispensed) I overheard the dispensing nurse instruct a mother that the number of drops of fluoride recommended for her infant had been cut in half. No further explanation was given, and the mother did not question why the reduction was recommended. I had to wonder what the 'system' was hiding about the safety and/or efficacy of fluoride drops.
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Bibliography
Davis, Adelle. Let's Get Well. Signet, New York, 1987.
Davis, Adelle. Let's Have Healthy Children. Signet, Scarborough, Ont., 1981.
Donsbach, Kurt, W., Super Health. International Institute of Natural Health Sciences, Inc., Huntington Beach, Ca., 1983.
Jensen, Bernard. The Chemistry of Man. Bernard Jensen, Escondido, Ca. 1983.
Keith, Velma, & Gordon, Monteen. The How to Herb Book. Mayfield Publishing, Pleasant Grove, Ut., 1986.
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