Harvard: Fluoride Safety

[Perry]

I had thought the anti-fluoride people were nuts, but this is from Harvard. Curious to hear thoughts on this.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/featur ... jean-choi/

[phydeux]

I'd like to see what the fluoride concentrations were in waters where these studies were done. The article doesn't mention them, and I can't access the original report unless I fork over some $$$$. I know the concentrations in local drinking waters here in the USA/California are typically kept at around 0.5-1.0 mg/l, and toxicity starts showing effects with regular consumption of water with 10 mg/l in it. And the local water agencies vary the concentration they add (if they do) based on season, since people drink more water in the summer.

Here's a link to the 2014 averages for all treated chemicals in the water system run by the Palm Spring's area's 'water overlords', the DWA (its public info, they can't withold it and have to make it available to the public):

http://www.dwa.org/2014wqr/

And here's the MWD's water quality report:

http://www.mwdh2o.com/PDF_About_Your_Wa ... Report.pdf

Personally I'm not worried about it.

[Perry]

Thank you for giving a voice of reason to this topic. Sometimes I hate clicking around on Facebook. As Abraham Lincoln once said, it's hard to know what to believe on the Internet.

In the chart near the bottom, it looks like they don't even add fluoride. It's only what is naturally occurring or maybe a bit of fertilizer in the Colorado River. It looks like even Snow Creek has a tiny bit of fluoride from Mt. San Jacinto.

[phydeux]

The fluoride found in DWA's water/waters off of San Jacinto is probably leaching from the granite as the water filters down over and through it. The water probably picks up most of the other listed chemicals that way, too.

Here's one more water quality report. Its from Crystal Geyser, the bottled water company with a bottling plant off of Hwy 395 in Olancha (just south of Lone Pine. What's significant about bottled water is that, up until about two years ago, bottled water companies were not required to disclose the testing data for their water (or even if they did test it!). Also rememeber that Crystal Geyser's bottling plant takes water from Olancha Creek, which is a popular ascent route for Olancha Peak . . . . and the creekbed and it's drainage are frequented by cattle, too(!!!).

http://www.crystalgeyserasw.com/docs/AS ... lancha.pdf

As for Harvard, I just consider it a 'brand name', no better or worse than most other colleges/universities.

[zippetydude]

Sorry, you're both wrong about the source of fluoride on Mt. San Jacinto. The DWA has told me directly that the only possible source of fluoride, along with any other pollutants, comes solely from evil hikers who are determined to foul their water source. Otherwise, I would think you were right.

BTW, I have long felt that it might be chancy to use those strong fluoride mouthwashes that are supposed to harden the enamel on your teeth. I wonder how they fit into this picture?

Incidentally, I find it difficult to type "fluoride" - my brain wants to type "flouride" since it would fit with the pattern like "four" and "pour". Sort of like trying to spell "pharaoh". Even the person who named the triple crown winner was unable to spell that word correctly. Sorry for the digression!

z