DEAD WATER |
Terry Fox is a household name in Canada and possibly around the world.
This name had practically become synonimous with fight against cancer!
There are many detailed biographies on the Internet about that remarkable man and his short life.
I will only mention here a few highlights, which are relevant to the topic of this page.
Terry Fox was born in 1958 in Winnipeg.
Water fluoridation in Winnipeg was started in 1956.
In 1966 the Fox family moved to British Columbia, first to Surrey and then to Port Coquitlam.
Surrey's drinking water is supplied by the Greater Vancouver Regional District water system. Water in Vancouver is not fluoridated.
Bottled water and household water filters were unknown in those days.
Public awareness about environmental health hazards was "in short supply", to put it mildly.
Leaded gasoline was the norm of the day.
Lead paint and asbestos-containing products were being sold without any health warning labels.
DDT was being widely used.
It would probably be safe to say that smokers among men outnumbered non-smokers in those days.
Love Canal was a perfectly legal toxic dump site.
Those who are old enough, have, no doubt, heard about the problems with Love Canal toxic dump site, which became headline news in the early 80s.
Things were so bad there that government was buying properties from the people, since it was deemed too dangerous to health to live in that area.
And so Terry Fox was consuming fluoridated water for about eight years.
At the age of 18 Terry was diagnosed with bone cancer.
There are lots of materials on the Internet about connection between bone cancer, as well as other cancers, and consumption of fluoridated water.
An academic scandal concerning an alleged attempt to cover-up the connection between bone cancer and consumption of fluoridated water spilled out into the media in March 2006, when The Wall Street Journal reported the upcoming publication of the results of the research of Dr. Elise Bassin, which found that boys drinking fluoridated water face an increased risk of bone cancer.
Dr. Bassin's research has been at the center of an ethics investigation of her PhD advisor at Harvard, Dr. Chester Douglass, who did not mention the findings of Dr.Bassin in his own report.
Dr.Douglass serves as an Editor of Colgate’s "Oral Care Report".
Colgate is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fluoride toothpaste.
Even though they have also started making a toothpaste without fluorides.
Dr.Douglass was a recepient of numerous government grants for studies related to the health effects of fluoridation.
There are many excellent accounts on the Internet concerning this academic scandal, you may want to do a search on the aforementioned names, as well as Harvard ethics investigation, Harvard academic scandal or the related terms.
It may be difficult to plod through scientific materials, as those use technical language, but there are also many excellent sources written in lay language.
Fluoridation proponents love to mention the research conducted by the National Toxicology Program regarding the connection between cancer and consumption of sodium fluoride back in 1991.
The research results negated the connection between fluoride and osteosarcoma.
It was studied extensively by Dr. Calabrese, whose full report, as weel as the short versions of it, are available on the Internet.
I only present the conclusion of Dr.Calabrese's study:
This [NTP] study, while being used to cast doubt on the relationship of fluoride to osteosarcoma, is flawed by:
1) disregard of prenatal fluoride exposure;
2) inadequate calculation of postnatal total fluoride intake;
and 3) inappropriate choice of study design.
Thus, the study carries little weight in negating the fluoride/osteosarcoma connection or in any consideration of continuing fluoridation as a public policy.
Fluoride Action Network has some interesting materials, which reveal systematic downgrading by NTP of the research data indicating at the connection between cancer and consumption of fluorides.
In 1992, the New Jersey State Department of Health released the results of a study which found SIX TIMES (or SIX HUNDRED PERCENT) higher rate of bone cancer among males under the age of 20 living in communities with fluoridated water.
These findings have been presented in a Report on the Association of Drinking Water Fluoridation and the Incidence of Osteosarcoma Among Young Males" by Perry D. Cohn, Ph.D. M.P.H. Environmental Health Service, New Jersey Department of Health, Nov. 8, 1992.
Here are several interesting quotes about cancer and fluorides.
"In point of fact, fluorine causes more human cancer death, and causes it faster, than any other chemical."
Dean Burk, Ph.D. chief chemist emeritus at the U.S. National Institute, former head of the National Cancer Institute's cytochemistry section;
The following quote is also by Dr.Burk, it is taken from his book "Fluoridation:A Burning Controversy"
"More people have died in the last 30 years from cancer connected with fluoridation than all the military deaths in the entire history of the United States."
"When a claimed 20 percent decrease in tooth decay is compared to a 600 percent increase in bone cancer or a 41 percent increase in hip fractures, when the cost of a tooth filling is compared to the cost of a hip fracture or cancer treatment, it is obvious that the human and economic costs of fluoridation are staggering."
Fluoridation-Why the Controversy? Janet Nagel, Ed.D., National Health Federation;
"In San Francisco there has been a 400 percent increase in thyroid cancer during the period that the city has had fluoridated drinking water."
New England Journal of Medicine, 1955, 253/2 (45-51)
"Fluorine and fluorides act as direct cellular poisons by interfering with calcium metabolism and enzyme mechanisms."
Handbook of Poisoning: Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment, 11th Edition, 1983. (from Fluoride Debate booklet)
"Fluoride is an enzyme poison, in the same class as cyanide, oxalate, or azide ... it is capable of a very wide variety of harmful effects, even at low doses."
James B. Patrick, Ph.D., antibiotics research scientist.
"Fluoride is very biologically active, forming a strong hydrogen bond with the groups found in proteins and nucleic acids.
In vitro experiments demonstrate that fluoride inhibits enzymes and induces chromosome aberrations and genetic mutations."
Mark Diesendorf, Ph.D
It is not easy to touch the legacy of a man, who had virtually become a legend, especially if it might be construed as a critical evaluation of his achievement.
But I believe this slant on Terry Fox story in no way tarnishes his image or puts him down as a human being, a true hero.
I believe it in no way diminishes the effort and aspirations of all those people who keep his legacy alive, year after year, and will continue keeping it alive for many years to come.
But, maybe, the time has come to look at the Terry Fox legacy from another angle.
And if this new outlook would help us to combine our efforts to educate the people and to put an end to this criminal practice of dumping toxic industrial waste into our drinking water, as well as expose those who poison the public, the legacy of Terry Fox will become even more inspiring for all of us!