It was used during WWII to make POW's more "tractable". Of course, federal, state local governments wouldn't have any such desire to subdue their citizens, now would they?

The argument that "it prevents decay" is open to much debate. I haven't done any tests myself or observed any done by unbiased researchers, but the fact that the American Dental Association say it's great must be weighed against their continued statements that mercury amalgams are harmless too!

I just read that the FDA mandates that toothpaste tubes carry a warning to the effect that if your kid swallows more toothpaste than that required for a brushing, you should take him to a Poison Control Center! Who would want to expose their kids -- or themselves -- to that kind of danger?!!

To further answer your questions, Fluorine is a toxic gas. It is a member of the halogen family that includes chlorine, another element added to drinking water, swimming pools, etc. We can NOT consume fluorine as it is a flammable, toxic gas.

Fluorine combines with other elements to form fluorides common to the earth's crust. Fluorides are taken up by sardines, kipper, herring, mackerel and salmon and retained in their bones, the best food source. These fish are small and their bones are consumed when we eat them.

Humans need small amounts of fluoride. Rather than obtain it in small amounts from food, or produce food containing fluoride, the powers have decided to add industry byproducts to our water as a means of disposing of it.

Fluosilic acid is the most common fluoridation agent, highly corrosive byproduct of phosphate fertilizer manufacture. Wonderful.

Sodium fluoride, less commonly used to fluoridate water is a salt byproduct of the process that turns bauxite ore into aluminum. Wonderful.

Stannous fluoride, used in toothpaste and which we get way too much of in our bodies when brushing, is a byproduct of steel-can recycling operations. Wonderful.

Do we need fluoride? I believe yes. Do we need industrial waste products like those toxic products listed above, with there associated health risks? I believe not. But we get plenty of them in any canned food, beer, etc. produced in a city with fluoridated water.

Will this food fluoride protect us from elemental fluorides? Possibly. If we have food fluoride that can properly attach to our bones and teeth, there will be fewer available receptor sites for the dangerous fluoride that mottles tooth enamel, disturbs kidney function and promotes nerve and muscle problems.

Here are some very interesting links to articles about fluoride, which also deal with the politics behind it and the ability of the toxin to dull people's minds.

"Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?" at
http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/2/fluoride_safety.htm

"Fluoride's Neurological Effects: studies show there may be grave implications for Alzheimers, Dementia, Attention Deficit Disorder, reduced IQ in children"

Fluoridation Increases Lead Absorption in Children...

Here's an interview of Professors Roger Masters and Phillis Mullenix at
http://www.HolisticMed.Com/ on the subject of flourides in the water.

http://www.fluoridation.com/

But what I find interesting is that it has recently been discussed by a number of scientists that fluoride was commonly used to treat HYPERthyroidism in the early and mid-1900s at doses commonly ingested by people today (who get fluoride through water, toothpaste, etc.). Here is some information presented to a review panel in the U.K. by Andreas Schuld of British Columbia, Canada:

I have supplied the Review with references to the work of May (1935,1937, 1950), who treated 1,158 hyperthyroid patients _effectively_ within 6 years with either sodium fluoride or fluorotyrosine ("Pardinon"). I have given references to Gorlitzer von Mundy (1963) who for more than 30 years treated in excess of 650 patients _effectively_ with baths containing fluoride.

I have given references to Galetti (1958) who gave 0.9 to 4.5 F- mg per [day] to patients suffering from Graves' disease. In those studies the average protein-bound iodine decreased from 9.8 to 6.7 ug/dl, basic metabolic rate from +37% to +27%. Similar data can be seen in many other studies.

EVERY study we looked at investigating BOTH iodine and fluoride reported increasing iodine excretion or lowering iodine levels in the system with increasing intake of fluorides. The reported effects of fluoride poisoning are identical to hypothyroid related disorders.

The doses used to depress the thyroid functioning in the above-mentioned studies are similar to what is commonly ingested today. I believe that these are the references being cited:

44)Galetti, PM;Joyet, G - "Effect of Fluorine On Thyroidal Iodine Metabolism in Hyperthyroidism" J Clin Endocrinol 18:1102-1110 (1958)

45)May, W - "Antagonismus zwischen Jod und Fluor im Organismus" Klin Wochenschr 14:790-792 (1935)

46)May, W - "Behandlung der Hypothyreosen einschlie_lich des schweren genuinen Morbus Basedow mit Fluor" Klin Wochenschr 16:562-564 (1937)

47)Gorlitzer von Mundy - "Einfluss von Fluor und Jod auf den Stoffwechsel, insbesondere auf die Schilddrse" Mnch Med Wochenschrift 105:234-247 (1963)

For people who want to know more about fluoride and health effects, I suggest reading Dr. Mullenix' presentation at
http://www.holisticmed.com/add/mullenix.html

and then reading http://www.holisticmed.com/fluoride/

Scientists and physicians who want the "gory details" can continue *after reading* the above-mentioned two pages (and associated links) and continue with:

...and more...
http://www.trufax.org/

Brain Defects and Fluoridation

Some scientists in China did some research from which they concluded that fluorides may be causing some cases of birth defects. Scientists in America are accustomed to doing their own research. In 1995, a group of scientists from four medical research institutes in the United States published their findings in Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Volume 17, No.2, pp. 169-177, under the title, "Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats."

Everybody knows that fluorides have something to do with minerals in bones, but no one had done a first class investigation into what fluorides might do to the brain. Could exposure to sodium fluoride cause damage to the nervous system directly and could it do this before it caused the physical deformations of skeletal fluorosis? An important finding in this experiment was that it's the amount of fluorides in the blood that is most relevant to the potential for damage to the brain rather than how much is in the water. People do occasionally have blood levels of fluoride like the ones in this rat experiment.

The experiment showed that sodium fluoride can interfere with the function of the brain. Normally, the hippocampus region of rat brains has the least concentration of fluoride, but female rats who drank fluoridated water when they were very young had much higher concentrations of fluoride in the hippocampus than in any other part of the brain. Fluoride accumulates in the brain tissues. Hippocampal damage is generally linked with hyperactivity and cognitive deficits. The hippocampus is the "central processor which integrates input from the environment, memory, and motivational stimuli to produce behavioral decisions and modify memory." The authors are convinced that fluoride may interfere with the function of calcium in the hippocampus of females.

The timing of exposure to fluoride during the development of the central nervous system determines the kind of defect. Pre-natal exposure is likely to cause hyperactivity, but post-natal exposure is more likely to cause cognitive deficits. The male rats were more likely to have a defect of brain function if their mothers had an excessive exposure to sodium fluoride on certain days during pregnancy.

This was a carefully done experiment. The researchers used video cameras taking pictures at the rate of one frame per second during the testing of the rats' behavior and analyzed the pictures with a computer program. They concluded there is a potential for fluorides to cause some cases of motor dysfunction, less IQ than there would have been and learning disabilities in people.

January 16, 1996