Alzheimer's in America: The Aluminum
http://www.ecotalk.org/Alzheimer'sAluminumPhosphateIndustry.htm
Informant: Gomez
--------
From: "Peter Myers"
October 30, 2005
(1) aluminum and alzheimer's
(2) Aluminum fluoride and alzheimer's
(3) aluminum and fluoride
(4) Fluoride Combines with Aluminium in Drinking Water
(1) aluminum and alzheimer's
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:40:25 -0700
From: Phil Eversoul
http://www.ecotalk.org/Alzheimer'sAluminumPhosphateIndustry.htm
Lynn Investigates ...
Alzheimer's in America: The Aluminum - Phosphate Fertilizer Connection
by Lynn Landes 8/19/02
Americans are losing their minds to Alzheimer's disease. It's an epidemic. And it's not typical of what's going on in the rest of the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 18 million people with Alzheimer's. Over 4 1/2 million Americans have the disease. We account for 25% of all Alzheimer's cases, even though we represent only 4.6% of the world's population. Europe is experiencing half our rate of disease. For Americans over
85 years of age, 50% are thought to have Alzheimer's.
The question is, "Why?"
Alzheimer's was first discovered in 1906. It is not a part of normal aging, says the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH contends that the cause of Alzheimer's is "not known." They say, "Prior theories regarding the accumulation of aluminum, lead, mercury, and other substances in the brain have been disproved."
Don't believe that. Federal agencies have a talent for not finding environmental causes for many diseases. They live by the motto, "Do not seek and thou shall not find." Genetic triggers and lifestyle choices get the research dollars for pretty obvious reasons - their findings don't hurt polluters' profits.
The world's scientists and government researchers have not taken aluminum off the scientific table as a causal factor in Alzheimer's. Research scientists with the International Aluminum Network report, "Aluminum has been implicated ... as a potential factor or cofactor in the Alzheimer's syndrome, as well as in the etiopathogenesis of other neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinsonism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other diseases." That's a mouthful, but you get the picture.
Initially, it was thought that aluminum might be the sole cause of Alzheimer's. Persons with Alzheimer's have been found to experience increased absorption of aluminum in the brain, as well as exhibit densities of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, there are reports that suggest plaques and tangles do not always signify Alzheimer's, and vice versa.
Further clouding the issue are patients on kidney dialysis machines. They are unable to excrete aluminum, plus they may also be treated with medicines that include aluminum. However, reports say that dialysis patients don't develop Alzheimer's, although they can develop dialysis dementia if the equipment doesn't filter out aluminum. And therein lies a clue.
The process of kidney dialysis requires very purified, non-fluoridated water. What does this mean? Perhaps fluoride is aluminum's partner-in-crime.
In 1998 Julie Varner and two colleagues published research on the effects of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride on the nervous system of rats. They concluded, "Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride in the drinking water of rats resulted in distinct morphological alterations of the brain, including the effects on neurons and cerebrovasculature." In layman's terms, it looked like fluoride and aluminum could cause Alzheimer's.
That was not a definitive study, but they may have been onto something. Aluminum is in our drinking water, foods, and many consumer products. Adding fluoride to drinking water in the U.S. started in the 1950's. America's drinking water is now over 60% fluoridated. Fluoride appears in many processed foods and beverages made with fluoridated water. Keep in mind, Europe has half our rate of Alzheimer's. They don't fluoridate their water supplies, but they do use fluoride supplements and dental products. Is there a connection?
There are other intriguing issues. Why do people with thyroid disease have an increased risk for Alzheimer's? In the U.S., thyroid disease has reached even greater epidemic levels than Alzheimer's, with as many as 20 million American victims. Besides problems with iodine intake, a common cause of thyroid disease is radiation.
There are also striking similarities between Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jacob-Disease (CJD), and mad cow disease. Mad cow has been linked to livestock feed and fertilizer.
So, what do radiation, livestock feed, fluoride, and fertilizer have in common which may have led to the emergence of the Alzheimer's epidemic? The phosphate fertilizer industry.
"Fertilizer use was not a common practice in the United States until after 1870, when phosphate and lime were applied to crops like cotton and tobacco. By the end of World War II, an era of intensive agriculture began.," says Cargill Fertilizer. "Of the phosphate produced in Florida, about 95% is used in agriculture (90% goes into fertilizer and 5% into livestock feed supplements)." The remaining 5% is used in a variety of foods and beverages, plus personal care, consumer and industrial products.
George Glasser writes in the Earth Island Journal, "Radium wastes from filtration systems at phosphate fertilizer facilities are among the most radioactive types of naturally occurring radioactive material wastes...Uranium and all of its decay-rate products are found in phosphate rock, fluorosilicic acid (fluoride) and phosphate fertilizer."
The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research says, "Removal of uranium as a product is no longer profitable and all of the extraction facilities have been dismantled. The uranium that remains in the phosphoric acid and fertilizer products is at a low enough level that it is safe for use." That's not reassuring. Chronic exposure to low levels of contamination can be as dangerous, or more so, than chronic high levels of exposure or acute occurrences.
Of particular interest is calcium silicate, another byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry. One of its uses is as an anti-caking agent in iodized table salt. Is calcium silicate also radioactive? Would that have a significant impact on the thyroid? Given the relationship between Alzheimer's and thyroid disease, Alzheimer's may be destined to increase exponentially.
The phosphate fertilizer industry seems to be the common thread in Alzheimer's - and maybe also in thyroid and mad cow type diseases. Aluminum by itself may not cause Alzheimer's, but in combination with the radioactive products of the phosphate fertilizer industry, it could be wreaking havoc on our health.
Whatever the cause, we deserve real answers to the Alzheimer's epidemic, not the red herrings of research on genetics and lifestyle. The number of American victims is totally out of proportion to the incidence of Alzheimer's worldwide. Something truly has gone terribly wrong.
Links:
http://www.bio.unipd.it/~zatta/alumin.htm http://www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/31291-95.htm http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html
Lynn Landes is the publisher of EcoTalk.org and a news reporter for DUTV in Philadelphia, PA. Formerly Lynn was a radio show host for WDVR in New Jersey and a regular commentator for a BBC radio program. She can be reached at (215)
629-3553 / lynnlandes@earthlink.net.
(2) Aluminum fluoride and alzheimer's
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:47:59 -0700
From: Phil Eversoul
Number Five
http://members.tripod.com/~safewater/brainre.html
NEWS RELEASE April 16, 1998 Contact: Jeff Green
Citizens For Safe Drinking Water 3243 Madrid Street San Diego, CA 92110
Email: jgreen@abac.com (800) 728-3833 Email: davidkennedy-dds@home.com
Research Links Low Levels of Fluoride and Aluminum to Alzheimer's and Kidney Damage
In a study just published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Research the presence of low levels of fluoride in the drinking water of test animals, equal to the amount of elemental fluorine found in fluoridated water, caused damage to the tissue of the brain that the authors identified as similar to the pathological changes found in humans with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
While the purpose of this study was to assess the factors that enhance or inhibit the bioavailability of aluminum and its effects on the nervous system, the study looked at the effects of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride separately.
The authors report, "Histological evidence of glomerular distortion and other signs of kidney disorder were found in animals in both the aluminum-fluoride and sodium fluoride groups..."
"While the small amount of aluminum-fluoride in the drinking water of rats required for neurotoxic effects is surprising, perhaps even more surprising are the neurological results of the sodium-fluoride at the dose given in the present study (2.1 ppm). {the amount used to achieve 1 ppm of elemental fluorine used in fluoridation}.
"Fluoride has diverse actions on a variety of cellular and physiological functions, including the inhibition of a variety of enzymes, a corrosive action in acid mediums, hypocalcemia, hyperkalemia, and possibly cerebral impairment."
The authors summarize, "Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride in the drinking water of rats resulted in distinct morphological alterations of the brain, including the effects on neurons and cerebrovasculature."
While there are numerous studies linking fluoride to increased risk of hip fracture, cancer, genetic damage, bone pathology, and dental fluorosis, as identified in July 1997 by the union which consists of all of the scientists and other professionals at the Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., this study adds further definition to a series of recent studies that have illuminated fluoride's adverse neurological impact and have anticipated the results from this research that focuses on the hippocampus region of the brain, and interaction with other neurotoxins.
A previous study by Mullenix, et al. in Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 1995, documents abnormal behavioral responses by animals exposed to fluoride at various stages of gestation, which resulted in the exposed animals exhibiting either permanent hyperactivity if exposed prenatally, or what layman refer to as "the rat version of couch potato" if exposed after birth.
In "Psychopharmacology of Fluoride: A Review", 1994, the author A. Spittle concludes, "There would appear to be some evidence that chronic exposure to fluoride may be associated with cerebral impairment affecting particularly the concentration and memory of some individuals. These symptoms are reminiscent of those seen in the chronic fatigue syndrome."
In the "Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland", 1994, the author, J. A. Luke suggests that fluoride also effects the gland in the brain that produces melatonin, which has been established as critical to those people suffering from sleep disorders.
The follow-up question should be obvious: In light of this scientific evidence, is it in the best interest of our nation to continue a public policy - a public policy that has already been rejected by 98% of Europe - that forces each man, woman, and child to ingest a known cumulative neurotoxin, which is added to our water supply with no control over total intake from all sources, or variances in susceptibility?
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act requires that each chemical that appears in our drinking water be re-assessed with a new criteria for assuring the safety of drinking water for the most susceptible segments of our population. The coming days will reveal whether the agencies that have been established to protect our health will act.
30-30-30
References
Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride or sodium-fluoride to rats in the drinking water: alterations in neuronal and cerebrovascular integrity, Julie A. Verner, Karl F. Jensen, William Horvath, Robert L. Isaacson, Brain Research, vol. 784, pp. 284-298, 1998.
Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats, Mullenix et al., Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 169-177, 1995
Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland, J. A Luke, Caries Research, Vol. 28, p204, 1994.
Psychopharmacology of Fluoride: A Review, A. Spittle, International Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 9, 1994.
Websites
http://www.sonic.net/~kryptox/fluoride.htm http://www.cadvision.com/fluoride/index.htm
(3) aluminum and fluoride
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:38:16 -0700 From: Phil Eversoul <Philev@e-znet.com>
http://home.att.net/~gtigerclaw/dead_rats.html
Fluoride Study Produces Too Many
USEPA MINIMIZES 80% DEATH RATE
IN EXPERIMENTAL LAB RATS.
George Glasser
"In l999, EPA convened a group of experts to carefully consider the results of the Varner et al. (1998) study," USEPA spokesman, Charles Fox wrote in a September 5, 2000 letter to US Congressman Ken Calvert, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. Fox continued, "As a result of that conference, EPA has requested that the National Toxicology Program consider the possibility of conducting additional studies of the neurotoxicity of aluminum that include verification of the results observed in the Varner et al. Study."
Fox carefully avoided mentioning the fact that the reviewed study he cited was replicated in two previous studies by Dr. Julie Varner. All three studies found that aluminum-fluoride interactions are associated with brain and kidney damage in laboratory animals. Aside from brain and kidney damage, there was an 80% mortality rate in the animals fed doses of sodium fluoride and aluminum similar to those found in artificially fluoridated drinking water.
Alum (aluminum sulfate) is most frequently used by water companies to improve the appearance of drinking water, to make it clear. For many years, aluminum has been known to be neurotoxic to humans and animals.
The original Varner, et al, study published in Neuroprotective Agents, 1997, was designed to determine whether aluminum and fluoride (aluminum fluoride) in drinking water play a role in age-related neurological damage similar to Alzheimer's disease. It was the first scientific study to deal with fluoride/aluminum interaction.
The researchers considered that fluoride and aluminum could combine in the stomach and be more readily transported to the brain. The combination, they believed, could enhance neurological damage and cause conditions such as presenile dementia or Alzheimer's like dementia (ALD). During the first experiment, the researchers had noted and were perplexed by the alarmingly high death rate in the group of animals receiving aluminum and fluoride in their drinking water (80% of the animals in the low-dose group died before completion of the experiment).
They also noted that the amounts of aluminum and fluoride fed to the animals was about the same as the amounts people are exposed to in artificially fluoridated public water supplies. The reasons for the high number of animal deaths is still unexplained as was the fact that the greatest number of mental impairments appeared in the low-dose group of animals.
It was also observed that the animals who drank the aluminum/fluoride-laced water developed sparse hair and abnormal, copper-colored underlying skin which is related to premature aging. Researchers said that most often this condition is the result of several diseases including chronic kidney failure. Further autopsy results showed serious kidney abnormalities in animals that drank water containing both sodium fluoride and aluminum fluoride.
The Varner team said that, "Striking parallels were seen between aluminum-induced alterations" in cerebral blood vessels that are associated with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of presenile dementia. They concluded that the alterations of the blood vessels may be a primary event triggering neuro-degenerative diseases.
Astounded, the researchers went on to say: "Not only did the rats in the lowest dose groups die more often during the experiment, they looked poorly well before their deaths. Even the rats in the lowest dose group that managed to survive the
45 weeks looked to be in poor health."
Subsequently, the researchers reported that the results of the "THIRD" animal study confirmed the findings of the previous studies. This red flag alarmed the USEPA panel of experts because the same physical and neurological damage can also be occurring in humans in areas where both aluminum sulfate and fluorides are added to the public drinking water.
Based on the conclusions drawn from the third Varner study, the USEPA experts requested further research be commissioned by the National Toxicology Program. In spite of the disturbing Varner team revelations it will take two to three years for the National Toxicology to review the request.
Almost 60% of the United States is fluoridated, and the odds of an American developing some form of dementia by the age of 65 is estimated at 1 in every 10 people, and at the age of 85, the odds are 3 in every 10 people.
In the United Kingdom, which is 10% fluoridated, 7% of the population over 65 years will develop some form of dementia.
Recent USEPA concerns over arsenic, a Group 1 (a) carcinogen, caused the government-contracted water treatment chemical certification laboratory, National Sanitation Foundation International, to say that there will be "increased product failures" due to high arsenic levels in fluorosilicic acid. USEPA has asked the US Government to dramatically reduce arsenic levels in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 5 parts per billion. The EPA is keen to change the regulations because arsenic in known to cause a wide range of cancers in humans.
More recently, the primary component of fluorosilicic acid and sodium fluorosilicate - silicon - has also been discovered in the brain plaque of Alzheimer's and Alzheimer's-like dementia (ALD) victims. Silica has also been found in the brain tissue of people with primary brain tumors, which is considered a terminal condition. Although aware of these new developments, no responsible government agency including the USEPA will request that any research be done with the actual toxic waste "product" used to fluoridate public drinking water. ==
(4) Fluoride Combines with Aluminium in Drinking Water
NEW STUDY SHOWS GRAVE IMPLICATIONS FROM INTERACTION OF ALUMINUM AND LOW DOSE FLUORIDE
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/aluminum.html
Promoters of fluoridation can no longer get away with the "unequivocal statement" that fluoride is a "free ion" in water", OR that "it completely dissociates and doesn't react with other minerals in drinking water."
Following the Varner, et al aluminium fluoride studies in which 80% of the experimental rats died before the end of the experiment the United States Environmental Protection Agency was sufficiently alarmed to push the National Toxicology Program (NTP) to do further research.
Varner and associates appear to have found TOXIC SYNERGISTIC ACTION between FLUORIDE and ALUMINIUM in drinking water. This has now been made a part of PUBLIC RECORD in the US FEDERAL REGISTER as of December 4, 2000.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) concurs with the EPA and has formally called for NTP to commission studies.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
For the first time, synergistic action is officially acknowledged, along with the fact that FLUORIDE in the water COMBINES WITH OTHER MINERALS.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has commissioned a Review of Toxicological Literature on Aluminium Compounds.
[Federal Register: December 4, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 233)] [Notices] [Page
75727-75730] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr04de00-106] ... ==
http://www.fluoridealert.org/ifin-28.htm
Aluminum, Fluoride, and Hormones
International Fluoride Information Network
December 15, 1999
IFIN Bulletin #28: Aluminum, Fluoride, and Hormones
by Paul Connett, PhD
These days there is a great deal of concern about industrial chemicals, such as pesticides, additives to plastics and incinerator emissions, which disrupt the activities of hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers which finely tune and regulate the body's chemistry. They are produced in specialiazed glands (for example, adrenaline is produced in the adrenal glands) in the body and are then circulated in the bloodstream until they find their target tissues. Hormones can be divided into two large classes: ones which are fat soluble and others which are water soluble. The fat soluble ones ( e.g. estrogen and testerone) are able to cross the cell membranes (which are made of fat) without difficulty. Inside the cells they find a protein ( a receptor) to which they bind like a key fitting into a lock. This combination then attaches to the DNA, resulting in the switching on of genes and thus the production of new proteins in the cell. The water soluble hormones ( e.g. insulin, adrenaline, glucagon etc) as well as some neurotransmitters) are not able to enter the cell. Thus they have to deliver their message from the outside. They combine with receptors on the outside of the cell. This combination triggers of a change in the G-proteins - proteins which stretch out across the membrane-, this change in turn leads to the activation or release of a "secondary messenger" (usually cyclic AMP or Ca2+), inside the cell, which then goes on to make changes inside the cell -usually the activation of enzymes involved in the breakdown of sugars and fats to produce more energy and growth. Thus the G-proteins are seen as an" On-OFF switch" between the delivery of the hormonal message at the outside of the cell and the ensuing activity inside the cell. When the hormone ( or neurotransmitter) arrives the G-proteins are switched ON and when the message has been delivered the G-proteins are switched off again.
The actual mechanism is actually fairly simple. Sitting in a crevice of the G-protin is a molecule called GDP (Guanosine diphosphate)- this consists of one of the bases in nucleic acids (guanine)- attached to a sugar (ribose)- and then to two phosphate groups. The G-protein is switched on when a third phosphate group attaches to the end of the other two and forms GTP. This attachment occurs when the hormone attaches to the receptor.
Now this is where the devastating news about fluoride comes in. In the presence of a little aluminum, fluoride forms an ion called AF4-: that is an aluminum ion surrounded by four fluoride ions. To the G-protein this AlF4- looks just like a phosphate ion. Thus when there is fluoride and aluminum around, it is this species that can combine with the GDP in the G-protein, AND without any involvement of the hormone it can deliver the message (ie activate the cellular change) that the hormone would have delivered. Should this happen it would cause serious problems for the tissue involved. It would be getting the wrong message at the wrong time. We describe chemicals that disrupt hormonal signals as "endocrine disruptors".
Could fluoride and aluminum at the levels to which we are exposed to them cause pathological problems. This issue was reviewed by two Czech scientists in the following article sent to me by Andreas Schuld of Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children. Even if you don't underestand all the science involved, please keep hold of this article and share it with any doctor, dentist or scientist you know. The information here is potentially the silver bullet that could get the fluoride out of our water, out of our tooth paste and out of industry. Please read on.
Paul Connett.
Charles University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physiology and Developmental Physiology, Prague Department of Toxicology, Purkyn? Military Medical Academy, Hradec Kr?lov?, Czech Republic
Running title: Pharmacological implications of aluminofluoride complexes
Corresponding author: Anna Struneck? Department of Physiology and Developmental Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Vini?n? 7, 128 00, Prague
2, Czech Republic Telephone: (42) - 02/21953239 Fax no.: (42) - 02/299713 E-mail: astrun@cesnet.cz
Abstract
Aluminofluoride complexes have been widely used in laboratory investigations for stimulation of various guanine nucleotide binding proteins. These fluorometallic complexes cannot be obtained through any catalogue or drug store. They are formed in water solutions containing fluoride and traces of aluminium in the form of the soluble ionic complexes, Aluminofluoride complexes have been recognised to act as phosphate analogues. Reflecting many studies which utilise aluminofluoride complexes in laboratory investigations, the effects of these fluorometallic complexes on various cells and tissues as observed, can be reviewed. With the appearance of acid rain and the use of aluminium in industry, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of uncomplexed aluminium in ecosystems. In view of the ubiquity of phosphate in cell metabolism, aluminofluoride complexes represent a strong potential danger for living organisms including humans. The possibility of pathophysiological consequences of their long-term action is not fully recognised at this point. ...
Supported by Grant Agency of Charles University, Prague (Grant No.113/1998/BBio/P?F).
?Anna Struneck? & Jir? Patocka ...
Fluoride Action Network | 802-859-3363 | info@fluoridealert.org ==
August 26, 1998
Many older papers claiming that the concentration of fluoride in public water systems is so small that we can be sure it does no harm have been published in scientific journals. New research, reported at the twenty-second conference of the International Association for Fluoride Research on August 25, 1998, has uncovered a fatal flaw in the research design of experiments with laboratory rats. It was the custom for laboratory experiments about fluoride toxicity to be done using sodium fluoride in distilled water for the rats' drinking water. It was presumed that if sodium fluoride at very low levels in distilled water did not harm the rats then fluoride in tap water must be safe.
Now, scientists have found that there is a toxic chemical reaction with aluminum and fluoride even at very low levels just like they put in the water. K. Jensen and coworkers found that when fluoride and aluminum combine to make AlF3 at very low concentrations in water, aluminum gets into the brain and kidney more easily. The accumulation of aluminum in the brain results in damage to the neurons thus resulting in an Alzheimer's-like condition with memory loss. Alum is commonly used for processing water for municipal water systems. This leaves small amounts of aluminum in the water which combine with fluoride.
ISFR Conference: Dr. Mullenix Presents More Evidence that Fluoride Damages the Brain
August 25, 1998
Presentations of scientific research at the twenty-second conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research (ISFR) began today. The highlight of the day was Dr. Mullenix's report that her laboratory studies that fluorine damages the brain. The toxic effect of fluorine in the brain is relevant to childhood leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow which causes excess production of white blood cells The treatment for leukemia causes the cancer cells to go to the brain. Drugs must be used to kill the cancer cells in the brain if the treatment is to be successful. Prednisoline and dexamethasone have been used for this purpose. The molecular structures of these two drugs is almost the same. Dexamethasone has one fluorine atom in each molecule and prednisolone does not. Dexamethasone has become the drug of choice because it is more powerful. However, children who were treated with dexamethasone and who already had mediocre IQ lost ten more IQ points after treatment with dexamethasone. These children also grew more slowly, had narrower skull shapes and their teeth stopped developing.
In her latest laboratory studies, Dr. Mullenix found that dexamethasone impaired the behavior of rats in a way that is equivalent to hyperactivity in humans. Dr. Mullenix pioneered a computerized technology for these studies. Video cameras record the activity of rats at specified intervals. The activities of the rats are classified and then the sequence of activities can be compared. The rats on the dexamethasone had "dispersed" sequences. This means that their behavior sequences did not follow the usual patterns of healthy rats. The disrupted patterns of activity are reminiscent of hyperactivity in children.
Dr. Mullenix is in the Pscyhiatry Department at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Another presentation at the ISFR conference showed photographs of microscopic brain damage of rats which drank water with sodium fluoride (NaF). Dr. Chubek and co-workers found that the rats on the fluoridated water for 21 days had the highest concentrations of NaF and had brain cells that were smaller and mishapen. The myelin, a substance which surrounds certain axons and nerve fibers, was swollen:
"A neuropathological study and computerized morphometric analyses revealed revealed a marked shrinkage of cerebellar granular and Purkinje cells, perivascular myelin swelling, and astroglia reaction, especially in the white matter of brains in the NaF-treated animals. Neuronal and myelin changes appeared to be more pronounced ... " ...
Part of this information came from the Seattle Times, June 23, 1998, p. A1.
Notes:
1.Robert Lenzner, "A monster beverage event," Forbes, October 20, 1997, p. 64.
2.Time, June 10, 1996, p. 70. 3.BA Auslander, "Toronto Tap Water: Perception of its Quality and Use of Alternatives," Canadian Journal of Public Health, March-April, 1993, pp. 99-102. 4.S Van Winkle, et al., "Water and Formula Fluoride Concentrations: Significance for Infants Fed Formula," Pediatric Dentistry, July-August, 1995, pp. 305-310. 5.AM Weissman, "Bottled Water Use in an Immigrant Community: A Public Health Issue?" American Journal of Public Health, August, 1997, pp. 1397-1380. 6.JT Chan, et al., "Fluoride Content of Bottled Waters: Implications for Dietary Supplementation," Texas Dental Journal, April, 1990, pp. 17-21. 7.S Van Winkle, op. cit. 8.GM Whitford, GM, "Intake and Metabolism of Fluoride," Advances in Dental Research, June, 1994, pp. 5-14.
Peter Myers, 381 Goodwood Rd, Childers 4660,
Australia
ph +61 7 41262296
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers
Mirror: http://mailstar.net/index.html
Informant: beefree
Informant: Gomez
--------
From: "Peter Myers"
October 30, 2005
(1) aluminum and alzheimer's
(2) Aluminum fluoride and alzheimer's
(3) aluminum and fluoride
(4) Fluoride Combines with Aluminium in Drinking Water
(1) aluminum and alzheimer's
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:40:25 -0700
From: Phil Eversoul
http://www.ecotalk.org/Alzheimer'sAluminumPhosphateIndustry.htm
Lynn Investigates ...
Alzheimer's in America: The Aluminum - Phosphate Fertilizer Connection
by Lynn Landes 8/19/02
Americans are losing their minds to Alzheimer's disease. It's an epidemic. And it's not typical of what's going on in the rest of the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 18 million people with Alzheimer's. Over 4 1/2 million Americans have the disease. We account for 25% of all Alzheimer's cases, even though we represent only 4.6% of the world's population. Europe is experiencing half our rate of disease. For Americans over
85 years of age, 50% are thought to have Alzheimer's.
The question is, "Why?"
Alzheimer's was first discovered in 1906. It is not a part of normal aging, says the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH contends that the cause of Alzheimer's is "not known." They say, "Prior theories regarding the accumulation of aluminum, lead, mercury, and other substances in the brain have been disproved."
Don't believe that. Federal agencies have a talent for not finding environmental causes for many diseases. They live by the motto, "Do not seek and thou shall not find." Genetic triggers and lifestyle choices get the research dollars for pretty obvious reasons - their findings don't hurt polluters' profits.
The world's scientists and government researchers have not taken aluminum off the scientific table as a causal factor in Alzheimer's. Research scientists with the International Aluminum Network report, "Aluminum has been implicated ... as a potential factor or cofactor in the Alzheimer's syndrome, as well as in the etiopathogenesis of other neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinsonism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and other diseases." That's a mouthful, but you get the picture.
Initially, it was thought that aluminum might be the sole cause of Alzheimer's. Persons with Alzheimer's have been found to experience increased absorption of aluminum in the brain, as well as exhibit densities of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, there are reports that suggest plaques and tangles do not always signify Alzheimer's, and vice versa.
Further clouding the issue are patients on kidney dialysis machines. They are unable to excrete aluminum, plus they may also be treated with medicines that include aluminum. However, reports say that dialysis patients don't develop Alzheimer's, although they can develop dialysis dementia if the equipment doesn't filter out aluminum. And therein lies a clue.
The process of kidney dialysis requires very purified, non-fluoridated water. What does this mean? Perhaps fluoride is aluminum's partner-in-crime.
In 1998 Julie Varner and two colleagues published research on the effects of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride on the nervous system of rats. They concluded, "Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride in the drinking water of rats resulted in distinct morphological alterations of the brain, including the effects on neurons and cerebrovasculature." In layman's terms, it looked like fluoride and aluminum could cause Alzheimer's.
That was not a definitive study, but they may have been onto something. Aluminum is in our drinking water, foods, and many consumer products. Adding fluoride to drinking water in the U.S. started in the 1950's. America's drinking water is now over 60% fluoridated. Fluoride appears in many processed foods and beverages made with fluoridated water. Keep in mind, Europe has half our rate of Alzheimer's. They don't fluoridate their water supplies, but they do use fluoride supplements and dental products. Is there a connection?
There are other intriguing issues. Why do people with thyroid disease have an increased risk for Alzheimer's? In the U.S., thyroid disease has reached even greater epidemic levels than Alzheimer's, with as many as 20 million American victims. Besides problems with iodine intake, a common cause of thyroid disease is radiation.
There are also striking similarities between Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jacob-Disease (CJD), and mad cow disease. Mad cow has been linked to livestock feed and fertilizer.
So, what do radiation, livestock feed, fluoride, and fertilizer have in common which may have led to the emergence of the Alzheimer's epidemic? The phosphate fertilizer industry.
"Fertilizer use was not a common practice in the United States until after 1870, when phosphate and lime were applied to crops like cotton and tobacco. By the end of World War II, an era of intensive agriculture began.," says Cargill Fertilizer. "Of the phosphate produced in Florida, about 95% is used in agriculture (90% goes into fertilizer and 5% into livestock feed supplements)." The remaining 5% is used in a variety of foods and beverages, plus personal care, consumer and industrial products.
George Glasser writes in the Earth Island Journal, "Radium wastes from filtration systems at phosphate fertilizer facilities are among the most radioactive types of naturally occurring radioactive material wastes...Uranium and all of its decay-rate products are found in phosphate rock, fluorosilicic acid (fluoride) and phosphate fertilizer."
The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research says, "Removal of uranium as a product is no longer profitable and all of the extraction facilities have been dismantled. The uranium that remains in the phosphoric acid and fertilizer products is at a low enough level that it is safe for use." That's not reassuring. Chronic exposure to low levels of contamination can be as dangerous, or more so, than chronic high levels of exposure or acute occurrences.
Of particular interest is calcium silicate, another byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry. One of its uses is as an anti-caking agent in iodized table salt. Is calcium silicate also radioactive? Would that have a significant impact on the thyroid? Given the relationship between Alzheimer's and thyroid disease, Alzheimer's may be destined to increase exponentially.
The phosphate fertilizer industry seems to be the common thread in Alzheimer's - and maybe also in thyroid and mad cow type diseases. Aluminum by itself may not cause Alzheimer's, but in combination with the radioactive products of the phosphate fertilizer industry, it could be wreaking havoc on our health.
Whatever the cause, we deserve real answers to the Alzheimer's epidemic, not the red herrings of research on genetics and lifestyle. The number of American victims is totally out of proportion to the incidence of Alzheimer's worldwide. Something truly has gone terribly wrong.
Links:
http://www.bio.unipd.it/~zatta/alumin.htm http://www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-2/31291-95.htm http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_phosphates.html
Lynn Landes is the publisher of EcoTalk.org and a news reporter for DUTV in Philadelphia, PA. Formerly Lynn was a radio show host for WDVR in New Jersey and a regular commentator for a BBC radio program. She can be reached at (215)
629-3553 / lynnlandes@earthlink.net.
(2) Aluminum fluoride and alzheimer's
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:47:59 -0700
From: Phil Eversoul
Number Five
http://members.tripod.com/~safewater/brainre.html
NEWS RELEASE April 16, 1998 Contact: Jeff Green
Citizens For Safe Drinking Water 3243 Madrid Street San Diego, CA 92110
Email: jgreen@abac.com (800) 728-3833 Email: davidkennedy-dds@home.com
Research Links Low Levels of Fluoride and Aluminum to Alzheimer's and Kidney Damage
In a study just published in the peer-reviewed journal Brain Research the presence of low levels of fluoride in the drinking water of test animals, equal to the amount of elemental fluorine found in fluoridated water, caused damage to the tissue of the brain that the authors identified as similar to the pathological changes found in humans with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
While the purpose of this study was to assess the factors that enhance or inhibit the bioavailability of aluminum and its effects on the nervous system, the study looked at the effects of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride separately.
The authors report, "Histological evidence of glomerular distortion and other signs of kidney disorder were found in animals in both the aluminum-fluoride and sodium fluoride groups..."
"While the small amount of aluminum-fluoride in the drinking water of rats required for neurotoxic effects is surprising, perhaps even more surprising are the neurological results of the sodium-fluoride at the dose given in the present study (2.1 ppm). {the amount used to achieve 1 ppm of elemental fluorine used in fluoridation}.
"Fluoride has diverse actions on a variety of cellular and physiological functions, including the inhibition of a variety of enzymes, a corrosive action in acid mediums, hypocalcemia, hyperkalemia, and possibly cerebral impairment."
The authors summarize, "Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride in the drinking water of rats resulted in distinct morphological alterations of the brain, including the effects on neurons and cerebrovasculature."
While there are numerous studies linking fluoride to increased risk of hip fracture, cancer, genetic damage, bone pathology, and dental fluorosis, as identified in July 1997 by the union which consists of all of the scientists and other professionals at the Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., this study adds further definition to a series of recent studies that have illuminated fluoride's adverse neurological impact and have anticipated the results from this research that focuses on the hippocampus region of the brain, and interaction with other neurotoxins.
A previous study by Mullenix, et al. in Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 1995, documents abnormal behavioral responses by animals exposed to fluoride at various stages of gestation, which resulted in the exposed animals exhibiting either permanent hyperactivity if exposed prenatally, or what layman refer to as "the rat version of couch potato" if exposed after birth.
In "Psychopharmacology of Fluoride: A Review", 1994, the author A. Spittle concludes, "There would appear to be some evidence that chronic exposure to fluoride may be associated with cerebral impairment affecting particularly the concentration and memory of some individuals. These symptoms are reminiscent of those seen in the chronic fatigue syndrome."
In the "Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland", 1994, the author, J. A. Luke suggests that fluoride also effects the gland in the brain that produces melatonin, which has been established as critical to those people suffering from sleep disorders.
The follow-up question should be obvious: In light of this scientific evidence, is it in the best interest of our nation to continue a public policy - a public policy that has already been rejected by 98% of Europe - that forces each man, woman, and child to ingest a known cumulative neurotoxin, which is added to our water supply with no control over total intake from all sources, or variances in susceptibility?
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act requires that each chemical that appears in our drinking water be re-assessed with a new criteria for assuring the safety of drinking water for the most susceptible segments of our population. The coming days will reveal whether the agencies that have been established to protect our health will act.
30-30-30
References
Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride or sodium-fluoride to rats in the drinking water: alterations in neuronal and cerebrovascular integrity, Julie A. Verner, Karl F. Jensen, William Horvath, Robert L. Isaacson, Brain Research, vol. 784, pp. 284-298, 1998.
Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride in Rats, Mullenix et al., Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 169-177, 1995
Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland, J. A Luke, Caries Research, Vol. 28, p204, 1994.
Psychopharmacology of Fluoride: A Review, A. Spittle, International Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol. 9, 1994.
Websites
http://www.sonic.net/~kryptox/fluoride.htm http://www.cadvision.com/fluoride/index.htm
(3) aluminum and fluoride
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 00:38:16 -0700 From: Phil Eversoul <Philev@e-znet.com>
http://home.att.net/~gtigerclaw/dead_rats.html
Fluoride Study Produces Too Many
USEPA MINIMIZES 80% DEATH RATE
IN EXPERIMENTAL LAB RATS.
George Glasser
"In l999, EPA convened a group of experts to carefully consider the results of the Varner et al. (1998) study," USEPA spokesman, Charles Fox wrote in a September 5, 2000 letter to US Congressman Ken Calvert, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. Fox continued, "As a result of that conference, EPA has requested that the National Toxicology Program consider the possibility of conducting additional studies of the neurotoxicity of aluminum that include verification of the results observed in the Varner et al. Study."
Fox carefully avoided mentioning the fact that the reviewed study he cited was replicated in two previous studies by Dr. Julie Varner. All three studies found that aluminum-fluoride interactions are associated with brain and kidney damage in laboratory animals. Aside from brain and kidney damage, there was an 80% mortality rate in the animals fed doses of sodium fluoride and aluminum similar to those found in artificially fluoridated drinking water.
Alum (aluminum sulfate) is most frequently used by water companies to improve the appearance of drinking water, to make it clear. For many years, aluminum has been known to be neurotoxic to humans and animals.
The original Varner, et al, study published in Neuroprotective Agents, 1997, was designed to determine whether aluminum and fluoride (aluminum fluoride) in drinking water play a role in age-related neurological damage similar to Alzheimer's disease. It was the first scientific study to deal with fluoride/aluminum interaction.
The researchers considered that fluoride and aluminum could combine in the stomach and be more readily transported to the brain. The combination, they believed, could enhance neurological damage and cause conditions such as presenile dementia or Alzheimer's like dementia (ALD). During the first experiment, the researchers had noted and were perplexed by the alarmingly high death rate in the group of animals receiving aluminum and fluoride in their drinking water (80% of the animals in the low-dose group died before completion of the experiment).
They also noted that the amounts of aluminum and fluoride fed to the animals was about the same as the amounts people are exposed to in artificially fluoridated public water supplies. The reasons for the high number of animal deaths is still unexplained as was the fact that the greatest number of mental impairments appeared in the low-dose group of animals.
It was also observed that the animals who drank the aluminum/fluoride-laced water developed sparse hair and abnormal, copper-colored underlying skin which is related to premature aging. Researchers said that most often this condition is the result of several diseases including chronic kidney failure. Further autopsy results showed serious kidney abnormalities in animals that drank water containing both sodium fluoride and aluminum fluoride.
The Varner team said that, "Striking parallels were seen between aluminum-induced alterations" in cerebral blood vessels that are associated with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of presenile dementia. They concluded that the alterations of the blood vessels may be a primary event triggering neuro-degenerative diseases.
Astounded, the researchers went on to say: "Not only did the rats in the lowest dose groups die more often during the experiment, they looked poorly well before their deaths. Even the rats in the lowest dose group that managed to survive the
45 weeks looked to be in poor health."
Subsequently, the researchers reported that the results of the "THIRD" animal study confirmed the findings of the previous studies. This red flag alarmed the USEPA panel of experts because the same physical and neurological damage can also be occurring in humans in areas where both aluminum sulfate and fluorides are added to the public drinking water.
Based on the conclusions drawn from the third Varner study, the USEPA experts requested further research be commissioned by the National Toxicology Program. In spite of the disturbing Varner team revelations it will take two to three years for the National Toxicology to review the request.
Almost 60% of the United States is fluoridated, and the odds of an American developing some form of dementia by the age of 65 is estimated at 1 in every 10 people, and at the age of 85, the odds are 3 in every 10 people.
In the United Kingdom, which is 10% fluoridated, 7% of the population over 65 years will develop some form of dementia.
Recent USEPA concerns over arsenic, a Group 1 (a) carcinogen, caused the government-contracted water treatment chemical certification laboratory, National Sanitation Foundation International, to say that there will be "increased product failures" due to high arsenic levels in fluorosilicic acid. USEPA has asked the US Government to dramatically reduce arsenic levels in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 5 parts per billion. The EPA is keen to change the regulations because arsenic in known to cause a wide range of cancers in humans.
More recently, the primary component of fluorosilicic acid and sodium fluorosilicate - silicon - has also been discovered in the brain plaque of Alzheimer's and Alzheimer's-like dementia (ALD) victims. Silica has also been found in the brain tissue of people with primary brain tumors, which is considered a terminal condition. Although aware of these new developments, no responsible government agency including the USEPA will request that any research be done with the actual toxic waste "product" used to fluoridate public drinking water. ==
(4) Fluoride Combines with Aluminium in Drinking Water
NEW STUDY SHOWS GRAVE IMPLICATIONS FROM INTERACTION OF ALUMINUM AND LOW DOSE FLUORIDE
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/aluminum.html
Promoters of fluoridation can no longer get away with the "unequivocal statement" that fluoride is a "free ion" in water", OR that "it completely dissociates and doesn't react with other minerals in drinking water."
Following the Varner, et al aluminium fluoride studies in which 80% of the experimental rats died before the end of the experiment the United States Environmental Protection Agency was sufficiently alarmed to push the National Toxicology Program (NTP) to do further research.
Varner and associates appear to have found TOXIC SYNERGISTIC ACTION between FLUORIDE and ALUMINIUM in drinking water. This has now been made a part of PUBLIC RECORD in the US FEDERAL REGISTER as of December 4, 2000.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) concurs with the EPA and has formally called for NTP to commission studies.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
For the first time, synergistic action is officially acknowledged, along with the fact that FLUORIDE in the water COMBINES WITH OTHER MINERALS.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has commissioned a Review of Toxicological Literature on Aluminium Compounds.
[Federal Register: December 4, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 233)] [Notices] [Page
75727-75730] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr04de00-106] ... ==
http://www.fluoridealert.org/ifin-28.htm
Aluminum, Fluoride, and Hormones
International Fluoride Information Network
December 15, 1999
IFIN Bulletin #28: Aluminum, Fluoride, and Hormones
by Paul Connett, PhD
These days there is a great deal of concern about industrial chemicals, such as pesticides, additives to plastics and incinerator emissions, which disrupt the activities of hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers which finely tune and regulate the body's chemistry. They are produced in specialiazed glands (for example, adrenaline is produced in the adrenal glands) in the body and are then circulated in the bloodstream until they find their target tissues. Hormones can be divided into two large classes: ones which are fat soluble and others which are water soluble. The fat soluble ones ( e.g. estrogen and testerone) are able to cross the cell membranes (which are made of fat) without difficulty. Inside the cells they find a protein ( a receptor) to which they bind like a key fitting into a lock. This combination then attaches to the DNA, resulting in the switching on of genes and thus the production of new proteins in the cell. The water soluble hormones ( e.g. insulin, adrenaline, glucagon etc) as well as some neurotransmitters) are not able to enter the cell. Thus they have to deliver their message from the outside. They combine with receptors on the outside of the cell. This combination triggers of a change in the G-proteins - proteins which stretch out across the membrane-, this change in turn leads to the activation or release of a "secondary messenger" (usually cyclic AMP or Ca2+), inside the cell, which then goes on to make changes inside the cell -usually the activation of enzymes involved in the breakdown of sugars and fats to produce more energy and growth. Thus the G-proteins are seen as an" On-OFF switch" between the delivery of the hormonal message at the outside of the cell and the ensuing activity inside the cell. When the hormone ( or neurotransmitter) arrives the G-proteins are switched ON and when the message has been delivered the G-proteins are switched off again.
The actual mechanism is actually fairly simple. Sitting in a crevice of the G-protin is a molecule called GDP (Guanosine diphosphate)- this consists of one of the bases in nucleic acids (guanine)- attached to a sugar (ribose)- and then to two phosphate groups. The G-protein is switched on when a third phosphate group attaches to the end of the other two and forms GTP. This attachment occurs when the hormone attaches to the receptor.
Now this is where the devastating news about fluoride comes in. In the presence of a little aluminum, fluoride forms an ion called AF4-: that is an aluminum ion surrounded by four fluoride ions. To the G-protein this AlF4- looks just like a phosphate ion. Thus when there is fluoride and aluminum around, it is this species that can combine with the GDP in the G-protein, AND without any involvement of the hormone it can deliver the message (ie activate the cellular change) that the hormone would have delivered. Should this happen it would cause serious problems for the tissue involved. It would be getting the wrong message at the wrong time. We describe chemicals that disrupt hormonal signals as "endocrine disruptors".
Could fluoride and aluminum at the levels to which we are exposed to them cause pathological problems. This issue was reviewed by two Czech scientists in the following article sent to me by Andreas Schuld of Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children. Even if you don't underestand all the science involved, please keep hold of this article and share it with any doctor, dentist or scientist you know. The information here is potentially the silver bullet that could get the fluoride out of our water, out of our tooth paste and out of industry. Please read on.
Paul Connett.
Charles University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physiology and Developmental Physiology, Prague Department of Toxicology, Purkyn? Military Medical Academy, Hradec Kr?lov?, Czech Republic
Running title: Pharmacological implications of aluminofluoride complexes
Corresponding author: Anna Struneck? Department of Physiology and Developmental Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Vini?n? 7, 128 00, Prague
2, Czech Republic Telephone: (42) - 02/21953239 Fax no.: (42) - 02/299713 E-mail: astrun@cesnet.cz
Abstract
Aluminofluoride complexes have been widely used in laboratory investigations for stimulation of various guanine nucleotide binding proteins. These fluorometallic complexes cannot be obtained through any catalogue or drug store. They are formed in water solutions containing fluoride and traces of aluminium in the form of the soluble ionic complexes, Aluminofluoride complexes have been recognised to act as phosphate analogues. Reflecting many studies which utilise aluminofluoride complexes in laboratory investigations, the effects of these fluorometallic complexes on various cells and tissues as observed, can be reviewed. With the appearance of acid rain and the use of aluminium in industry, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of uncomplexed aluminium in ecosystems. In view of the ubiquity of phosphate in cell metabolism, aluminofluoride complexes represent a strong potential danger for living organisms including humans. The possibility of pathophysiological consequences of their long-term action is not fully recognised at this point. ...
Supported by Grant Agency of Charles University, Prague (Grant No.113/1998/BBio/P?F).
?Anna Struneck? & Jir? Patocka ...
Fluoride Action Network | 802-859-3363 | info@fluoridealert.org ==
August 26, 1998
Many older papers claiming that the concentration of fluoride in public water systems is so small that we can be sure it does no harm have been published in scientific journals. New research, reported at the twenty-second conference of the International Association for Fluoride Research on August 25, 1998, has uncovered a fatal flaw in the research design of experiments with laboratory rats. It was the custom for laboratory experiments about fluoride toxicity to be done using sodium fluoride in distilled water for the rats' drinking water. It was presumed that if sodium fluoride at very low levels in distilled water did not harm the rats then fluoride in tap water must be safe.
Now, scientists have found that there is a toxic chemical reaction with aluminum and fluoride even at very low levels just like they put in the water. K. Jensen and coworkers found that when fluoride and aluminum combine to make AlF3 at very low concentrations in water, aluminum gets into the brain and kidney more easily. The accumulation of aluminum in the brain results in damage to the neurons thus resulting in an Alzheimer's-like condition with memory loss. Alum is commonly used for processing water for municipal water systems. This leaves small amounts of aluminum in the water which combine with fluoride.
ISFR Conference: Dr. Mullenix Presents More Evidence that Fluoride Damages the Brain
August 25, 1998
Presentations of scientific research at the twenty-second conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research (ISFR) began today. The highlight of the day was Dr. Mullenix's report that her laboratory studies that fluorine damages the brain. The toxic effect of fluorine in the brain is relevant to childhood leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer of the bone marrow which causes excess production of white blood cells The treatment for leukemia causes the cancer cells to go to the brain. Drugs must be used to kill the cancer cells in the brain if the treatment is to be successful. Prednisoline and dexamethasone have been used for this purpose. The molecular structures of these two drugs is almost the same. Dexamethasone has one fluorine atom in each molecule and prednisolone does not. Dexamethasone has become the drug of choice because it is more powerful. However, children who were treated with dexamethasone and who already had mediocre IQ lost ten more IQ points after treatment with dexamethasone. These children also grew more slowly, had narrower skull shapes and their teeth stopped developing.
In her latest laboratory studies, Dr. Mullenix found that dexamethasone impaired the behavior of rats in a way that is equivalent to hyperactivity in humans. Dr. Mullenix pioneered a computerized technology for these studies. Video cameras record the activity of rats at specified intervals. The activities of the rats are classified and then the sequence of activities can be compared. The rats on the dexamethasone had "dispersed" sequences. This means that their behavior sequences did not follow the usual patterns of healthy rats. The disrupted patterns of activity are reminiscent of hyperactivity in children.
Dr. Mullenix is in the Pscyhiatry Department at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Another presentation at the ISFR conference showed photographs of microscopic brain damage of rats which drank water with sodium fluoride (NaF). Dr. Chubek and co-workers found that the rats on the fluoridated water for 21 days had the highest concentrations of NaF and had brain cells that were smaller and mishapen. The myelin, a substance which surrounds certain axons and nerve fibers, was swollen:
"A neuropathological study and computerized morphometric analyses revealed revealed a marked shrinkage of cerebellar granular and Purkinje cells, perivascular myelin swelling, and astroglia reaction, especially in the white matter of brains in the NaF-treated animals. Neuronal and myelin changes appeared to be more pronounced ... " ...
Part of this information came from the Seattle Times, June 23, 1998, p. A1.
Notes:
1.Robert Lenzner, "A monster beverage event," Forbes, October 20, 1997, p. 64.
2.Time, June 10, 1996, p. 70. 3.BA Auslander, "Toronto Tap Water: Perception of its Quality and Use of Alternatives," Canadian Journal of Public Health, March-April, 1993, pp. 99-102. 4.S Van Winkle, et al., "Water and Formula Fluoride Concentrations: Significance for Infants Fed Formula," Pediatric Dentistry, July-August, 1995, pp. 305-310. 5.AM Weissman, "Bottled Water Use in an Immigrant Community: A Public Health Issue?" American Journal of Public Health, August, 1997, pp. 1397-1380. 6.JT Chan, et al., "Fluoride Content of Bottled Waters: Implications for Dietary Supplementation," Texas Dental Journal, April, 1990, pp. 17-21. 7.S Van Winkle, op. cit. 8.GM Whitford, GM, "Intake and Metabolism of Fluoride," Advances in Dental Research, June, 1994, pp. 5-14.
Peter Myers, 381 Goodwood Rd, Childers 4660,
Australia
ph +61 7 41262296
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers
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