Week 3! We've passed the halfway point, and if you're reading this, thank for keeping up with it thus far. I'm stunned by how many profile views I've gotten, so thanks :)
So far, we've covered fluoride's destructive effects in the mouth, bones, and mind. However, fluoride travels through the entire body on its rampage, affecting almost every system of the human anatomy.
Topically applied, fluoride can cause headaches, muscle weakness, and stomach upsets. If inhaled, asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema can be acquired after long-term (often unbeknownst) exposure, such as in a work environment or neighborhood. Tests show that the prevalence of chronic bronchitis linearly increases with a steady level of fluoride exposure. Inhaling fluoride can, on the spot, also induce a bronchospasm, laryngospasm, or pulmonary edema (all fancy talk for lung issues). A concentrated inhalation can impact the central nervous system too, like creating twitching, convulsions, and even comas.
In general: When fluoride is ingested, most commonly through drinking water, it is absorbed into the body through the gastrointestinal tract by passive diffusion. This just means fluoride slowly but steadily leaks from your stomach area into all other areas of the body. Most fluoride-releasing compounds form hydrogen fluoride when mixed with the hydrochloric acid naturally located in the stomach. This newly formulated hydrogen fluoride irritates the stomach mucosa, causing serious structural and functional effects- like chronic gastritis, duodenal ulcers, and the erosion of the gastric mucosa. Again, this is just jargon that codes for stomach and digestive problems that you do NOT want to deal with.
Fluoride has made its mark, I can promise you that. When consumed, it attacks your body just like a poison would, as you can see in the numerous ways we've pointed out its effects. Wednesday we'll start to talk a little about the genetic effects fluoride can have on you AND your (future?) children.
Citations:
The Hundred Year Lie - Randall Fitzgerald
"Fluoride and the Pineal Gland" - Fluoride Action Network
Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals - Marshall Sittig
"Review of Fluoride Benefits and Risks" US Dept. of Health and Health Services Report
Health Effects of Ingested Fluoride - Bernard Wagner
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you obviously researched this thoroughly...especially judging from your vobabulary and terms. i always hear of law suits against coal mines, etc. because people are inhaling chemicals and contracting mesothelioma and other like diseases. i would be interested to know if the same has happened with the inhalation of fluoride...i'm sure there are many cases. but all in all good post, good backing, strong research, strong structure, good topic. you could say that i'm a big fan
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention the reference to the possible "genetic" effects of fluoride, I must give some serious thought to whether or not this explains the many "oddities" of my offspring!! After all, my father was a dentist, you know! Maybe I was heavily exposed in my childhood, and that would explain you and your brother! :)
ReplyDeleteI walked into the grocery store today and found something interesting that reminded me of your senior project. I was on the water aisle and I saw a package of bottled water that was actually advertising additional flouride! The package said something like "extra flouride added to help keep your kids mouth healthier." Kind of ironic isn't it?
ReplyDeleteeye-opening finds, for sure. you certainly don't hear about the risks as apposed to the benefits. has fluoride been found (air, water) in other parts of the world ... in comparison to the u.s.?
ReplyDeletems. witter,
ReplyDeletenot in a government-regulated manner as is imposed in the US. europe is especially opposed to water fluoridation and has experienced/is experiencing just as stark of an increase in dental health as the US did.
in many underdeveloped regions of the world, fluoride is not necessarily regulated and pumped into systems but is VERY present in a dangerous and life-threatening magnitude, especially where the government doesn't have the money or power to control it.
cheers,
natalie
This makes my stomach turn a little...
ReplyDeleteTo start, I am curious to know a situation in which an individual would inhale flouride. Fluoride gas sounds like it was a chemical weapon used in World War 2. Granted, I am definitely not arguing that fluoride does not detrimental side effects on the respitory system from oral injestion, it just seems like the inhalation of fluoride would be a worst case scenario.
Second, why/how does fluoride irrate the mucus lining of the stomach, and does it at all affect the pH of the digestive juices? Does it somehow disrupt the molecular formula of the mucus in the stomach?
Third-although I feel like I this should be implied based on all the appartent side effects of fluoride-is fluoride a carcinogen? And, if it does cause cancer, does it give the person with cancer a gene in which can be passed onto future generations, even if the new generations are not exposed to fluoride (which will kind of bring you to Wednesday I'm guessing)?
With every post I have more and more to think about, consdering my hippocampus is still functioning correctly :p.
awesome post natty! i have a question...you said that when your central nervous system is exposed to fluoride it can cause things like twitching. Can fluoride cause something like Terettes(sp?)? That was the first thing that popped into my head-weird question I know! Bravo!
ReplyDeletemr. mcsteen,
ReplyDeletefluoride can be inhaled most of the time as an output of factories, and for people working in low-income, low-safety regulations jobs. a lot of low-income neighborhoods are located in the vicinity of fluoride-releasing factories as well, and therefore the children (and adults, for that matter) become exposed to fluoride often without any knowledge.
as for its exact mechanism of affecting the mucous lining of the stomach, i will get back to you. though i remember reading about it, i don't want to post what i can recollect here and have it be wrong. i'll post it tomorrow.
and yes, fluoride IS a carcinogen. we'll get to that in depth in a couple posts from now :)
if your hippocampus was damaged..you wouldn't even KNOW :) don't assume, my friend.
cheers, natalie
and to loveable:
i am not currently aware of fluoride's connection to tourette's. that's a genetic disorder, and though it wouldn't surprise me if fluoride had some horrible effect like that, i am not in a place to identify it now. but nice critical thinking!
cheers, natalie
Again, I like what I am seeing on here. Greatest post of the month comes from none other than 'Mommy Dearest." Ya know, I used to be in extreme favor of fluoride but after reading her post, she made some valid arguments based upon 2 case studies-I may reconsider my thinking. Ha ha jk.
ReplyDeleteI would point out that hydochloric acid, a normal acid found in your stomach helps to chemically break down food. If taken out of the stomach, it will burn right thru skin and even carpet. Hydrofluoric acid will probably do something similar seeing as how they are in the same column of the periodic table. I say all this because what we have in our body naturally can also have the effects that you stated in your post. But certainly, hydrofluoric acid is nothing to take lightly.
Anywho, good work...this whole genetic connection is going to be interesting. I am a bit skeptical but maybe Mommy Dearest was on to something ;)
If I got my asthma from fluoride...imma be pissed.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this not common knowledge and why isn't anyone telling us about these issues? Is it a full scale government hush job that they don't want us little people to know about it? You continue to quote true facts about this horrible toxin yet it isn't mainstream chat material. HELP!
ReplyDeleteflourine's intense!
ReplyDelete