[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]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Public Health Service

... [[Page 75728]] ...

    Dated: November 20, 2000.
Samuel H. Wilson,
Deputy Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Attachment--Substances Nominated to the NTP for Study and Testing 
Recommendations Made by the ICCEC on October 27, 2000

                                  Table 1.--Substances Recommended for Testing
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                                                                                       Study rationale; other
     Substance [CAS Number]          Nominated by         ICCEC recommendations              information
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Aluminum complexes found in       Environmental       Long-term drinking water      Drinking water contaminants
 drinking water, Aluminum          Protection          studies to address            with a high health research
 fluoride, [7784-18-1], Aluminum   Agency; National    pharmacokinetics,             priority; known
 citrate, [31142-56-0].            Institute of        neurotoxicity, bone           neurotoxicity of aluminum;
                                   Environmental       development, and              need for better
                                   Health Sciences.    reproduction and              understanding of
                                                       developmental toxicity.       pharmacokinetics and
                                                                                     toxicity of aluminum
                                                                                     species occurring in
                                                                                     drinking water.
                                                      --Consider testing in
                                                       transgenic animal models of
                                                       neurodegenerative disease.
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[FR Doc. 00-30715 Filed 12-1-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-00-M
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The latest edition of the peer-reviewed medical journal, Brain Research, (vol.784:l998), reveals that aluminum-induced neural degeneration in rats is greatly enhanced when the animals were fed low doses of fluoride. The presence of fluoride enhanced the bio-availability of aluminum (Al) causing more aluminum to cross the blood-brain barrier and become deposited in the brain. The aluminum level in the brains of the fluoride-treated group was double that of the controls.

The pathological changes found in the brain tissue of the animals given fluoride and aluminum-fluoride were similar to the alterations found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

The authors stated that "While the small amount of AlF3 in the drinking water of rats required for neurotoxic effects is surprising, perhaps even more surprising are the neurotoxic results of NaF (sodium fluoride) at the dose given in the present study (2.1 ppm NaF)." (2.1 parts per million NaF equals about l.0 milligram fluoride ion per litre of water- the same level found in 1.0 ppm "optimally" fluoridated drinking water.¹).

This study confirms what the authors of a 1995 study, published in the Journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology, predicted when they found fluoride-induced behavioural disruptions (related to drug-induced hypeide-fed rats, damage could be expected in the hippocampus of the brain (central processor which integrates inputs from the environment, memory, etc.). The new study also confirms the work of scientists in China, published in 1996, which showed fluoride to adversely affect children's IQ.

When contacted by phone, Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, one of the authors of the l995 study, said that she is "not at all surprised" that the new study found pathological brain changes in fluoride-treated rats. She added: "They came up with the evidence which made our prediction come true."

The latest paper is yet another study which shows that even low levels of fluoride may have serious health implications for people and that the effect is enhanced in the presence of other neurotoxins like aluminum.

¹ The formula for converting NaF to fluoride ion is ppm x 45%. Thus, 2.1 ppm x 45% = .95 ppm (ppm =mgs /litre).

Contact: Ellie Rudolph, Director, Pennsylvania Chapter, Health Alliance International Phone/Fax 412-828-5096

http://www.fluoridation.com

NOTES FOR EDITOR:

TITLE REFERENCE: Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride or sodium-fluoride to rats in drinking water: alterations in neuronal and cerebrovascular integrity; Julie A. Verner, Karl F. Jensen, William Horvath, Robert L.Isaacson, Brain Research, Vol.784:l998, Elsevier Science.

This is the latest edition to the hundreds of studies showing the adverse effects of fluoride.

• Recently declassified documents,obtained under the U.S Freedom of Information legislation, show that central nervous system (CNS) effects caused by fluoride were known to, but concealed by, the US government during the l940s.

• Fluoride is a cumulative, protoplasmic poison, more toxic than lead. It is being deliberately added to the drinking water of MILLIONS of people in the United States, whether they want it or not- for the stated reason that "it can reduce tooth decay in children."

• Adverse health effects published over the decades are consistently DENIED by the government's advisers on water fluoridation.