fluoride in organic standards

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FLUORIDE



Fluoride: The Hidden Poison in the National Organic Standards

By Ellen and Paul Connett, Ph.D.

Introduction

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) revised rule on National Organic Standards (NOS), proposed in March 2000, was finalized in December. For the most part, the standards have been written with care and integrity. For the rest, they attracted over 40,000 comments from the public. The standards were first proposed in 1997 and included proposals to use sewage sludge, irradiation, antibiotics in livestock, and genetically modified organisms. USDA withdrew the proposal after receiving over 275,000 comments from the public-- the most comments received on any US agency proposal in history.

In the main the public's efforts on this issue paid off well. In the final NOS the four practices listed above were out, but unfortunately, despite over 100 comments, those concerned about fluoride were ignored. Incredibly, the new standards allow the use of the toxic substance sodium fluoride in organic agriculture.

Fluoride is a persistent and non-degradable poison that accumulates in soil, plants, wildlife, and humans. Many organic farmers may be unaware that this highly toxic substance has been allowed for use in the NOS, because its presence is hidden. However, it is there:

- As Sodium Fluoride tucked away in the US EPA List 4 Inerts ("Inerts which have sufficient data to substantiate they can be used safely in pesticide products, according to EPA."), which are allowed for use in the NOS.

- In Bone Meal (which can contain 1000 ppm - or more- fluoride), also included in US EPA List 4 Inerts ("Inerts generally regarded as safe, i.e., corn cobs and cookie crumbs," according to EPA).


To call sodium fluoride an "inert" is Orwellian and defies one of the NOS's stated principles: producers shall not use "natural poisons such as arsenic or lead salts that have long-term effects and persist in the environment." Fluoride is clearly in this category. Sadly, the use of fluoride in organic farming could undermine the public's confidence and safety in organic food - both here and abroad. This will become more obvious as the movement against fluoridation of public water picks up momentum worldwide. As it does more and more people will be asking questions about fluoride levels in their food. Unlike the List of Inerts, fluoride levels in organic food cannot be hidden.

The purpose of this article is to argue the case against any use of fluoride in organic agriculture in the hope that despite these new standards it will encourage organic farmers to go "fluoride free." Before we proceed we wish to note the following:

* The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) stated in 1993: "Existing data indicate that subsets of the population may be unusually susceptible to the toxic effects of fluoride and its compounds. These populations include the elderly, people with deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, and/or vitamin C, and people with cardiovascular and kidney problems... Because fluoride is ubiquitous in food and water, the potential for human exposure is substantial (ATSDR, p 112, 153)."

* The studies on which the US EPA relied in establishing its maximum contaminant level (MCL) for fluoride in drinking water - 4 parts per million (ppm) - and on which it has relied to perform risk assessments for fluoride pesticide residue levels were seriously flawed. Not only has the union representing professionals at EPA's DC headquarters called for an independent review of these studies, their concern led them to two unprecedented actions. In 1986 they filed an Amicus Curiae brief in a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council against EPA for its MCL of 4 ppm for fluoride in drinking water. The union charged that the MCL was based on shoddy science and was not protective of public health. In 1997 the union announced its support of a citizens group fighting mandatory fluoridation in California.

* Elsewhere, we have gone into the dangers posed by water fluoridation (see "50 Reasons for Opposing Fluoridation," www.fluoridealert.org). A great deal of animal and human research, much of it published since 1990, points to fluoride's potential to damage the bones of the elderly, and interfere with the functioning of the brain, thyroid gland, pineal gland, kidney, and reproductive system.

* In 1998, a fluoride study published in Brain Research reported damage to rat kidneys and brain at very low doses. Rats were given 1 ppm fluoride in doubly distilled and de-ionized water for 52 weeks. In other words they were given the same levels as we get in fluoridated water, albeit without the other ions present in tap water. One group of rats was given aluminum-fluoride (AlF3) and another, sodium fluoride (NaF). In both cases amyloid deposits were found in the rat brains. Amyloid deposits are tangles in the brain and are associated with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia. Scientists do not know why they form. The rats in the control did not have them. The authors of the study speculate that fluoride enables aluminum to cross the blood brain barrier (Varner et al). This paper has caused quite a stir in regulatory circles and has prompted both the NIEHS and the EPA to nominate aluminum fluoride for comprehensive study by the National Toxicology Program.

* In 1994, a FDA researcher published results from a study that found an association between residence in counties with high fluoride concentrations in drinking water (3 ppm) with decreased birth rates. The author raised the question "whether public health concerns and toxicologic research should not shift their focus from the isolated intake from fluoridated water to the potential toxicity of the total fluoride intake (Freni)." This suggestion is important, because surprisingly, a great deal of the promotion of fluoridation in the US has centered on the concentration of fluoride in drinking water and has been very cavalier about the total dose of fluoride we get from ALL sources.