Much is being made by the fluoride lobby that fluoride occurs “naturally” in surface water and that they are just “slightly adjusting” the fluoride levels to 1mg/l to help teeth. That is TEN times the normal amount and just under 0.5 mg/l from the EPA maximum allowable industrial pollutant level of 1.5 mg/l. However, Fluoride ions enter surface waters from soil leeching, precipitation, and human emissions. The concentration in river water varies with the geology of the drainage basins, but an average of 0.1 ppm has been determined (cited in Olausson and Cato, 1980), and indeed, research is showing that the habitat of fish is affected at levels over 0.2mg/l. So much for another great fluoride lie!
“The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)1 and the Province of British Columbia2 adhere to a "permissible level" of 1.5 ppm (1.5 mg/L) for fluoride discharged into fresh water. BC's "recommended guideline" is currently 0.2 ppm fluoride ; but this does not have the force of legislation. Neither the Minister of the Environment nor the Washington State Department of Ecology requires fluoride estimations for sewer effluent permits as it is considered fluoride is not significantly toxic to aquatic life in concentrations expected in discharges.3, 4
A review of the literature and other documents, including court transcripts, reveals that levels below 1.5 ppm have been shown to have both lethal and other adverse effects on salmon.
Smelters vs. Salmon
“The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)1 and the Province of British Columbia2 adhere to a "permissible level" of 1.5 ppm (1.5 mg/L) for fluoride discharged into fresh water. BC's "recommended guideline" is currently 0.2 ppm fluoride ; but this does not have the force of legislation. Neither the Minister of the Environment nor the Washington State Department of Ecology requires fluoride estimations for sewer effluent permits as it is considered fluoride is not significantly toxic to aquatic life in concentrations expected in discharges.3, 4
A review of the literature and other documents, including court transcripts, reveals that levels below 1.5 ppm have been shown to have both lethal and other adverse effects on salmon.
Smelters vs. Salmon
In a field study, Damkaer and Dey10 demonstrated that high salmon loss at John Day Dam on the Columbia River, 1982-1986, was caused by the inhibition of migration by fluoride contamination from an aluminum smelter located 1.6 km [one mile] above the dam. In 1982, the average daily discharge of fluoride was 384 kg and the salmon loss was 55%. In 1985, discharge averaged 49 kg and was accompanied by a concentration of 0.2 ppm and a salmonid loss of 5%.
Damkaer and Dey confirmed the cause-and-effect relationship by means of a two-choice flume for fluoride gradient salmon behaviour tests. These determined that the "critical level" was 0.2 ppm.
There are other studies that indicate that fluoride at levels below 1.5 ppm have lethal and other adverse effects on fish. Delayed hatching of rainbow trout have occurred at 1.5 ppm;11 brown mussels have died at 1.4 ppm12; an alga (Porphyria tenera) was killed by a four-hour fumigation with fluoride with a critical concentration of 0.9 ppm13; and, levels below 0.1 ppm were shown to be lethal to the water flea, Daphnia magna.14 These latter two studies suggest that salmon species also may be affected by fluoride-induced reduction of food supply.
Documents used in a 1961 court case involving Meader's Trout farm in Pocatello, Idaho,15 contain evidence that between 1949 and 1950 trout damage and loss was related to fluoride contamination due to rain washing airborne particles from leaves into hatchery water at levels as low as 0.5 ppm. This evidence suggests that the "safe level" of fluoride in the fresh water habitat of salmon species is not 1.5 ppm but, 0.2 ppm.
Is City Water Deadly to Salmon?
Damkaer and Dey confirmed the cause-and-effect relationship by means of a two-choice flume for fluoride gradient salmon behaviour tests. These determined that the "critical level" was 0.2 ppm.
There are other studies that indicate that fluoride at levels below 1.5 ppm have lethal and other adverse effects on fish. Delayed hatching of rainbow trout have occurred at 1.5 ppm;11 brown mussels have died at 1.4 ppm12; an alga (Porphyria tenera) was killed by a four-hour fumigation with fluoride with a critical concentration of 0.9 ppm13; and, levels below 0.1 ppm were shown to be lethal to the water flea, Daphnia magna.14 These latter two studies suggest that salmon species also may be affected by fluoride-induced reduction of food supply.
Documents used in a 1961 court case involving Meader's Trout farm in Pocatello, Idaho,15 contain evidence that between 1949 and 1950 trout damage and loss was related to fluoride contamination due to rain washing airborne particles from leaves into hatchery water at levels as low as 0.5 ppm. This evidence suggests that the "safe level" of fluoride in the fresh water habitat of salmon species is not 1.5 ppm but, 0.2 ppm.
Is City Water Deadly to Salmon?
In fluoridated areas, drinking water obtained from surface water with an average fluoride concentration of 0.1-0.2 ppm16 is raised to the "optimal" level of 0.7-1.2 ppm by the addition of sodium fluoride, hydrofluosilicic acid, or sodium silicofluoride. [Note: In 1985, the EPA raised the Maximum Contaminant Level to 4 ppm.]
Fluoride, in community drinking water, enters the fresh water ecosystem in various ways. Surface run-off from fire-fighting, washing cars, and watering gardens may enter streams directly or through storm sewers at optimal concentration, 0.7-1.2 ppm. Most enters during waste water treatment.
Masuda17 studied a large number of cities and calculated the concentrations in waste water that were in excess of the concentration present in the cities' water supplies. In raw sewage, this was 1.30 ppm; primary treatment reduced this slightly to 1.28 ppm; secondary treatment to 0.39 ppm. Singer and Armstrong18 found 0.38 ppm in unfluoridated sewage and 1.16-1.25 ppm in fluoridated sewage.
It is clear that, in the case of artificially fluoridated communities, the concentration of fluoride in both surface run-off and sewer effluent exceeds 0.2 ppm.”
Extract from: Impact of Artificial Fluoridation on Salmon In the Northwest US and British Columbia
by Richard G Foulkes, MD and Anne C. Anderson, RPN
Read the whole article here: http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_salmon.html
Fluoride, in community drinking water, enters the fresh water ecosystem in various ways. Surface run-off from fire-fighting, washing cars, and watering gardens may enter streams directly or through storm sewers at optimal concentration, 0.7-1.2 ppm. Most enters during waste water treatment.
Masuda17 studied a large number of cities and calculated the concentrations in waste water that were in excess of the concentration present in the cities' water supplies. In raw sewage, this was 1.30 ppm; primary treatment reduced this slightly to 1.28 ppm; secondary treatment to 0.39 ppm. Singer and Armstrong18 found 0.38 ppm in unfluoridated sewage and 1.16-1.25 ppm in fluoridated sewage.
It is clear that, in the case of artificially fluoridated communities, the concentration of fluoride in both surface run-off and sewer effluent exceeds 0.2 ppm.”
Extract from: Impact of Artificial Fluoridation on Salmon In the Northwest US and British Columbia
by Richard G Foulkes, MD and Anne C. Anderson, RPN
Read the whole article here: http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/fluoride/fluoride_salmon.html
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