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Excerpts from:
Gibson S. (1992). Effects of fluoride on immune system function. Complementary Medical Research 6: 111-113.
"Fluoride is one of the most toxic inorganic chemicals in the Earth's crust, but it is believed that at a concentration of 1ppm, or 1m g/mL in public water supplies, and at the concentrations used in dental preparations, it is both safe and beneficial to teeth. However, with increasing experience, doubts about both safety and efficacy have arisen. While there is evidence of harm to the stomach, kidneys, thyroid, bones and teeth at higher concentrations, evidence for harm at concentrations around 1m g/mL is controversial. A possible link between fluoridation of public water supplies and an increase in the cancer death rate has been debated for over 20 years and there is now no doubt that fluoride can cause genetic damage.
...concentrations of fluoride of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 20.0 ppm significantly inhibit the ability of leukocytes to migrate after incubation for 3 hours at 37° C.
The immune system is our first line of defense against attack whether from the outside from bacteria, viruses and other parasites, or from within, from the spontaneous generation of potentially cancerous cells. Any agent which affects the ability of the immune system to function efficiently either by a direct toxic effect or by interfering with the release of cytokines will tend to reduce the resistance of the population to infection as well as increasing the susceptibility to cancer and immune depressed states such as the post-viral fatigue syndrome and AIDS. The effect on individuals already suffering from such immune-depressed conditions is likely to be serious.
All recent large-scale surveys have shown minimal benefits to teeth from fluoridation programs. On the other hand, chronic exposure to fluoride at 1ppm could have a long-term detrimental effect on the general health of the population. Over the past 20 to 30 years there has been a substantial and unexplained rise in a number of conditions such as allergy, auto-immune diseases and the post viral fatigue syndrome. The common factor in these conditions is an alteration in the efficiency of the immune system."
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