Kidney Foundation Drops Fluoridation Support

                       Fluoride may damage bones of kidney patients

New York – June  2008  – The National Kidney Foundation withdrew its support of water fluoridation citing the 2006 National Research Council (NRC) report indicating that kidney patients are more susceptible to fluoride’s bone and teeth-damaging effects.

The kidney-impaired retain more fluoride and risk skeletal fluorosis (an arthritic-type bone disease), fractures and severe enamel fluorosis, which may increase the risk of dental decay, reports the NRC.

Fluoride is added to US water supplies ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. Fluoride is also in foods, beverages, (1) drugs and dental products.

The National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) (2) former fluoridation position statement also carried surprising cautions.  The NKF advised monitoring children’s fluoride intake along with patients with chronic kidney impairment, those with excessive fluoride intake, and those with prolonged disease. But NKF now admits, “exposure from food and beverages is difficult to monitor, since FDA food labels do not quantify fluoride content.”

The NKF’s April 15, 2008 statement goes further: “Individuals with CKD [Chronic Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride exposure.”

“More than 20 million Americans have CKD, and most don’t even know it. More than 20 million others are at increased risk for developing CKD,” NKF reports.

“There is consistent evidence that impairment of kidney function results in changes to the way in which fluoride is metabolized and eliminated from the body, resulting in an increased burden of fluoride,” concludes Kidney Health Australia. (3) in a paper NKF

recommends reading   (4)

NKF’s fluoridation support was dropped when a lawyer, (5)  an academic dentist and public health professional, Daniel Stockin, (6) alerted it to NRC’s findings.

“An easy way to reduce the uncontrolled flow of fluoride into our bodies is to stop water fluoridation,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. “But it takes political will to reject fluoridation.”

The American Dental Association was forced to drop the NKF as a supporter of water fluoridation.

Chronic kidney disease is a growing health problem in the United States occurring more often in African-American populations, says the Centers for Disease Control. (10)

More fluoride/kidney information here:  http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/kidney/index.html

References:

1) USDA Fluoride in Foods Database

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/fluoride.pdf

2)  National Kidney Foundation, “Fluoride Intake in Chronic Kidney Disease,”

April 15, 2008

 http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/Fluoride_Intake_in_CKD.pdf

3) Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

 “Effects of fluoridation of community water supplies for people with

chronic kidney disease,” (2007) 22: 2763–2767, Ludlow et al.

 http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/KHAFluoridation_CKD-NDT_2007.pdf

4) National Kidney Foundation, “Fluoride”

http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=205

5) September 18, 2007 letter, Reeves to National Kidney Foundation

http://www.fluoridealert.org/NKF_letter01.pdf

6) October  , 2007 news release “Did Kidney Foundation Leave Millions at Risk by Failing to Warn about Fluorides and Fluoridated Drinking Water?” by Daniel Stockin, MPH, The Lillie Center

http://fluoridealert.org/press/nkf.htm

7) American Dental Association,

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/compendium.asp

8) Louisiana Dental Association, “Health Smiles Coalition”

http://www.healthysmileslouisiana.org/coalition.html

9) American Dental Association, “Fluoridation Facts”

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/fluoridation_facts.pdf

10) U.S. Centers for Disease Control, MMWR “Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease and Associated Risk Factors --- United States, 1999—2004

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5608a2.htm