A-Bomb Production

Because fluoride was vital to the production of Atomic Bombs, a combination of forces worked to put a “good face” on this very toxic element.

This is a partial review of an article, by the title of “Fluoride, Teeth & The A-Bomb,” that appeared in Earth Island Journal—Winter 1997-98.  The researchers of the article were Joel Griffiths and Christopher Bryson.

About five decades ago, the United States started a campaign to add fluoride to public water supplies.  The public face of this huge PR push was reduction of cavities.  Recently declassified documents are adding a new dimension to the history of the fluoridation movement.  They reveal

a surprising connection between fluoride and the dawning of the nuclear age.

The authors state:  “The government’s hidden motives behind promoting fluoride as ‘safe’ have not been revealed to the general public, nor to civilian researchers, health professional or journalists—until now.”

The documents reveal that fluoride was a key chemical in the production of atomic bombs.  Throughout the Cold War, huge quantities of fluoride were needed.  One of the most toxic chemicals known, fluoride, became the leading chemical health hazard of the US atomic bomb program—both for workers and for nearby communities.

Griffiths and Bryson chronicle the many details of the government’s efforts to mitigate and hide the extent of the problem (which included lawsuits against the government).  This included public relations efforts.  Many steps were taken to defuse the situation, including support for water fluoridation with all the attendant claims of safety.

Medical researchers who have reviewed these recently declassified documents fear that Cold War security considerations may have prevented objective and scientific evaluation of fluoride’s true impact on public health.

A Manhattan Project (A-Bomb) memo, April 29, 1944, contained a frightening warning:  “Clinical evidence suggests that uranium hexafluoride may have a rather marked central nervous system (CNS) effect...It seems most likely that the F [fluoride] component rather than the T [code for uranium] is the causative factor.”

In the memo—stamped “secret”—Colonel Stafford Warren, head of the Manhattan Project’s Medical Section, was asked to approve a program of animal research on CNS effects since it was deemed important “to prevent a confused workman from injuring others by improperly performing his duties.”  He did so immediately because of the gravity of the situation.  This was at the height of WWII.  Other than memos, the research program is missing from the files of the National Archives, “...no evidence of the Manhattan Project’s fluoride CNS research could be found in the files.”

Fluoridation: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly, by Kenneth M. Howard, p 73-74;

for the “rest of the story,” see The Fluoride Deception, by Christopher Bryson

Abundant  Living

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