Abundant  Living

Information Services

Fluoridation, Bone Cancer Coverup and Bone Fractures

Fluoridation study finds link to osteosarcoma:  Finally accessible is the doctoral dissertation written by Elise Bassin.  The now “Dr.” Bassin led the study to shed new light on the harmful effects of fluoride; her thesis of April 2001  Association Between Fluoride in Drinking Water During Growth and Development and the Incidence of  osteosarcoma for Children and Adolescents is available online under www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/2005.

The doctoral research was conducted under the supervision of Harvard’s Department Head of Epidemiology, Chester Douglass.  He received widespread criticism for not reporting her findings and allegedly covering up of the findings indicating a serious link between fluoridated water and cancer.  His avoidance of making publicly available the PhD level research on the use of fluoride is doubly suspicious because he is the editor of a publication funded by a fluoride toothpaste maker that begins with a “C”.

In 2005, the Environmental Working Group research organization became aware of the alleged coverup and wrote a letter to the National Toxicology Program to request that  fluoride in tap water be included in the Report on Carcinogens.

In April of 2006 the online peer-review journal of Harvard University, the Cancer Causes and Control  published Dr. Bassin’s study associating drinking fluoridated water with osteosarcoma, especially during the mid-childhood growth spurt between 5 and 10 years of age.  Osteosarcoma accounts for about 3 percent of all childhood cancers.  The 5-year mortality rate is around 50 percent, and nearly all survivors have limbs amputated, usually legs.

Controlling for the variables, the study shows the incidence of osteosarcoma to be more than five times higher in areas that have fluoridated drinking water.  Anti-fluoride campaigners argue that another reason for the cover-up is if health scares about fluoride were to be recognized in the courts, the litigation, especially in the US, could be expected to run for decades.  Consequently, scientists have been inhibited from publicizing any adverse findings.

The new evidence only emerged by a circuitous process.  Dr. Elise Bassin’s dissertation, completed in April 2001, obviously had merit because Bassin was awarded her doctorate.

However, environmental organizations were repeatedly denied access to it, and even bodies such as the US National Academy of Sciences could not get hold of a copy.  Eventually two researchers from the Fluoride Action Network were able to read it in the rare books and special collections room at Harvard medical library.

At  http://osteosarcomasupport.org/fluoride.htm we find Fluoride Websites, History of Fluoridation in the US, Cellular Effects of Fluoride, Neurotoxicity of Fluoride, Chester Douglass, PhD. DMD report on fluoride and osteosarcoma, FluorideAlert.org Analysis of Dr. Bassin’s PhD. Thesis part 1 and 2, etc.