.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

UK Against Fluoridation

Friday, February 28, 2014

No easy answers in West Salem cancer cases

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the results of soil tests showing nothing that could explain a string of childhood bone cancer cases in West Salem.
..........Many, many readers pointed to fluoridation of the water supply. Some studies have linked fluoridation and osteosarcoma, the cancer in question.
“I believe Salem started fluoridating when these teenagers were born, so they have been drinking and bathing in it since they were babies,” Sandra Ganey, of Portland, wrote to the EPA.
Donna McGee asked, “Is it possible that large doses were accidentally put in and that it wasn’t reported because it wasn’t considered a health hazard?”
......................Tony Barber, head of EPA’s Oregon office, said he would be glad to talk to community members about the controversy over fluoridation of water supplies.
“For this particular project we’re not planning to look further at the possibility of fluoride being considered a contaminant there,” Barber said. “I know there’s a lot of controversy around water fluoridation. This isn’t the right venue to jump into that fray.”
“For this particular project we’re not planning to look further at the possibility of fluoride being considered a contaminant there,” Barber said. “I know there’s a lot of controversy around water fluoridation. This isn’t the right venue to jump into that fray.”
Salem has fluoridated its water since 1964, said Lacey Goeres-Priest, water quality and treatment supervisor for the city.
In 2001, it changed from sodium silicate fluoride to liquid fluorosilic acid.
In 2008, the city dropped its fluoridation target levels from 1.0 to 0.7 parts per million, following a national recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The city samples fluoride levels daily and never has had a reading at a level that would endanger health, Goeres-Priest said.
“All of the city of Salem receives the same water,” she said. “It’s not different water in West Salem.”
While EPA looked at ionizing radiation, it didn’t examine EMF pollution, Barber said
“It is a non-ionizing form of radiation that there’s quite a bit of controversy about,” he said.
Jae Douglas, of the Oregon Health Authority, said that, without evidence of a clear association between osteosarcoma and any environmental contaminant or exposure, there’s little the state can do.
“It’s hard to know even where to look,” Douglas said.
At least five West Salem children were diagnosed with osteosarcoma between 2008 and 2012. Three have died.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home