Newsletter v6n6

“Why should you call me to account for eating decently?" (George Bernard Shaw, in “The Vegetarian,” January 15, 1898.)

The DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWSLETTER (Vol. 6, No. 6 May-June, 2006)

"Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A."

Copyright 2006 by Andrew W. Saul of http://www.doctoryourself.com , which now welcomes nearly two million visitors annually. Commercial use of the website or the contents of this Newsletter is strictly prohibited.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. BACK FROM THE NORTH ; ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE HALL OF FAME

2. DYING TO HAVE KNOWN: New Documentary

3. NEWS AND REVIEWS

4. FEATURE INTERVIEW with MICHAEL F. HOLICK, MD, PhD

5. VITAMIN D RESEARCH ABSTRACTS

6. BEANS KEEP YOU SLIM

7. VITAMIN E TOXIC?

8. VACCINATION SAFETY; ALTERNATIVES

9. NIACIN FLUSH

10. FREE ONLINE ACCESS TO MEGAVITAMIN PAPERS

11. FORGET THE MEDIA: SEE WHAT ACTUAL PHYSICIANS SAY

12. ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE AT U. KANSAS

13. NINETY AND NO PRESCRIPTIONS

14. NEWLY INDEXED BY MEDLINE

15. BMJ RAPID RESPONSE: Worth the effort.

16. FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER: EPA's Standards

FROM THE EDITOR, WHO IS NOW BACK FROM THE NORTH

This Newsletter is coming to you as I have just returned from the 35th Nutritional Medicine Today conference in Vancouver, BC. It was terrific: great attendance (sold out), great people, great presentations, and the time fairly flew by. I presented an update on Medline Bias ( http://www.doctoryourself.com/medline.html ), and was once again privileged to be the master of ceremonies for the Third Annual Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame inductions. This year’s inductees were William Griffith Wilson (“Bill W.”); Ruth Flynn Harrell, PhD; Arthur M. Sackler, MD; Max Vogel, MD; Lendon Smith, MD; David R. Hawkins, MD; Sister Teresa Feist; and Abram Hoffer, MD. What a blast!

For short biographies of previous Hall of Famers, please go to http://orthomolecular.org/history/index.shtml

Next year’s conference will be in Toronto. Hope to see you there.

“DYING TO HAVE KNOWN”: THE NEW GERSON MOVIE:

A new documentary about Dr. Max Gerson’s nutritional cancer therapy premiered May 5, 2006 at the New York International Film Festival in Manhattan. This movie is entitled “Dying to have Known,” and, interestingly enough, I am in it. Many patients, doctors, scientists, and skeptics are interviewed on camera who either support Dr. Gerson . . . or despise him. Among the featured supporters are Carolyn Dean, MD, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr, MD, T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Yoshihiko Hoshino, MD, plus the world’s oldest Gerson therapy survivor, cured of cancer over 55 years ago by Dr Gerson himself. It is a very interesting film, and certain to be controversial.

I’ll have more to say on this movie in a future Newsletter. For distribution information now, you can email to: info@gerson.org

NEWS AND REVIEWS:

I’m happy to announce that DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works is going into its fourth printing this summer. http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html

And, Fire Your Doctor!, my new book with the ever-so-slightly politically incorrect title, has been picking up good reviews. Here’s a quickie:

VITALITY magazine editor Julia Woodford writes (Feb 2006):

“Since medication is evidently not the answer, a closer look at natural alternatives for preventing and reversing atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure is in the spotlight this month. To that end, we offer an excerpt of Andrew Saul’s new book Fire Your Doctor ( http://www.doctoryourself.com/fyd.html ) which explains some of the best known nutrients now being used to improve cardiovascular health. Since he’s a real stickler for providing reliable research based advice, we encourage readers to take his tips to their health care provider and explore them further.”

FREE READ:

Read an excerpt from my latest book, FIRE YOUR DOCTOR!, in Vitality magazine, for free, at http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/prescription_for_a_happy_heart

MORE REVIEWS OF FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html

ARE YOU A FINANCIAL MOVER AND SHAKER?

If so, you might be puzzled, or possibly even impressed, to learn that Fire Your Doctor! is in the Forbes Book Club: http://www.forbesbookclub.com/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=IUFGV There are many mysteries, Grasshopper.

However, to order an AUTOGRAPHED copy, you need to please go to http://www.doctoryourself.com/order.html

FEATURE:

THE DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWS INTERVIEW with MICHAEL F. HOLICK, MD, PhD

“The population of the world has been brainwashed by the American Academy of Dermatology and the sunscreen industry, for 30 years, with the unrelenting message that you should never be exposed to direct sunlight because it is going to cause serious skin cancer and death.” (Michael Holick, MD)

(Editor’s Note: Born 60 years ago in Jersey City, New Jersey, Michael Holick published his first scientific paper in 1970. Hundreds would follow, and now, he is arguably the world’s leading authority on vitamin D. Yet Dr. Holick’s advocacy of what he calls “sensible sun exposure” is so controversial that he was fired from Boston University Medical Center’s dermatology department. Controversy being no stranger to this Newsletter, we were pleased when Dr. Holick agreed to an interview, which follows in edited form below.)

DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWS: Dr. Holick, What are some of the research-based benefits of more vitamin D?

DR. MICHAEL HOLICK: You can reduce cancer risk by 30 to 50% by increasing vitamin D in the diet, or by sensible sun exposure. We gave mice colon cancer, and followed them for 20 days. Tumor growth was markedly reduced simply by having vitamin D in the diet. There was a 40% reduction in tumor size. And, casual sun exposure actually decreases your risk of melanoma. In Finland, back in the 1960’s, children that received 2,000 IU of vitamin D each day reduced their risk of getting Type 1 diabetes by 80%. Every tissue and every cell in your body has a receptor for vitamin D. Every tissue and every cell of your body requires vitamin D to function properly.

DY NEWS: Exactly how much vitamin D, and how much sun, do we need?

HOLICK: Vitamin D deficiency is less than 400 IU per day along with no sun exposure. If you take 400 IU daily, you would still have an inadequate amount of vitamin D. Humans need 1,000 IU each day, or to be exposed to sunlight. Five to ten minutes, arms and legs, three times a week, is adequate.

DY NEWS: What is you opinion of the official US RDA/DRI recommendations?

HOLICK: I was on the committee that set them (National Academy of Sciences, Panel on Calcium and Related Nutrients, 1996-1997). We have made some progress in increasing the recommendations. They are now 200 IU/day for children and adults up to age 50; 400 IU for adults over 50; and 600 IU/day for adults over 70.

DY NEWS: Would you have liked to have set the recommendations higher?

HOLICK: Yes. At the time, we were obligated to base our recommendations on the published literature before 1997. Based on new evidence, I think infants, up to one year of age, need 400 IU/day. Canada recommends 400 IU already. Then, from age one, and all through adulthood, I’d recommend 1,000 IU/day. Everyone needs 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 each day.

DY NEWS: And how are we doing?

HOLICK: In Boston, 50% of adolescent boys and girls are vitamin D deficient. 70% of moms and 80% their babies are vitamin D deficient at birth. These infants have no vitamin D stores, and the moms have none to give them.

DY NEWS: And that means rickets?

HOLICK: Rickets is only the tip of the vitamin D deficiency iceberg. If you are vitamin D deficient in childhood, you are 2.4 times more likely to develop Type 1 diabetes.

DY NEWS: And for people of color?

HOLICK: Skin pigment is a natural sunscreen. African American children require two to three times as much sun exposure, without sunscreen, to satisfy their requirement for vitamin D.

DY NEWS: What are the consequences of not getting enough sunlight?

HOLICK: If you live above 35 degrees north latitude, you are twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis. Living in higher latitudes also means higher risk for Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and high blood pressure.

DY NEWS: What are some examples of “high latitude” cities?

HOLICK: Anything above Atlanta, Georgia.

DY NEWS: I’ve been to Atlanta. To a Yankee like me, that’s pretty far south. Now you know I’m going to quote you on this. . .

HOLICK: That’s fine. Anywhere above about 35 or 37 degrees latitude, that is, anywhere north of Atlanta, Georgia, you basically cannot make vitamin D in your skin during the wintertime.

DY NEWS: And in the summer, should we tan?

HOLICK: I do not believe in tanning.

DY NEWS: That seems a rather moderate position.

HOLICK: I was fired from my position as Professor of Dermatology at Boston University Medical Center because I have been promoting sensible sun exposure, and had written the book, “The UV Advantage.” I had held that position for nearly ten years.

DY NEWS: Who fired you, and when?

HOLICK: Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, BU Medical Center Chief of Dermatology, in February 2004. She and I remain personal friends. I’m still full Professor of Medicine, Physiology, and Biophysics, and have been for 20 years. Dr. Gilchrest has been quoted as saying that to suggest that vitamin D deficiency is a significant health problem is “weak and absurd.” She has also been quoted as saying that linking vitamin D deficiency to medical illness is “schlock science.” I have never heard her rebut those statements.

DY NEWS: Were you fired entirely because of your stance on vitamin D and for no other reason?

HOLICK: No question about it. The American Academy of Dermatology is very uncomfortable about sensible sun exposure, and anyone who recommends it.

DY NEWS: You’re telling us that the American Academy of Dermatology does not believe in sensible sun exposure?

HOLICK: That is correct. They are believers in abstinence from all sun exposure. They have been pretty firm about this. In May 2004, three months after I was fired, I was asked to defend myself in front of all the staff.

DY NEWS: How successful was it?

HOLICK: I got people’s attention.

DY NEWS: Who is most opposed to you?

HOLICK: The “unenlightened” dermatologists of the American Academy of Dermatology.

DY NEWS: Yet it seems to be particularly difficult to kill yourself with vitamin D.

HOLICK: True. One man took 1,000,000 IU of vitamin D per day, orally, for six months. Of course, he had the symptoms of severe vitamin D intoxication.

DY NEWS: But he lived to tell the tale?

HOLICK: Yes. His treatment was hydration (lots of water), and no more vitamin D or sunshine for a while. He’s perfectly happy and healthy. This was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Koutkia P, Chen TC, Holick MF. Vitamin D intoxication associated with an over-the-counter supplement. N Engl J Med. 2001 Jul 5;345(1):66-7.)

DY NEWS: How many people have died from vitamin D or other vitamins?

HOLICK: I have no experience of anyone dying from vitamin exposure. In thirty years, I’ve never seen it.

DY NEWS: And in the medical literature?

HOLICK: Not as far as I know.

DY NEWS: About how many people get too little vitamin D?

HOLICK: In the US and Canada, about 50%. About one billion people, worldwide, are vitamin D deficient. This is true even in sunny climates, because of lack of sun exposure.

DY NEWS: What advice do you wish to offer our readers?

HOLICK: The most important thing is to increase your vitamin D intake.

DY NEWS: What’s yours?

HOLICK: I take 1,100 IU of vitamin D every day.

DY NEWS: Do you use sunblock?

HOLICK: I do, but only after some sensible sun exposure.

DY NEWS: Do you wear a floppy hat?

HOLICK: Yes, after sensible sun exposure.

DY NEWS: You are one consistent person. So what’s the bottom line?

HOLICK: The population of the world has been brainwashed by the American Academy of Dermatology and the sunscreen industry, for 30 years, with the unrelenting message that you should never be exposed to direct sunlight because it is going to cause serious skin cancer and death. People are really quite surprised by the new message that sensible sun exposure, in moderation, is very important for good health. We should appreciate the sun for its benefits, and not abuse it.

FOR FURTHER READING:

Holick, MF and Jenkins, M. The UV Advantage, iBooks: New York, 2004.

Saul AW. Vitamin D: Deficiency, Diversity and Dosage. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 2003; Vol. 18, Numbers 3 and 4, p. 194-204. Posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/dvitamin.htm

CANCER AND VITAMIN D

“A PubMed database search yielded 63 observational studies of vitamin D status in relation to cancer risk, including 30 of colon, 13 of breast, 26 of prostate, and 7 of ovarian cancer, and several that assessed the association of vitamin D receptor genotype with cancer risk. The majority of studies found a protective relationship between sufficient vitamin D status and lower risk of cancer. The evidence suggests that efforts to improve vitamin D status, for example by vitamin D supplementation, could reduce cancer incidence and mortality at low cost, with few or no adverse effects.” (Garland CF, Garland FC, Gorham ED, Lipkin M, Newmark H, Mohr SB, Holick MF. The role of vitamin D in cancer prevention. Am J Public Health. 2006 Feb;96(2):252-61. Epub 2005 Dec 27.)    ”Inadequate photosynthesis or oral intake of Vitamin D are associated with high incidence rates of colorectal cancer . . . Prompt public health action is needed to increase intake of Vitamin D(3) to 1000IU/day, and to raise 25-hydroxyvitamin D by encouraging a modest duration of sunlight exposure.” (Gorham ED, Garland CF, Garland FC, Grant WB, Mohr SB, Lipkin M, Newmark HL, Giovannucci E, Wei M, Holick MF. Vitamin D and prevention of colorectal cancer. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2005 Oct;97(1-2):179-94. Epub 2005 Oct 19.)

D DEFICIENCY IS WIDESPREAD

“Vitamin D inadequacy has been reported in approximately 36% of otherwise healthy young adults and up to 57% of general medicine inpatients in the United States, and in even higher percentages in Europe. Recent epidemiological data document the high prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy among elderly patients . . . Supplemental doses of vitamin D and sensible sun exposure could prevent deficiency in most of the general population.” (Holick MF. High prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy and implications for health. Mayo Clin Proc. 2006 Mar;81(3):353-73.)

DIABETES AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

”The conditions with strong evidence for a protective effect of vitamin D include several bone diseases, muscle weakness, more than a dozen types of internal cancers, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes mellitus. . . The current vitamin D requirements in the United States are based on protection against bone diseases. These guidelines are being revised upward in light of new findings, especially for soft-tissue health.” (Grant WB, Holick MF. Benefits and requirements of vitamin D for optimal health: a review. Altern Med Rev. 2005 Jun;10(2):94-111.)

EXCELLENT (AND FREE) VITAMIN D E-NEWSLETTER is yours for the asking available from John Cannell and the Vitamin D Council: http://www.vitamindcouncil.com . BEANS KEEP YOU SLIM

Beans help keep you trim, even if you eat more calories. According to data from the National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (1999-2002), bean-eaters weigh 6.6 pounds LESS even though they may eat nearly 200 MORE calories per day than non-bean-eaters. Bean-eaters get more fiber. Plus, they have thinner waists: nearly an inch thinner.   "Beans are an excellent source of fiber and previous studies have shown that high-fiber diets may help reduce body weight, so this makes sense," says Victor Fulgoni, PhD an author of the study. "As well, they are naturally low in fat and cholesterol-free. It's no wonder that beans have been called a 'superfood.'"  Even the US government has seen the legume light: the USDA lists beans in both the vegetable group and in the meat group. The 2005 US Dietary Guidelines recommend eating at least three cups of beans per week.

Not only that, beans are high in lysine, which means they help prevent cold sores. If you are worried about too much gas (although, at three bucks a gallon, I can’t see why), then please look at http://www.doctoryourself.com/herpes.html   READERS SAY:

VITAMIN E TOXIC?

F. B. writes: “I found three articles at E-medicine's web site. The first one is about vitamin toxicity, the 2nd deals with vitamin E toxicity, and the 3rd with subarachnoid hemorrhages, as cited in the vitamin E report. The dangers of anticoagulant build up in the body from aspirin, vitamin E and other substances is a real problem. Emergency doctors at my hospital started reeling off the various vitamins they knew could cause problems. I don't think that the information from the field emergency rooms is getting back to the scientific community.”

DY News Response:

Let’s take a look at those articles. In the paper on subarachnoid hemorrhage, which I agree is indeed a serious condition, I did not see the word "vitamin" nor the word "tocopherol." I am familiar with Dr. Rosenbloom's good review of vitamin safety statistics. On page two, it indicates zero deaths from vitamin E. In the paper called "Vitamin E Toxicity," on page 2, I note the phrase: "Overall, vitamin E has little effect on mortality and has rare, self-limited adverse effects." It appears that vitamin E is substantially safer than drugs, and safer even than over-the-counter, common ones like aspirin. I would welcome any scientific studies papers that allege harm from vitamin E. More on vitamin E safety is posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/safety.html

CONCERNED ABOUT VACCINATION SAFETY?

Neil Z. Miller’s very fine website is worth a look: http://thinktwice.com/laws.htm

Also, for VACCINATION ALTERNATIVES, consider

http://www.doctoryourself.com/informed_consent.html

http://www.doctoryourself.com/vaccination.html

http://www.doctoryourself.com/vaccin_2.html

READERS ASK:

NIACIN FLUSH

J. M. writes: ”We have learned a great deal from your site and your books and also enjoy them. We have also incorporated some of your suggestions in our lifestyle. My question for you is an attempt to clarify what seems to be a difference of opinion about the niacin flush between you and Dr. Hoffer. He had written ( http://www.doctoryourself.com//hoffer_niacin.html ) that the niacin flush is normal with many people and will diminish or go away as the patient continues to use niacin at his recommended level of 3,000 milligrams per day. You, however, state that the flush is an indication of no niacin deficiency ( http://www.doctoryourself.com/niacin.html ). Who is correct or am I misinterpreting one of you?”

DY News Response: This is how I look at it: Generally speaking, people in fairly good health usually choose to increase their doses gradually in order to minimize flushing. If they do increase the dose slowly, what I describe is pretty accurate. For instance, I've been taking niacin for years, in daily but varying doses depending on my stress level or dietary intake. I know by the flush when I've had enough for the moment. It is like turning off the hot water when the tub is full enough for a nice bath. Dr Hoffer is highly experienced with serious psychiatric cases. Such patients have a niacin dependency, not a mere deficiency. Let’s let him speak for himself:

Abram Hoffer, MD, writes:

“We are both correct. Most people flush at the beginning and gradually get adapted to it unless they stop for a few days and then resume it. A few cannot ever get used to it, and they take the no-flush preparations. But the intensity of the flush is very variable. Generally people who need it the most flush the least. That includes arthritics, schizophrenics, and elderly people with cardiovascular problems. Some schizophrenics do not flush until they get well and then they do. But the presence of the flush or its intensity can not be uniquely used measure the need as there are too many variables such as food in the stomach, whether the drink with it is hot or cold, the kind of food, other medication. Antipsychotics reduce the intensity of the flush as do aspirin and antihistamines.”

FREE ONLINE ACCESS TO MEGAVITAMIN PAPERS

Here's some really good news: All issues of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine from 1996 through 2001 are now online for you (and the world’s search engines) to find and read, Medline or no Medline, at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/

All issues 1996-2001 are free of charge. The remaining twenty-five years are planned to be posted, also for free reading, within the next year. The current issue and the most recent five years will be available for a fee.

FORGET THE MEDIA:

SEE WHAT ACTUAL PHYSICIANS SAY

VITAMIN C AS ANTIBIOTIC

Paper written by board-certified chest specialist F. R. Klenner, M.D. http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/195x/klenner-fr-j_appl_nutr-1953-v6-p274.htm

DIET PREVENTS POLIO

Paper by Benjamin P. Sandler, M.D.: http://www.whale.to/v/sandler.html

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE

GF Bourne’s “Vitamin C and Immunity” Read the full text paper, free of charge, at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cabi/bjn/1949/00000002/00000004/art00013

ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE AT U. KANSAS

A new faculty chair in orthomolecular medicine and research has been endowed at the University of Kansas, in memory of Dr. Hugh D. Riordan’s pioneering work in the use of vitamin C to combat cancer. The first Riordan Professor of Orthomolecular Medicine and Research will be Jeanne Drisko, MD, who has herself done outstanding work in the field of vitamin C research. To further this work, donations can be made to the Riordan Professorship Endowment at the University of Kansas. Such donations and bequests are tax deductible. ( http://www.cancerdecisions.com/022606_page.html ) READERS SAY:

NINETY AND NO PRESCRIPTIONS

Our Nonagenarian Correspondent writes:

“Thirty years ago, when I was 60, I asked you about avoiding a hip replacement I had been told to have. I asked you if there was anything I could do to avoid it. You said, cheerfully, “Maybe” and suggested a natural diet and supplement regimen that was, back then, shockingly strange to me. However, I immediately undertook it.  “Three days later, two allergies I'd had disappeared. This was a surprise! Shortly afterwards, the hip pain disappeared as well, and stayed away for 11 years. Then it caught up with me, but I was braver by then, and had the operation, followed by the other hip the next year. Eventually, I had one knee replaced. That was extremely painful. Then I discovered glucosamine chondroitin and now the other knee is O.K.  ”So here I am, 90 years old, without a single ailment or allergy, full of pep, still active on a couple of community boards, and drawing or painting portraits of children. My health plan is simply called “Orthomolecular.” I have no prescriptions, and read the alarming newspaper prescription crisis that's going on, in wonderment. Thank you for saving me from this battle!” 

Nancy Watson Dean

Rochester, NY 

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK:  NEW “JOURNAL” NOW INDEXED BY MEDLINE

Guess what? MEDLINE now indexes "Consumer Reports," the magazine that advises people as to which toaster, TV or washing machine to buy. They index all the way back to 1975. Onward, Medical Science! Hurray for the National Library of Medicine!

DRUG COMPANIES EXPOSED

http://www.thenhf.com/overview_the_truth_about_the_drug_companies.html

BMJ RAPID RESPONSE

Science is worth the effort. 11 July 2004 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/329/7457/118#66622

by Eddie Vos, www.health-heart.org

“In response to researcher Dr. Devey: science is indeed complex and much research leads to confusion since the basic nutritional confounders are ignored. Prince Charles proposed to deal with some of the nutritional approaches first and to do more research in this field.

“Quoting from Dr. A.W. Saul's editorial in the J. of Orthomolecular Medicine (2004 V19(2):67): "[M]edicine" may well be called the study of what happens when poisonous chemicals are placed in malnourished human bodies."

“No researcher would do animal studies in sub-optimally fed animals but most human disease studies, and diseases, operate in this context. Sub-optimal nutrition equals illness and medical uncertainty, and as sure as one can kill a rabbit with cat food, so can one kill a cat with rabbit food. Human diets [deep fried and folate depleted] are where on this scale?

“A most often ignored dictum in the study of any illness [first scurvy and now heart disease and cancer]: "It's the micronutrients, stupid!" It seems in this context that the Prince called for more effort. For example, it makes more sense to supply adequate folate to help prevent Alzheimer's and cancer [DNA damage by uracil replacing thymine -(Blount, Ames et al (1)] than to reach for anti-folate drugs like methotrexate to kill growing cancer cells from DNA damage.

“Back to the basics of Nutrition First, otherwise the science will never make sense. Bravo, Prince Charles.”

(1) BC Blount et al. Folate deficiency causes uracil misincorporation into human DNA and chromosome breakage: implications for cancer and neuronal damage. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Apr 1;94(7):3290-5 PMID 9096386.

THE DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWS SAID IT FIRST

Years ago, at www.doctoryourself.com/fluoridation.html, we showed how there can be a prescription dose of fluoride in a single glass of water and the US EPA doesn’t care. Now, this problem has at long last received another look. http://www.nas.edu/morenews/20060322.html

FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER:

A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards (2006). Here is long-time fluoride expert and activist Darlene Sherrell’s ( island_gram2003@yahoo.com ) analysis of the review:  ”Although the Committee on Fluoride in Drinking Water gave reason after reason why exposure to fluoride from any source may be hazardous to health in terms of arthritis, gastrointestinal problems, allergic reactions, thyroid disorders, brittle bones, Alzheimer's disease, lowered IQ, disfigured teeth, increased dental decay, and possibly even cancer; they were careful to underestimate the current total daily dose from sources other than drinking water, careful not to mention that people living in artificially fluoridated areas are ingesting at least 250% more fluoride than was considered "optimum" sixty years ago, and especially careful not to mention there were no safety studies capable of detecting these adverse health effects in any of the study groups. Doing so would constitute biting the hand that feeds them. All they could do was say that EPA's maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) and the maximum contaminant level (MCL) are too high to protect against brittle bones, and the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) is too high to protect against mottled enamel. As to the actual number of people who have or will develop any of the conditions mentioned above -- due to their current level of exposure to fluorides -- they recommended further research. They were careful to explain it wasn't their job to judge the efficacy or safety of using a water supply with a fluoride concentration of 0.7 to 1.2 milligrams per liter. After all, most of them have reputations to protect and bills to pay. Besides, they know Uncle Sam isn't going to stop promoting fluoridation. The Surgeon General won't allow EPA to set an enforceable regulation.”  Read excerpts from the new NRC 2006 review at http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/s04.htm with comments at http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/s03.htm  “EPA HAS MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO SHUT DOWN FLUORIDATION RIGHT NOW,” says retired EPA scientist, Robert Carton, PhD.

Sound intriguing to you? Well, look what’s coming up:

COMING SOON IN THE DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWS:

Our exclusive interview with antifluoride activist and former EPA senior scientist Robert Carton, PhD. Watch for it in our July-August issue.

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