In fluoridated areas, drinking water obtained from surface water with an average fluoride concentration of 0.1-0.2 ppm is raised to the “optimal” level of 0.7-1.2 ppm by the addition of sodium fluoride, hydrofluosilicic acid, or sodium silicofluoride. [Note: In 1985, the EPA raised the Maximum Contaminant Level to 4 ppm.]
Fluoride, in community drinking water, enters the fresh water ecosystem in various ways. Surface run-off from fire-fighting, washing cars, and watering gardens may enter streams directly or through storm sewers at optimal concentration, 0.7-1.2 ppm. Most enters during waste water treatment.
Masuda studied a large number of cities and calculated the concentrations in waste water that were in excess of the concentration present in the cities’ water supplies. In raw sewage, this was 1.30 ppm; primary treatment reduced this slightly to 1.28 ppm; secondary treatment to 0.39 ppm. Singer and Armstrong found 0.38 ppm in unfluoridated sewage and 1.16-1.25 ppm in fluoridated sewage.
It is clear that, in the case of artificially fluoridated communities, the concentration of fluoride in both surface run-off and sewer effluent exceeds 0.2 ppm.
Studies show that elevated concentrations in fresh water receiving fluoridated effluent may persist for some distance. Bahls showed that effluent containing 0.6-2.0 ppm discharged into the East Galletin River from the city of Bozeman, Montana, did not return to the background level of 0.33 ppm for 5.3 km [3.3 mi.]. Singer and Armstrong reported that a distance of 16 km [9.9 mi.] was required to return the Mississippi River to its background level of 0.2 ppm after receiving the effluent of 1.21 ppm from Minneapolis-St Paul.
From information that is available, 0.2 ppm in the fresh water ecosystem in the US Northwest and British Columbia appears to be the appropriate safe level for salmon species rather than the 1.5 ppm now accepted. Decreases in water volume and/or flow velocity have the potential to increase fluoride concentration. Increased water temperature will enhance fluoride toxicity. Fluoridation deserves to be looked at as a component of “critical habitat” along with the more publicized factors.
Smelters vs. Salmon:
In a field study, Damkaer and Dey demonstrated that high salmon loss at John Day Dam on the Columbia River, 1982-1986, was caused by the inhibition of migration by fluoride contamination from an aluminum smelter located 1.6 km [one mile] above the dam. In 1982, the average daily discharge of fluoride was 384 kg and the salmon loss was 55%. In 1985, discharge averaged 49 kg and was accompanied by a concentration of 0.2 ppm and a salmonid loss of 5%.
Damkaer and Dey confirmed the cause-and-effect relationship by means of a two-choice flume for fluoride gradient salmon behavior tests. These determined that the “critical level” was 0.2 ppm.
There are other studies that indicate that fluoride at levels below 1.5 ppm have lethal and other adverse effects on fish. Delayed hatching of rainbow trout have occurred at 1.5 ppm; brown mussels have died at 1.4 ppm; an alga (Porphyria tenera) was killed by a four-hour fumigation with fluoride with a critical concentration of 0.9 ppm; and, levels below 0.1 ppm were shown to be lethal to the water flea, Daphnia magna. These latter two studies suggest that salmon species also may be affected by fluoride-induced reduction of food supply.
Documents used in a 1961 court case involving Meader’s Trout farm in Pocatello, Idaho, contain evidence that between 1949 and 1950 trout damage and loss was related to fluoride contamination due to rain washing airborne particles from leaves into hatchery water at levels as low as 0.5 ppm. This evidence suggests that the “safe level” of fluoride in the fresh water habitat of salmon species is not 1.5 ppm but, 0.2 ppm.
In 1982, preliminary studies conducted by CZES Division personnel suggested that the fish-passage delays on the John Day Dam might be related to contaminants discharged at an aluminum smelter outfall located on the Washington shore upstream from John Day Dam. In particular, high concentrations of fluoride in the vicinity of John Day Dam (0.3-0.5 mg/L in 1982) prompted investigators to focus sampling and research efforts on this contaminant.
In 1983 and 1984, behavior tests were conducted in which over 600 returning salmonids (chinook, coho, and chum salmon) were captured and tested with different concentrations of fluoride in a two-choice flume located in the spawning channel of Big Beef Creek, Washington. The conclusion from these experiments was that the behavior of upstream-migrating adult salmon would be adversely affected by fluoride concentrations of about 0.5 mg/L and that concentrations of 0.2 mg F/L were at or below the threshold for fluoride sensitivity of chinook and coho salmon.
Beginning in 1983 and continuing through 1986, fluoride discharges from the aluminum plant were greatly reduced. With the reduction in fluoride discharged from the aluminum plant, there was a corresponding drop in fluoride concentrations in the river near the outfall and John Day Dam. Concurrently, fish passage delays and interdam losses of adult salmon decreased to acceptable levels( Dey DB, Damkaer DM. 1993. Flouride Effects on Salmon at John Day Dam, Columbia River, 1982-1986. Northwest American Journal of Fisheries Management, 9:156-162).
Snake River Salmon:
A review of the US Department of Health and Human Services publication, Fluoridation Census 1985, shows that along the course of the Snake River from the Idaho-Wyoming border to its junction with the Columbia River in Washington State, there are three water systems fluoridated at 1.0 ppm. Eight artificially fluoridated water systems are located on the banks of the Columbia from the Canadian border to the mouth. That is, a total of 11 artificially fluoridated communities are located along the Columbia-Snake River system. Has this played a role in the catastrophic decline in salmonid stocks in this once highly productive ecosystem?
The decline in salmon stocks, especially Chinook and Coho, is a major economic problem for both commercial and sporfisheries. “Critical habitat restrictions” are currently being formulated. In the US, the Chinook salmon is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. In BC, the Kemano II hydroelectric project is currently “on hold” and severe restrictions have been placed on the harvesting of both Cinook and Coho salmon. There has been no change in the “permissible level” of 1.5 ppm fluoride in either the US or Canada.
There are many questions, but until evidence to the contrary is available, based on impartial field studies, in order to protect salmon species in the US Northwest and British Columbia, the “critical level” of fluoride in fresh water should be 0.2 mgF/L.
The strategy for eliminating unacceptable levels of fluoride from the “critical habitat” of Northwest Pacific salmon consists of the immediate banning of artificial fluoridation and the rapid sun setting of the current disposal practices of fluoride-producing industries.
(Foulkes RG, Anderson AC. Impact of artificial fluoridation on salmon in the northwest US and British Columbia. Earth Island Journal).
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