Dog Food Contaminated With Levels of Fluoride Above EPA’s Legal Limit for Humans
I am never surprised by stuff like this anymore.
Fri Jun 26 08:18:05 2009 Pacific Time
Dog Food Contaminated With Levels of Fluoride Above EPA’s Legal Limit for Humans; Fluoride Linked to Hormone Disruption, Thyroid Problems, Bone Cancer
WASHINGTON, June 26 (AScribe Newswire) — Eight of 10 dog food brands tested by an independent laboratory commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) contain fluoride in amounts up to 2.5 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national drinking water standard.
Study: http://www.ewg.org/pethealth/report/fluoride-in-dog-food
The eight dog foods, all of them major national brands, were found to contain significantly more fluoride than levels implicated by a 2006 Harvard study in bone cancer in young boys.
In all eight cases, the likely sources of excess fluoride were bone meal and animal byproducts.
“Due to a failed regulatory system and suspect practices by some in the pet food industry, countless dogs may be ingesting excessive fluoride that could put them at risk,” Olga Naidenko, Ph.D, lead researcher of the EWG-sponsored study, said.
Moreover, Naidenko said, the fact so many popular national pet food brands contain previously undetected health hazards is one more symptom of the federal food safety system’s overall laxity.
“Our findings point to the need for basic health protections that require companies to prove their products are safe before they are sold,” Naidenko said. “Bringing public health laws in line with the newest scientific research is a critical step in protecting the health of all members of American households, whether they walk on two legs or four.”
The eight high-fluoride brands disclosed contents including chicken by-product meal, poultry by-product meal, chicken meal, beef and bone meal. Any ingredient described as “animal meal” is basically ground bones, cooked with steam, dried, and mashed to make a cheap dog food filler. A small fraction of fluoride in dog food comes from fluoridated tap water added to solid ingredients at pet food plants.
Fluoride occurs naturally in some water supplies. But two-thirds of Americans — and their pets and livestock– drink water that has been artificially fluoridated on grounds it improves dental health.
Fluoride is also found in certain foods, those from plants grown in high-fluoride soils or those to which the chemical is introduced during processing. Once ingested with food or water, fluoride accumulates in the bones.
An average dog who drinks an adequate amount water daily would be exposed to 0.05 to 0.1 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of body weight, depending on the dog’s weight and water consumption. But those dogs who eat food high in fluoride, day in and day out, may be exposed to unsafe levels of fluoride.
For example, a 10-pound puppy that eats about a cup of dog food a day would consume 0.25 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of body weight per day, an amount five times higher than the “safe” level set by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Pet food should be held to the same health and safety standards as human food and should be free of contaminants that may endanger pets’ health. Yet, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has little authority and few resources to ensure that products produced for pets are safe.
The bottom line: When it comes to dubious food additives, chemical pollutants or untested ingredients in pet food, pets and their owners are mostly on their own.
NOTE: If your dog’s food contains bone meal and other meat by-products, EWG recommends switching to brands free of these ingredients in order to minimize your dog’s exposure to harmful pollutants, including fluoride.
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CONTACT: EWG Public Affairs, 202-667-6982
ABOUT EWG: EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. http://www.ewg.org
Fluoride/Cancer link is Plausible, studies show
“Fluoride appears to have the potential to initiate or promote cancers, particularly of the bone…,” according to the most recent and extensive review of fluoride toxicology by the prestigious National Research Council (NRC). (1)
Fluoride chemicals are added to about 70% of public water supplies ostensibly to reduce tooth decay, not to purify the water.
In 2006, the NRC found the.The Environmental Protection Agency’s Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) for fluoride is too high to be protective of health (4 mg/L) and must be lowered. EPA scientists have been saying this since 1986; but EPA management caved to political pressure and over-ruled its scientists. EPA is long overdue in revising fluoride’s MCLG based on the 2006 NRC Fluoride Report, which was done at EPA’s request.
According to Bill Hirzy, PhD, retired EPA scientist, “Since 1986 the [EPA HQ professionals] union has taken exception to EPA’s unscientific approach to dealing with the toxicity of fluoride in order to protect the USPHS [Public Health Service] program of national water fluoridation.” (2)
Hirzy writes, “When I last spoke with the Division Director responsible for that risk assessment he told me EPA was waiting for a paper, promised three years ago by its principal first author, that would counter an epidemiology study done under that very author’s direction at Harvard.”
Hirzy is talking about a published peer-reviewed study by Bassin (2a) which links fluoridation to osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Chester Douglass, Bassin’s Harvard University advisor and, at that time, employee of Colgate (sellers of fluoridated dental products) signed off on Bassin’s work. But, Douglass told the NRC panel that no such study existed, according to the Environmental Working Group.(3)
The whole fluoridation program appears to rest upon the shoulders of Chester Douglass whose much anticipated osteosarcoma/fluoridation research has yet to be published even though it was promised years ago, costing tax payers millions of dollars.
But, there’s more evidence linking fluoride to osteosarcoma (See: http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/osteosarcoma.html ) and loads of evidence linking fluoride to adverse health effects – even at low doses added to public (and some bottled) water supplies (See: http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/ )
At least three members of the NRC fluoride panel believe the MCLG for fluoride should be zero.
Continued with References: http://tinyurl.com/Fluoride-Cancer-Link
| Posted 4 months ago