Fluoridation and county-level secondary bone cancer among cancer patients 18 years or older in New York State

Abstract

The decision whether to fluoridate drinking water continues to be controversial in some communities. Dental and skeletal fluorosis in response to chronic fluoride overexposure are cited as reasons to avoid community water fluoridation in spite of evidence of the oral and skeletal health benefits fluoridation confers. Community fluoridation of ~ 1 mg/L fluoride has not been found to be associated with primary bone cancer but is associated with improved bone strength. No studies have examined fluoride exposure and secondary bone cancer, a common metastasis with significant morbidity. We hypothesize that fluoridation could diminish the likelihood of secondary bone cancer due to its role in bone fortification. We examined the association between community water fluoridation category and prevalence of secondary bone cancer from 2008 to 2010 among cancer patients of 18 years of age or older in counties in New York State. Relative to counties with less than 25% of the water supply fluoridated, we report no association between secondary bone cancer among cancer patients in counties with 25-75% of the water supply fluoridated (β = 0.02, p = 0.96) and among those in counties with > 75% fluoridated (β = 0.02, p = 0.97). We found no evidence of an association between community water fluoridation category and secondary bone cancer from 2008 to 2010 at the county level in New York State.

A bibliometric analysis of epidemiological studies investigating the relationship between community fluoridated water consumption and human cancers

“…All sites 3 [10,11,19] Digestive organs 4 [10,11,20,21] Respiratory organs 4 [10,11,19,20] Urinary organs 4 [10,11,19,20] Hormonal and/or reproductive organs 4 [10,11,19,20] Bone 8 [10,11,[13][14][15][16][17]22] Brain and nerves 3 [10,11,15] Blood and lymph 3 [11,15,19] Lip and skin 1 [11] Eye cancer 1 [18] *Some articles investigated more than 1 cancer site…”

“…[9] For example, there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community about the role of fluoridated water in cancer development in humans; and different epidemiological studies had been conducted to establish or refute this relationship. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] While some studies reported no relationship between fluoridated water consumption and cancer occurrence, others reported a direct or an inverse relationship between them. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Despite the significant quantity of epidemiological studies that had investigated the relationships between community water fluoridation and human cancers, no known study has the quantity of the existing epidemiological evidence.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] While some studies reported no relationship between fluoridated water consumption and cancer occurrence, others reported a direct or an inverse relationship between them. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Despite the significant quantity of epidemiological studies that had investigated the relationships between community water fluoridation and human cancers, no known study has the quantity of the existing epidemiological evidence. Therefore, there is a need for a bibliometric analysis of these studies.…”

Removal of fluoride from water using activated carbon fibres modified with zirconium by a drop-coating method

“…Conversely, long-time ingestion of high concentrations of fluoride causes many health problems such as dental and skeletal fluorosis (Ali et al, 2016), lower intelligence of children (Green et al, 2019) and bone cancer (Crnosija et al, 2019). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a fluoride guideline value in drinking water of 1.5 mg/L (World Health Organization, 2017).…”

Effect of Water Fluoridation on VM-M3 Tumor Metastasis

“…However, there are concerns that excessive fluoridation of water can be carcinogenic, increasing incidence of cancer, particularly osteosarcoma in boys (5). Yet, population studies have shown no link between fluoride consumption and cancer incidence (6)(7)(8). This topic remains controversial with strong opposing views.…”