Cancer and Genotoxicity | fluoridefacts

Cancer & Genotoxicity

Fluoride has been accused of being another mutagen (mutation inducing chemical or physical agent) and cause of cancer for many decades, thus accounting for the meticulous study of any fluoride-cancer link or genotoxicity in the scientific community.

Genotoxicity

Several studies have discovered that there is no DNA damage or mutation in microbial systems exposed to fluoride, but contrasted are induced mutations and chromosomal damage in in vitro tests with mammalian cells. Specifically, the sodium fluoride inhibits protein and DNA synthesis and has been shown to cause chromosomal aberrations in human cells. However, the lowest effective dose is indicated to be 10 micrograms per milliliter, while normal concentrations of fluoride in human plasma is 0.02-0.06 micrograms per milliliter, including those in fluoridated areas, implying that there is a large safety margin in exposure to fluoride.

Fluoride & Cancer

Courtesy of EBPI Analytics

There have been more than 50 studies reviewed for a fluoride-cancer link, with methodologies consisting of geographic/temporal pattern comparisons of cancer occurrences with distributions of fluoride. In all these studies there was no significant correlation. Of the many animal studies that showed some outcome of bone cancer or fracturing, the association was not substantial or definite enough to compare it to human physiology, and in many cases the dosages administered were at unrealistically high levels for humans.

In particular, an all-inclusive study conducted by F.M. Kim, C. Hayes, P.L. Williams, et al. and affiliated with the Department of Epidemiology and others, was done with the purpose to determine if fluoride levels in bone are higher in individuals with osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is a form cancer that develops in bones, most commonly affecting children and adolescents. Their results concluded that there was no concrete association between bone optimum fluoride levels and osteosarcoma risk, based on controls with other tumor diagnoses.

Based on these studies, there is no significant threat of genotoxicity or (bone) cancer at current levels of fluoride administered in community water fluoridation programs.