I was extremely interested in your WABC 11 pm news item on fluoridation, featuring noted experts Dr. William Hirzy and Dr. Phyllis Mullenix, as well as the young girl whose mother kept telling her to "brush more" to get rid of the brown, pitted marks on her teeth --- marks which in fact, were actually caused by excessive fluoride ingestion from fluoridated water.

This was an excellent report but the gentleman quoted (Scott Presser?) MUST have been misquoted. He asserted -- quite irresponsibly that children 8 years and older can (and should, he said) consume up to 10 mg of fluoride a day without detriment, clearly in contradiction to all major medical and scientific studies on this toxin. This is in error; numerous studies internationally, have found that ingestion of fluoride at these extremely high levels result in skeletal fluorosis, a condition that goes far beyond pitted teeth. Fluorosis only starts with enamel problems; at 10 mg of fluoride daily (and even half that) adults suffer a form of osteoporosis in which bones become as brittle as dust, shatter like glass with the slightest fall and begin to deform at the joints. Some areas of the world (such as parts of China and India and Turkey) are attempting to remove fluoride from waters in which it naturally occurs at these levels (and less) because of the severity of the skeletal fluorosis problem. In some areas, mothers -- as a result of the kinds of fluoride ingestion levels recommended by Mr. Presser -- give birth to dead babies after pregnancies of only 3 months. Aged, "old" men of 30 drag themselves around on sticks and die unusually young. Surely, this is not unknown to Mr. Presser; it is not unknown to most scientists, doctors or to the World Health Organization. Nor even to your own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The trouble with disseminating such comments is that there is no point at which fluorosis (literally, poisoning by fluoride, a substance more toxic than lead, slightly less deadly than arsenic) suddenly kicks in. It is a slow, cumulative process beginning with the first ingestion of fluoridated water or fluoridated toothpaste (if swallowed accidentally); it builds up in the bones and replaces calcium knitting into the fabric of the bones a porousness that will cause hip fractures, osteoporosis and even bone cancer (osteosarcoma) later in life. As we live longer (and hip fractures escalate to an epidemic), fluoride is going to make the health budget explode.

For more information on this cumulative effect, and why it is irresponsible to report ANYONE's comment that 10 mg a day of fluoride can be "tolerated", please contact Dr. Hardy Limeback, Head of Preventive Dentistry at the University of Toronto. He is a long-time advisor on fluoride to the Canadian Dental Association (CDA) and is current President of the Canadian Association for Dental Research (CADR).

Might I suggest a follow-up piece on (W)ABC news to correct this grossly erroneous and DANGEROUS impression left by Dr. Presser (he is a Dr. isn't he?)? Dr. Limeback would no doubt make himself available for an interview to set the record straight. I can furnish his telephone numbers and e-mail address, if you wish to contact him for follow-up on this: just e-mail me. Please don't wait too long; already a number of deaths have been attributed to fluoride ingestion, not to mention the links to dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, cancer, kidney disorder and premature aging.