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Toxic Secrets

- During World War II and the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb, fluoride was identified as a major health hazard for both workers and nearby communities from producing bomb-grade uranium and plutonium. - Declassified documents reveal that the first lawsuits against the American atomic bomb program were not due to radiation, but due to fluoride damage, and human studies were required to generate evidence of fluoride's safety for litigation purposes. - Research on fluoride's effects on the central nervous system was approved by the Manhattan Project due to evidence that fluoride was the causative factor for observed effects, but results of the research could not be found in files and may have been censored or classified.

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Emy Emanuel
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276 views4 pages

Toxic Secrets

- During World War II and the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb, fluoride was identified as a major health hazard for both workers and nearby communities from producing bomb-grade uranium and plutonium. - Declassified documents reveal that the first lawsuits against the American atomic bomb program were not due to radiation, but due to fluoride damage, and human studies were required to generate evidence of fluoride's safety for litigation purposes. - Research on fluoride's effects on the central nervous system was approved by the Manhattan Project due to evidence that fluoride was the causative factor for observed effects, but results of the research could not be found in files and may have been censored or classified.

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Emy Emanuel
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Toxic secrets: Fluoride and the A-Bomb Program

by Joel Griffiths and Chris Bryson


Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 5, No. 3 (April-May 1998). During the ultra-secret Manhattan Project, a report was commissioned to assess the effect of fluoride on humans. That report was classified "secret" for reasons of "national security". Some 50 years after United States authorities began adding fluoride to public water supplies to reduce cavities in children's teeth, recently discovered declassified government documents are shedding new light on the roots of that still-controversial public health measure, revealing a surprising connection between the use of fluoride and the dawning of the nuclear age. Today, two-thirds of US public drin ing water is fluoridated. !any municipalities still resist the practice, disbelieving the government's assurances of safety. Since the days of "orld "ar ## when the US prevailed by building the world's first atomic bomb, the nation's public health leaders have maintained that low doses of fluoride are safe for people and good for children's teeth. That safety verdict should now be re-e$amined in the light of hundreds of once-secret ""##-era documents obtained by these reporters %authors &riffiths and 'ryson(, including declassified papers of the !anhattan )ro*ectthe ultra-secret US military program that produced the atomic bomb. +luoride was the ey chemical in atomic bomb production, according to the documents. !assive ,uantities-millions of tons-were essential for the manufacture of bomb-grade uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons throughout the -old "ar. .ne of the most to$ic chemicals nown, fluoride emerged as the leading chemical health ha/ard of the US atomic bomb program, both for wor ers and for nearby communities, the documents reveal. .ther revelations include0 !uch of the original proof that fluoride is safe for humans in low doses was generated by 1-bomb program scientists who had been secretly ordered to provide 2evidence useful in litigation2 against defence contractors for fluoride in*ury to citi/ens. The first lawsuits against the 1merican 1-bomb program were not over radiation, but over fluoride damage, the documents show. 3uman studies were re,uired. 'omb program researchers played a leading role in the design and implementation of the most e$tensive US study of the health effects of fluoridating public drin ing water, conducted in 4ewburgh, 4ew 5or , from 6785 to 6755. Then, in a classified operation code-named 2)rogram +2, they secretly gathered and analysed blood and tissue samples from 4ewburgh citi/ens with the cooperation of 4ew 5or State 3ealth 9epartment personnel. The original, secret version :obtained by these reporters; of a study published by )rogram + scientists in the 1ugust 678< =ournal of the 1merican 9ental 1ssociation 1 shows that evidence of adverse health effects from fluoride was censored by the US 1tomic >nergy -ommission :1>-;-considered the most powerful of -old "ar agencies-for reasons of 2national security2. The bomb program's fluoride safety studies were conducted at the University of ?ochester-site of one of the most notorious human radiation e$periments of the -old "ar, in which unsuspecting hospital patients were in*ected with to$ic doses of radioactive plutonium. The fluoride studies were conducted with the same ethical mindset, in which 2national security2 was paramount. Evidence of fluoride s adverse health effects The US &overnment's conflict of interest and its motive to prove fluoride safe

of e$cessive fluoride e$posure according to the US 4ational ?esearch -ouncil. :The signs are whitish flec s or spots, particularly on the front teeth, or dar spots or stripes in more severe cases.; @ess nown to the public is that fluoride also accumulates in bones. 2The teeth are windows to what's happening in the bones,2 e$plained )aul -onnett, )rofessor of -hemistry at St @awrence University, 4ew 5or , to these reporters. #n recent years, paediatric bone specialists have e$pressed alarm about an increase in stress fractures among young people in the US. -onnett and other scientists are concerned that fluoride-lin ed to bone damage in studies since the 67A0s-may be a contributing factor. The declassified documents add urgency0 much of the original 'proof ' that low-dose fluoride is safe for children's bones came from US bomb program scientists, according to this investigation. 4ow, researchers who have reviewed these declassified documents fear that -old "ar national security considerations may have prevented ob*ective scientific evaluation of vital public health ,uestions concerning fluoride. 2#nformation was buried,2 concludes 9r )hyllis !ulleni$, former head of to$icology at +orsyth 9ental -enter in 'oston and now a critic of fluoridation. 1nimal studies which !ulleni$ and co-wor ers conducted at +orsyth in the early 6770s indicated that fluoride was a powerful central nervous system :-4S; to$in and might adversely affect human brain functioning even at low doses. :4ew epidemiological evidence from -hina adds support, showing a correlation between low-dose fluoride e$posure and diminished #B in children.; !ulleni$'s results were published in 6775 in a reputable peer-reviewed scientific *ournal.2 9uring her investigation, !ulleni$ was astonished to discover there had been virtually no previous US studies of fluoride's effects on the human brain. Then, her application for a grant to continue her -4S research was turned down by the US 4ational #nstitutes of 3ealth :4#3;, when an 4#3 panel flatly told her that 2fluoride does not have central nervous system effects2. 9eclassified documents of the US atomic bomb program indicate otherwise. 1 !anhattan )ro*ect memorandum of C7 1pril 6788 states0 2-linical evidence suggests that uranium he$afluoride may have a rather mar ed central nervous system effect... #t seems most li ely that the + %code for fluoride( component rather than the T %code for uranium( is the causative factor.2 The memo, from a captain in the medical corps, is stamped S>-?>T and is addressed to -olonel Stafford "arren, head of the !anhattan )ro*ect's !edical Section. -olonel "arren is as ed to approve a program of animal research on -4S effects. 2Since wor with these compounds is essential, it will be necessary to now in advance what mental effects may occur after e$posure... This is important not only to protect a given individual, but also to prevent a confused wor man from in*uring others by improperly performing his duties.2 .n the same day, -olonel "arren approved the -4S research program. This was in 6788, at the height of "orld "ar ## and the US nation's race to build the world's first atomic bomb. +or research on fluoride's -4S effects to be approved at such a momentous time, the supporting evidence set forth in the proposal forwarded along with the memo must have been persuasive. The proposal, however, is missing from the files at the US 4ational 1rchives. 2#f you find the memos but the document they refer to is missing, it's probably still classified,2 said -harles ?eeves, chief librarian at the 1tlanta branch of the US 4ational 1rchives and ?ecords 1dministration where the memos were found. Similarly, no results of the !anhattan )ro*ect's fluoride -4S research could be found in the files. 1fter reviewing the memos, !ulleni$ declared herself 2flabbergasted2. 23ow could # be told by 4#3 that fluoride has no central nervous system effects, when these documents were sitting there all the timeD2 She reasons that the !anhattan )ro*ect did do fluoride -4S studies0 2That ind of warning, that fluoride wor ers might be a danger to the bomb program by improperly performing their duties-# can't imagine that would be ignored.2 'ut she suggests that the results were buried because of the difficult legal and public relations problems they might create for the government. The author of the 6788 -4S research proposal attached to the C7 1pril memo was 9r 3arold -. 3odge-at the time, chief of fluoride to$icology studies for the University of ?ochester division of the !anhattan )ro*ect.

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