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PRESS RELEASE, July 2000 High arsenic levels in drinking water prompted US Senator Bob Smith to call a US Senate Hearing on 29 June. Chronic health effects at low concentrations of arsenic include prostate, skin, bladder and lung cancers. The non-cancerous effects include skin pigmentation and keratosis (callous-like skin growths), gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, hormonal (e.g., diabetes), haematological, (e.g., anaemia), pulmonary, neurological, immunological, reproductive/developmental functions. US Environmental Protection Agency suggested that a reduction in the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of arsenic from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 5ppb will result in the lowering of the Maximum Allowable Level (MAL) in the fluoridation product (fluorosilicates derived from phosphate fertiliser pollution scrubbing operations). The new MAL would prevent about 20 cases of bladder cancer and approximately 5 bladder cancer deaths per 100,000 population per year. (To give these figures perspective: with a total population in the USA of 250,000,000, that translates to 50,000 cases and 12,500 deaths from bladder cancer each year) The results of tests indicate that the most common contaminant detected in the fluoridation product is arsenic. The National Sanitation Foundation International (NSFI) showed that the average arsenic levels in the fluoridation agent were well above the MAL. The end result will be that future tests of fluoridation chemicals may result in increased product failures when the lower arsenic MCL of 5 ppb is promulgated. The Senate heard that risk assessment analysis indicated that the proposed EPA arsenic Standards would be too costly to implement. For instance, EPA Technical Fact Sheet on Arsenic in Drinking Water estimates that with a ten microgramme standard, about 13 cases of bladder cancer per 100,000 population and 3 cases of bladder cancer deaths per 100,000 population could be eliminated per year at a cost of $195 million, in comparison to a 5 microgramme standard eliminating 20 cases of bladder cancer and 5 bladder cancer deaths per 100,000 population per year at a cost of $445 million. Consequently, they are considering a reduction in the Maximum Contaminant Level which will save the practice of water fluoridation and a minimum of $250 million for the US taxpayers every year. George Glasser, a US investigative writer specialising in pollution, currently in UK for speaking engagements, commented: "Your chances of getting cancer from arsenic-laced fluoridation agents are better than winning the UK Lottery. The politicking over who will live and who will pay the ultimate price in the phoney war against tooth decay has to end."
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