A Known Contaminant in Fluoride Added to the US Water Supply
In this series, we explore the contentious findings surrounding fluoridation of the U.S. public water supply and answer the question of whether water fluoridation poses a risk and what we should do about it.
Previously: Fluoride exposure comes from multiple sources, making individual exposure uncertain and dosage but another confounding factor.
The fluoride added to the public water supply of more than 73 percent of the U.S. population isn’t naturally occurring, and that creates added risk. This fluoride is derived primarily as a chemical byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer and aluminum production industries. It would be deemed as pollution if it escaped into the air or was dumped into a landfill.
Rebecca Hanmer, former deputy assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water, noted that reality in a letter she wrote in 1983 (pdf):
“In regard to the use of fluosilicic acid as a source of fluoride for fluoridation, this Agency regards such use as an ideal environmental solution to a long-standing problem. By recovering by-product fluosilicic acid from fertilizer manufacturing, water, and air pollution are minimized, and water utilities have a low-cost source of fluoride available to them.”
Man-made fluorides come with a problem, however: contaminants.
In a recent interview on the podcast “Discovering True Health,” retired civil and control systems engineer John F. Mueller Jr. shared about one such contaminant.
Mueller was responsible for reviewing and updating the technical specifications for a large municipal water utility’s fluorosilicic acid (FSA) purchasing contract. He found that shipments of FSA over multiple years were all contaminated with arsenic, variably ranging from 25 to 50 milligrams per liter (mg/L).
Arsenic Toxicity
Arsenic toxicity depends on the dose and duration of exposure.
Like fluoride, arsenic is both naturally occurring and an industrial waste byproduct. It’s present in air, water, soil, food, and pesticides. It’s also a contaminant in the FSA added to the public drinking water supply.
The EPA states in its fact sheet on arsenic that it can cause various types of cancer, such as skin, bladder, lung, kidney, nasal passage, liver, and prostate cancer. It can also affect several bodily functions, including the cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunological, neurological, and endocrine systems, and cause diabetes.
Also, the 2007 Toxicological Profile for Arsenic report prepared by scientists from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in accordance with the EPA that was peer-reviewed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff and other federal scientists noted that “long-term exposure (years) to drinking water at levels as low as 0.001 mg As/kg/day [milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of body weight per day] have been associated with skin diseases and skin, bladder, kidney, and liver cancer.”
From Ambivalence to Activism
For Mueller, the discovery of arsenic in the water supply was life-changing.
“I was previously neutral on the fluoridation issue, but after reviewing previous purchase agreements with the city’s FSA supplier at the time, the Mosaic fertilizer company in Florida, and reviewing certificates of analysis over several years of semi-monthly deliveries, I quickly learned that arsenic is in every shipment of FSA from regular suppliers,” Mueller said.
In a certificate of analysis (pdf) provided to The Epoch Times by Mueller, the chemical analysis for a 2013 delivery of FSA from Mosaic showed arsenic contamination levels at 52 ppm.
Another document (pdf) The Epoch Times obtained provided a chemical analysis breakdown of FSA produced by Mosaic between 2011 and 2013, showing an arsenic contamination range between 43.8 and 60.1 ppm for the FSA produced from Mosaic’s Riverview facility.
Mueller explained that in order to understand how arsenic-contaminated fluoride is approved for the public water supply, we need to understand some of the basics of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, which are legally enforceable primary standards and treatment techniques for public water systems.
The EPA first determines a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) for contaminants. The EPA’s definition of an MCLG is “the maximum level of a contaminant in drinking water at which no known or anticipated adverse effect on the health of persons would occur, allowing an adequate margin of safety.”
MCLGs are nonenforceable public health goals.
The EPA’s MCLG for arsenic is zero, as it’s a toxic chemical agent and a known human carcinogen by multiple paths of exposure.
Following the establishment of the MCLG, the enforceable regulatory maximum contaminant level (MCL) is then established.
The EPA defines the MCL as “the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology and taking cost into consideration.” MCLs are the enforceable standards for compliance by water utilities.
The MCL for arsenic is 10 parts per billion (ppb); Mueller explained that his job included ensuring the treated water leaving the treatment plants met the regulatory requirements.
“My first reaction was, ‘OK, we are diluting it so it is below the MCL, so we are not in violation of regulatory requirements,’” Mueller said.
He said that those who work in such positions have “a regulatory compliance mindset.”
“As long as we are regulatory compliant and not violating any of the regulatory [maximum] contaminant levels (MCL), we are good,” he said of his reasoning at the time.
“We can send our annual report out to all our consumers saying we meet the requirements and the water is safe to drink because these are the standards that have been established by the federal government.”
This is the foundation of your job, he said.
It wasn’t long after Mueller realized that arsenic is typically found in FSA as a contaminant that he decided he could no longer stand by quietly and not take action.
“When you get an engineering license, one of the underlying tenets of the profession is that you hold paramount the public health, safety, and welfare,” he said.
Arsenic contamination in FSA conflicted with his adherence to that tenet, he said.
“Knowingly contaminating the public drinking water with a recognized, documented carcinogen and neurotoxin with an assigned MCLG of zero—as with arsenic—is a violation of not only the spirit and intent of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act but also the public trust,” he said.
Mueller noted that the pro-fluoridationists will claim, and correctly, that the FSA is diluted to such a degree that the ending concentration of arsenic is below the enforceable regulatory MCL of 10 ppb.
“But they cannot claim that it is safe for human consumption, not with an MCLG of zero, even though the added arsenic is destined for dilution and therefore not a violation of water quality regulations,” he said. “Legal does not equal safe.”
Mueller started speaking out on the issue, and as a longtime member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), he recommended a revision of its policy statement on water fluoridation, advising that there’s no responsible way of adding contaminated fluoridating chemicals to the otherwise purified public water supplies. He didn’t receive a reply from the AWWA.
Costly and Wasteful
Issues of arsenic aside, water fluoridation may not even be the most economical way to prevent cavities, Mueller notes.
Based on his knowledge of water use versus water consumption, he said that when you break down the numbers, in a large municipality with domestic, commercial, and industrial water users, more than 99.5 percent of the fluoride that goes into the drinking water to prevent tooth decay never sees a single tooth.
Instead, it’s used for washing laundry, watering lawns, showers, and flushing the toilet.
“I think we really need to do away with fluoridation and replace it with programs that are far more effective and are targeted to the underserved and economically depressed areas where oral health care is needed most. Right now, fluoridation is going to everybody, rich or poor, whether they need it or not,” Mueller said.
Over the years, Mueller has continued to be a strong voice, calling for change and policy revision of the public water fluoridation program. He has spoken at more than a dozen public meetings with the EPA, CDC, and White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Although Mueller is now retired, he says the concern around arsenic contamination of the fluoride added to the U.S. water supply still remains, and there’s now greater concern as smaller utilities now import their fluoridation chemicals from China.
Present-Day Concerns
Mueller notes that it’s his understanding Mosaic is no longer a direct supplier, as it sold much of its FSA business to Univar Solutions.
Univar Solutions, a U.S.-based company, states on its website that it “is one of the largest suppliers of hydrofluorosilicic acid (HFS), [another term used for FSA as mentioned above], in the United States with more than 120 locations throughout the nation.”
They offer both products made from processing phosphates as well as high-purity quartz.
Their HFS product page says that the arsenic levels in their standard HFS ranged from 10 to 50 ppm or greater, with no maximum cap identified. The arsenic level for their high-purity HFS is below 5 ppm.
The Epoch Times reached out to Univar Solutions with questions regarding which product level is most widely bought by U.S. water suppliers but it didn’t respond by press time.
Mueller highlighted that smaller water utilities often fluoridate their water with powdered sodium fluoride delivered in sacks, which are commonly imported from China.
“In these cases, there is a concern with quality control measures being largely unknown to ensure safety for human consumption,” Mueller said.
Next: The ongoing landmark lawsuit brought against the EPA by the Fluoride Action Network in 2017 has uncovered surprising admissions from both EPA and CDC officials and has brought to light government interference and suppression of crucial scientific findings around fluoride.
