No relationship of bone cancer to fluoridation – another new study the anti-fluoride brigade will attempt to ignore

Anti-fluoride activists claim that water fluoridation causes nine cancer proved wrong, yet again. Image credit: Four myths about water fluoridation and why they’re wrong

A new study confirms, yet again, that osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, is not associated with community water fluoridation (CWF). This the seventh such study since a 1990 report of an animal study suggested such a link.

The 199o study exposed rats to very high concentrations of fluoride so the results were not relevant to CWF. But, of course, this did not stop anti-fluoride campaigners using the study to argue that CWF causes osteosarcoma.

The citation for this new study is:

Kim, F. M., Hayes, C., Burgard, S. L., Kim, H. D., Hoover, R. N., Osteosarcoma, N., … Couper, D. (2020). A Case-Control Study of Fluoridation and Osteosarcoma. Journal of Dental Research 1.

This was a hospital-based study where patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma were compared with control patients diagnosed with other bone tumours or different conditions. This figure summarises the findings.

The only statistically significant effects show a reduced likelihood of osteosarcoma diagnosis for people living in fluoridated areas – compared with those living in non-fluoridated areas (the red triangles in the figure). These were for people who never drank water and people who had lived in fluoridated areas for 0% to 50% of their lives. It is likely the effects for people who did drink bottles water and those who had lived in fluoridated areas for 50% to 100% or 100% of their lives are not statistically significant because of the smaller numbers involved (The green circles in the figure).

It’s been a bad week for the anti-fluoride crowd – the science keeps proving them wrong. Perhaps that is why they are silent about these new studies.

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Fluoridation not associated with hip fracture, heart attacks of osteosarcoma – new study

A new Swedish study confirms fluoride does not increase risks of hip fracture, myocardial infarction, or osteosarcoma.

Community water fluoridation appears to have no association with increased risk of hip fracture, myocardial infarction or osteosarcoma.

That’s the conclusion from a new Swedish study. And these conclusions agree with most findings from earlier studies.

Peggy Näsman describes this new study in her PhD thesis:

Näsman, P. (2016). Epidemiological studies of fluoride exposure and hip fracture , myocardial infarction and osteosarcoma.

She used Swedish nationwide population-based registers for her investigations.

Sweden does not use community water fluoridation but its drinking water contains fluoride at various levels, including optimum or even higher concentrations. So Swedish population data are ideal for looking at possible links between the level of fluoride intake and specific health effects.

Näsman found no association between fluoride exposure level and risk of hip fracture using a  cohort of 452,824 eligible people with an exposure to the same drinking water source from birth. The drinking water fluoride levels  ranged between <0.1 and 2.7 mg/L . Similarly, she found no association between fluoride level and the risk of osteoporotic (low-trauma) hip fracture.

However, stratified analyses suggested that fluoride exposure in people younger than 80 years of age was, in fact, associated with a decreased risk for hip fracture.

There was also no association between fluoride exposure level and risk of myocardial infarction using a cohort of 455,619 eligible people with an  exposure to the same drinking water source from birth.  The drinking water fluoride levels  ranged between <0.1 and 2.7 mg/L . There was also no association with fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction.

Finally, Näsman found no association between drinking water fluoride exposure and risk of osteosarcoma using a case-control study consisting of 363 eligible osteosarcoma cases identified in the Swedish Cancer Register, and 1,815 control subjects randomly selected from the Total Population Register. Here the drinking water fluoride levels ranged between 0.03 and 2.75 mg/L.

Anti-fluoridation campaigners often cite cherry-picked studies based on unreliable work or small numbers of subjects to argue that community water fluoridation is harmful. They have specifically claimed fluoridation causes increased risks of hip fracture,myocardial infarction, and osteosarcoma. However, the bulk of the scientific literature does not support these claims and this study once again confirms that.

Näsman is publishing her findings in three scientific publications:

Näsman P, Ekstrand J, Granath F, Ekbom A, Fored CM. Estimated drinking water fluoride exposure and risk of hip fracture: a cohort study. J Dent Res. 2013 92(11):1029-34.

Näsman P, Granath F, Ekstrand J, Ekbom A, Sandborgh-Englund G, Fored CM. Natural fluoride in drinking water and myocardial infarction: a cohort study in Sweden. Science of the Total Environment. 2016 562:305-11.

Näsman P, Granath F, Ekstrand J, Ekbom A, Sandborgh Englund G, Naimi- Akbar A, Fored CM. Natural fluoride in drinking water and osteosarcoma: a case-control study in Sweden. [Submitted]

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New research confirms water fluoridation does not cause bone cancers

The most common type of bone cancer is Osteosarcoma. Image credit:  Osteosarcoma

This time for Texas.

A new study confirms what other researchers have found elsewhere. It is reported in this recent paper:

Archer, N. P., Napier, T. S., & Villanacci, J. F. (2016). Fluoride exposure in public drinking water and childhood and adolescent osteosarcoma in Texas. Cancer Causes & Control

The paper concludes with this statement:

“No relationship was found between fluoride levels in public drinking water and childhood/adolescent osteosarcoma in Texas.”

The same conclusion has been drawn in many reviews of the literature. For example, a local review:

Broadbent, J., Wills, R., McMillan, J., Drummond, B., & Whyman, R. (2015). Evaluation of evidence behind some recent claims against community water fluoridation in New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 6758(October), 1–18.

They pointed out that Bassin et al., (2006) “found a small but
statistically significant association with fluoridated water among the 60 cases [of osteosarcoma]  that occurred among males.”

Anti-fluoride campaigners have relied on this study, even though Bassin et al., (2006) had acknowledged methodological issues with their analysis and urged caution in interpreting their findings. Broadbent et al., (2015) say:

“The work of Bassin et al. (2006) stimulated further, more comprehensive research; however, the new studies have not replicated their findings.”

This conclusion was based on the findings of Kim et al. (2011), Comber et al. (2011), Levy & Leclerc (2012) and Blakey et al. (2014).

The New Zealand Fluoridation Information Service (2013) drew similar conclusions from their review of the literature but also checked out the New Zealand data. They reported in Community Water Fluoridation and Osteosarcoma:

“The analysis confirms that osteosarcoma is extremely rare in New Zealand with only 127 new cases registered during this period averaging 14.1 per year. The peak age is 10 to 19 years for both sexes. These rates indicate that there is no difference in the rates of osteosarcoma cases between areas with CWF [community water fluoridation] and areas without CWF for both sexes,”

The authoritative New Zealand Fluoridation Review (Eason et al., 2014. Health effects of water fluoridation : A review of the scientific evidence) also drew the same conclusion:

“We conclude that on the available evidence there is no appreciable risk of cancer arising from CWF.”

So, once again community water fluoridation has been found safe and a published study suggesting otherwise not confirmed. But I am betting this will not stop anti-fluoride campaigners continuing to cite the Bassin et al. (2006) study as the last word on the topic and “proof” CWF causes osteosarcoma.

Note: For the pet lovers out there.

You can also be reassured by this recent study:

Rebhun, R. B., Kass, P. H., Kent, M. S., Watson, K. D., Withers, S. S., Culp, W. T. N., & King, A. M. (2016). Evaluation of optimal water fluoridation on the incidence and skeletal distribution of naturally arising osteosarcoma in pet dogs. Veterinary and Comparative Oncology.

This concluded:

“Taken together, these analyses do not support the hypothesis that optimal fluoridation of drinking water contributes to naturally occurring [osteosarcoma] in dogs.”

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