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Edward A. Burkhardt is President of Rail World, Inc., of Chicago, Illinois, a railroad management and consulting company he formed in ... -
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256 989 227 039,82 $ http://www.iedm.org/ The Québec "Debt Clock" shows the growth of the public debt sector in ... -
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Wednesday 17 July 2013
Québec's Billion Dollard Sovereign Debt
256 989 227 039,82 $
The Québec "Debt Clock" shows the growth of the public debt sector in real time. Public sector debt includes the government's gross debt as well as the debt of the health and social services and education networks, municipalities and other publicly funded corporations (HydroQuébec) for which the government is ultimately responsible.
Based on data provided by the Quebec Department of Finance in its 2012-2013 Budget Plan (which does not take into account Quebec’s share of the federal debt), Québec's debt increases by:
$16.7 billion from now to March 31, 2014, the equivalent of $23 million per day, $15 902 per minute, or $265 per second.
Quebec has the highest per capita debt level, coming in at $22,369 per man, woman and child. Ontario is in second place with a per capita debt of $19,524 and Newfoundland and Labrador are in third place with a per capita debt of $16,647.
With all the talk of Greece’s impending exit from the euro zone, debt is once again in the headlines. Greece’s massive public sector debt, coupled with its inability to devalue its currency, has put the country at risk of default. But the global economy is straining under the weight of more than just public sector debt. In the developed world, consumers, financial institutions, and other corporations have each accumulated unprecedented levels of debt — and how that total debt is managed will ultimately determine the economic fate of the nation economy going forward.
a few years ago, the Quebec Ministry of Finance did a ranking of the most indebted countries in the developed world. If Quebec were independent, it would have been the fifth worst, just behind Greece in third place at 102.6%!
Now that the Greeks have hit the wall, it's payback time for them. Last year, the country's GDP dropped by 6.9% and its unemployment rate skyrocketed to 17.7%. This year, the GDP is expected to drop by another 5% and unemployment to reach over 19%.
Another similarity is the perception of the population vis-a-vis the corruption of their political and economic systems. 98% of Greeks believe corruption has eroded their country. According to a Leger Marketing poll held last April, 85% of Quebecers now believe that their government and the whole construction industry are corrupted.
Quebec’s debt reaches over $50,000 per worker, it increases over $23 million per day, a debt that places Quebec 5th among the most indebted nations in the world. Ultimately, it is taxpayers who are responsible for this debt, created by the inability of government to control expenses.
The social infrastructure in Quebec is simply unsustainable. Seven dollar day care, a parental leave program that is ripe for abuse. These are wonderful in principle but who is paying for them? Our future generations. Moreover, Quebec is burdened with a civil servant infrastructure that produces no true economic value yet is one of the largest of any jurisdiction on the continent and don’t get me started on the power of the unions (Marxist).
What are the solutions being conceived to pay for our bloated infrastructure, our gold-plated social programs and the reduction of our debt?
Increase the sales tax, are you kidding me? You can be sure that such a move will drive the underground economy further underground. This shortsighted, ill-conceived idea that a percentage change in the tax will derive a linear result is ridiculous. Increasing taxes in general will simply encourage capital flight that will exacerbate the problem. What the Quebec government doesn’t take into account is that those with wealth in the province, have several things going for them — a Canadian passport, a good tax attorney and next of kin in a lower tax jurisdiction. If the rates of tax continue to creep up, tax practitioner will be hard at work moving assets into out-of-province trusts and make a bad situation much worse for Quebec. Appealing to our sense of nationalism, can only go so far.
Quebec’s generations-long obsession with independence has been a slow, ongoing cratering of its financial health. To maintain generous social services it can’t afford, and keep up the steady flow of state subsidies, it has borrowed heavily, so it now has by far the highest debt load in the country.
Even now, as the rot becomes more evident and the price of it ever higher, the province is saddled with a government dedicated to the same old sovereigntist obsessions: isolating and afflicting identifiable ethnic groups viewed to be culturally inadequate, whether its Sikhs playing soccer or Jews parking their cars on holy days; seeking out new battles to pick with the anglo community and the federalists; loading on punitive new language rules and restrictions to an already overburdened business community; classifying every issue, from restaurant menus to farm produce through the prism of “sovereignty.
Perhaps it’s too much to be blaming all this on Quebec’s fixation with itself and its independence, but it’s certainly not unreasonable to suspect that the vast effort put into fighting with Canada over such a long period drained away time, effort, skills and money that might have been put into more sustainable and productive means.
Don't shoot the messengers
C101
Thursday 11 July 2013
Meet Maine, Montreal and Atlantic Railways (MM&A)
Edward A. Burkhardt is President of Rail World, Inc., of Chicago, Illinois, a railroad management and consulting company he formed in 1999. He also serves as President of Rail World Holdings LLC, which holds railway investments worldwide.
Rail World Inc. is a A railway management, consulting and investment corporation specializing in privatizations and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.
Mr. Burkhardt serves as Chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, a 750 mile regional railway operating in Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick. He is President of The San Luis Central Railroad Company, a short line railway based in Monte Vista, Colorado, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, a regional carrier serving the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Prior to his creation of Rail World, Mr. Burkhardt was the founder and for 12 years the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation, which was the largest of the regional railroads spun off from Class I’s in recent years. Mr. Burkhardt also served as President of Algoma Central Railway, Inc., a Canadian subsidiary of WCTC.
Before Wisconsin Central, Mr. Burkhardt’s railroad career spanned 20 years with the Chicago and North Western Transportation Co., where he was Vice President Marketing and Vice President Operations.
He is Past President of the Western Railway Club. Mr. Burkhardt also served on the Executive Committee of the Regional Railroads of America.
In 1999 he was named “Railroader of the Year” by Railway Age magazine, and subsequently in December 1999 Railway Age named him one of 16 “Railroaders of the Century.”
New Zealand
While with Wisconsin Central, Mr. Burkhardt led the privatisation and subsequently served as Chairman of Tranz Rail Holdings Ltd., the rail and ferry system of New Zealand, from its start-up in September 1993 thru August 1999
United Kingdom
Also while with Wisconsin Central, Mr. Burkhardt served as Chairman and Chief Executive of English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd. during the period from its start-up in December 1995 through July 1999. He led the investor group that purchased five railway operations from the British Railway Board, which handled 93% of rail freight in the United Kingdom.
Australia
Mr. Burkhardt was also Chairman of Australian Transport Network from 1997 through August 1999, which purchased Tasrail, a freight carrier operating in the island State of Tasmania, Australia. Subsequently, Tasrail purchased the Emu Bay Railway from the mining company Pasminco and merged the two rail operations. ATN also was an investment of Wisconsin Central.
Estonia
Mr. Burkhardt was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Navirail OÜ, based in Tallinn, which operated a freight ferry between Helsinki and Tallinn. He serves as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AS Baltic Rail, also based in Tallinn, which is developing the Finland - Baltic States – Poland rail corridor involving automatic change of track gauge at the Lithuania / Poland border. He led the Estonian Railways privatization in 2001 and served as Chairman of its Supervisory Board until it was repurchased by the Estonian government in early 2007.
Poland
He is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Rail Polska, based in Warsaw. Rail Polska completed two short-line railway acquisitions in early 2003: Kolex (based in Oświecim) and ZecTrans (based in Wrocław). Rail Polska has been granted unrestricted operator license on the Polish rail network, and commenced long-haul train operations, primarily handling power-station coal, in October 2003. Rail Polska is currently expanding rapidly in the deregulated European rail marketplace.
Education
Mr. Burkhardt holds a B.S. degree with honors in Industrial Administration from Yale University and studied Rail Transportation at Yale’s Graduate School.
Corporate Directorships
Mr. Burkhardt recently completed six years service on the boards of directors of PolyMedica Corporation, listed on the NASDAQ, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, an NYSE-listed company.
Mr. Burkhardt was appointed Honorary Consul for New Zealand at Chicago in January 1995. His diplomatic jurisdiction now includes the U.S. Great Lakes Region: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Mr. Burkhardt is a former Chairman of the Finance Committee of the United States-New Zealand Council.
Macquarie Corporate Finance (USA) provided investment banking services to MMA, and arranged the investment consortium which includes: LaSalle Bank, Bank Austria and Earlston Associates L.P. as senior debt holders, and Caisse de depot et Placement du Quebec (“CDP”), Rail World Holdings, Eureka Growth Capital, MP Structured Finance Fund, Berkshire Investments (Netherlands), CAC LLC, DRD Family Partnership, Athena Family Partners, Vineyard Partners, Lee Grandchildren Trust, MP Global Enterprizes, andan affiliate of The Wheeling Corporation as mezzanine debt and equity investors.
Also investing with Rail World are several private investors including Larry R. Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, a regional railroad located in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Jerry R. Davis, retired President of Union Pacific Railroad, and Frank Turner, retired President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association and a veteran rail manager.
Rail World Inc. is a A railway management, consulting and investment corporation specializing in privatizations and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.
Also investing with Rail World are several private investors including Larry R. Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, a regional railroad located in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, Jerry R. Davis, retired President of Union Pacific Railroad, and Frank Turner, retired President of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association and a veteran rail manager.
Rail World Inc. is a A railway management, consulting and investment corporation specializing in privatizations and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.
MM&A explanation doesn't make sense to rail experts
The locomotive caught fire, so firefighters shut off the engine to stop the flames from spreading. That slowly disengaged the air brakes, and the driverless train carrying 72 cars of crude oil rolled downhill into the scenic lakeside town of Lac-Megantic, derailing, exploding and leveling the town center.
Fire chief Patrick Lambert, head of the 20-person Nantes fire department, said one of his crew members responded to a report of a fire on a train locomotive at 11:32 p.m. Friday. When the crew arrived at the scene 10 minutes later, the 12 firefighters put out the blaze, which originated in a fuel or oil line.
No employees from the train company were at the scene when the fire crew arrived.
“They told me it’s normal during a shift change,” Lambert said, adding that by the time his men were done putting out the fire at 12:13 a.m., two MMA employees had arrived.
Lambert said his men had done some joint training with the MMA in how to fight locomotive fires, including how to safely shut down a locomotive, which one of his men did on Friday night, but that training had nothing to do with the air brake system.
“We don’t touch the brakes,” he said. “We’re not specialists on trains, we’re not mechanics. Our specialty is putting out fires.”
MMA chairman Edward Burkhardt has blamed firefighters in Nantes for the disaster, saying they unwittingly unlocked the train's brakes when they shut down the locomotive's engines to douse a small fire.
Fire chief Patrick Lambert, head of the 20-person Nantes fire department, said one of his crew members responded to a report of a fire on a train locomotive at 11:32 p.m. Friday. When the crew arrived at the scene 10 minutes later, the 12 firefighters put out the blaze, which originated in a fuel or oil line.
No employees from the train company were at the scene when the fire crew arrived.
“They told me it’s normal during a shift change,” Lambert said, adding that by the time his men were done putting out the fire at 12:13 a.m., two MMA employees had arrived.
Lambert said his men had done some joint training with the MMA in how to fight locomotive fires, including how to safely shut down a locomotive, which one of his men did on Friday night, but that training had nothing to do with the air brake system.
“We don’t touch the brakes,” he said. “We’re not specialists on trains, we’re not mechanics. Our specialty is putting out fires.”
MMA chairman Edward Burkhardt has blamed firefighters in Nantes for the disaster, saying they unwittingly unlocked the train's brakes when they shut down the locomotive's engines to douse a small fire.
According to several rail switchmen and engineers Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway explanation involving the air brakes simply doesn’t make sense.
A train’s air brakes rely on a system of pressure valves and storage tanks to function, but they should never be used to maintain a train at rest over an extended period of time. According to retired engineer Paul-André Larose, when the engines are shut off, air gradually begins to leak out of the system, like a balloon with a tiny puncture, and eventually the breaks disengage.
“The air brake system is a beautiful concept, but you have to know its limitations,” said Larose, who lives in Toronto.
That’s where the manually engaged “hand brakes” come in. Even if the air brakes on the MMA train had stopped working, explained veteran rail worker Don Beyer, a backup series of hand brakes should have been engaged, and they should have been enough to keep the train stationary.
“You set (hand brakes) to prevent the train from rolling,” said Beyer, who has more than 30 years of experience and works as a switchman in a busy rail yard in Missouri. Each MMA locomotive and tank car was equipped with a hand brake.
Ghost train.: Photo taken on Friday at 23:30 between the town of Nantes and lac Mégantic credit Nancy Cameron
Transport Canada’s rules governing train travel specifically outline this procedure, which Beyer referred to as a “securement test.” Section 112 of the Canadian Railway Operating Rules stipulates that “when equipment is left at any point, a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving.
Joe McGonigle, Maine-based vice president at Montreal Maine & Atlantic, said the train had been stopped outside of town for a crew change, and that there was no crew on the train at the time that it somehow started to roll again. The train's engineer had inspected the train at just before midnight and all was secure. However, sometime after that, the train started to move, eventually traveling 6.8 miles, and part of it derailed and several cars exploded, he said.
"The train was released, we don't know how," he said. All safety measures were in place, and the train was "secure," he said.
In a recent interview Rob Smith, National Legislative Director with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said,
“The corporate world has thrown away all the expertise we had on the railway. And now we wonder why we’re having accidents, until there’s an accident, they don’t really think about these things.”
Rail World Inc. is a A railway management, consulting and investment corporation specializing in privatizations and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.
RAIL WORLD Inc. Ooops My Bad Disaster Capitalism
While the railway industry says it’s too soon to draw conclusions about the adequacy of safety regulations for the transportation of dangerous goods in the wake of the train disaster in Lac-Mégantic, federal lobbying records show that railway industry representatives recently began a campaign to convince Canadian government officials in private meetings that more stringent safety regulations aren’t necessary.
The Railway Association of Canada, which represents about 50 freight and passenger companies in the country, and the Canadian Pacific Railway have lobbied in the past year against additional regulation on freight rail in separate meetings with federal officials, including with a policy adviser to Transport Minister Denis Lebel, the lobbying disclosure records of the company and the industry association show.
The railway association and the CPR are registered as federal government lobbyists to discuss a host of policy and regulatory matters with government officials. Representatives of the railway association had 21 meetings with about 30 civil servants and members of Parliament in the past year, the group’s lobbying record shows.
The railway association’s record shows a new topic was added to its lobbying activities at the beginning of 2013: “To inform about the movement of dangerous goods, including voluntary and regulatory requirements, volumes, customers and safety measures to assure them that current regulations for dangerous goods transportation are sufficient.”
Other topics included various tax laws, activities to mark the Sir John A. Macdonald bicentennial program in 2015, the association’s call for the installation of voice and video recorders in locomotive cabs and a discussion of Bill C-52, new federal legislation requiring railway companies to enter into contracts with shippers when requested.
The association had two meetings in February, one with MPs and the other with civil servants from Natural Resources Canada. The third meeting, on May 21, was with Aaron Hynes, a policy adviser to Lebel on surface transportation.
For its part, the CPR reveals in its lobbying record that it met with Hynes and another policy adviser, Nathan Cato, on April 17. Among the topics listed for the meeting: “Participating in the review of Rail Service in Canada by Transport Canada with regard to ... Transport Canada’s review of freight rail service in Canada. Advocating for no additional regulation.” The CPR disclosed the same topic of discussion at 22 meetings with more than 30 bureaucrats and MPs over the past year, the company’s lobbying record shows.
Rail World Inc. is a A railway management, consulting and investment corporation specializing in privatizations and restructurings. Its purpose is to promote rail industry privatization by bringing together government bodies wishing to sell their stakes with investment capital and management skills.
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS summary
Don't shoot the messengers!
C101
Wednesday 3 July 2013
Quebec wants half of the population drink fluoridated water within 5 years
Quebec began a major offensive much more energetic in the hope to fluoridate drinking water for half of the population within five years. This is a final attempt of the Directorate of Public Health already considering if it were to fail, to turn to food fluoridation.
“We will intensify information activities and respond to the misinformation that is being done by means communicative with the public using new technologies, says the National Director of Public Health and Deputy Minister of Health Deputy Minister, Horacio Arruda. He will also have to be present [the opponents] in a public place. This is not to go to war, but to restore the facts as they are conceived. “According to experts in public health, water fluoridation is an inexpensive tool, safe and effective to fight tooth decay.
The admission of the director of public health, the latest strategy to promote the fluoridation of drinking water, which ranged from 2005 to 2012, was a true “failure.” The national plan was to increase the rate of penetration of this measure from 7 to 50%. It is now below 3%.
There have been many suggestions as to the possible biochemical mechanisms underlying the development of dental fluorosis (Matsuo 1998; Den Besten 1999; Sharma 2008; Duan 2011; Tye 2011) and they are complicated for a lay reader. While promoters of fluoridation are content to dismiss dental fluorosis (in its milder forms) as merely a cosmetic effect, it is rash to assume that fluoride is not impacting other developing tissues when it is visibly damaging the teeth by some biochemical mechanism (Groth 1973; Colquhoun 1997). Moreover, ingested fluoride can only cause dental fluorosis during the period before the permanent teeth have erupted (6-8 years), other tissues are potentially susceptible to damage throughout life. For example, in areas of naturally high levels of fluoride the first indicator of harm is dental fluorosis in children. In the same communities many older people develop skeletal fluorosis.
Fluoride may damage the brain. According to the National Research Council (2006), “it is apparent that fluorides have the ability to interfere with the functions of the brain.” In a review of the literature commissioned by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fluoride has been listed among about 100 chemicals for which there is “substantial evidence of developmental neurotoxicity.” Animal experiments show that fluoride accumulates in the brain and alters mental behavior in a manner consistent with a neurotoxic agent (Mullenix 1995). In total, there have now been over 100 animal experiments showing that fluoride can damage the brain and impact learning and behavior. According to fluoridation proponents, these animal studies can be ignored because high doses were used. However, it is important to note that rats generally require five times more fluoride to reach the same plasma levels in humans (Sawan 2010). Further, one animal experiment found effects at remarkably low doses (Varner 1998). In this study, rats fed for one year with 1 ppm fluoride in their water (the same level used in fluoridation programs), using either sodium fluoride or aluminum fluoride, had morphological changes to their kidneys and brains, an increased uptake of aluminum in the brain, and the formation of beta-amyloid deposits which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Other animal studies have found effects on the brain at water fluoride levels as low as 5 ppm (Liu 2010).
Fluoride may lower IQ. There have now been 33 studies from China, Iran, India and Mexico that have reported an association between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ. One of these studies (Lin 1991) indicates that even just moderate levels of fluoride exposure (e.g., 0.9 ppm in the water) can exacerbate the neurological defects of iodine deficiency. Other studies have found IQ reductions at 1.9 ppm (Xiang 2003a,b); 0.3-3.0 ppm (Ding 2011); 1.8-3.9 ppm (Xu 1994); 2.0 ppm (Yao 1996, 1997); 2.1-3.2 ppm (An 1992); 2.38 ppm (Poureslami 2011); 2.45 ppm (Eswar 2011); 2.5 ppm (Seraj 2006); 2.85 ppm (Hong 2001); 2.97 ppm (Wang 2001, Yang 1994); 3.15 ppm (Lu 2000); 4.12 ppm (Zhao 1996). In the Ding study, each 1 ppm increase of fluoride in urine was associated with a loss of 0.59 IQ points. None of these studies indicate an adequate margin of safety to protect all children drinking artificially fluoridated water from this affect. According to the National Research Council (2006), “the consistency of the results [in fluoride/IQ studies] appears significant enough to warrant additional research on the effects of fluoride on intelligence.” The NRC’s conclusion has recently been amplified by a team of Harvard scientists whose fluoride/IQ meta-review concludes that fluoride’s impact on the developing brain should be a “high research priority.” (Choi et al., 2012). Except for one small IQ study from New Zealand (Spittle 1998) no fluoridating country has yet investigated the matter.
Fluoride may cause non-IQ neurotoxic effects. Reduced IQ is not the only neurotoxic effect that may result from fluoride exposure. At least three human studies have reported an association between fluoride exposure and impaired visual-spatial organization (Calderon 2000; Li 2004; Rocha-Amador 2009); while four other studies have found an association between prenatal fluoride exposure and fetal brain damage (Han 1989; Du 1992; Dong 1993; Yu 1996).
Fluoride affects the pineal gland. Studies by Jennifer Luke (2001) show that fluoride accumulates in the human pineal gland to very high levels. In her Ph.D. thesis, Luke has also shown in animal studies that fluoride reduces melatonin production and leads to an earlier onset of puberty (Luke 1997). Consistent with Luke’s findings, one of the earliest fluoridation trials in the U.S. (Schlesinger 1956) reported that on average young girls in the fluoridated community reached menstruation 5 months earlier than girls in the non-fluoridated community. Inexplicably, no fluoridating country has attempted to reproduce either Luke’s or Schlesinger’s findings or examine the issue any further.
Fluoride affects thyroid function. According to the U.S. National Research Council (2006), “several lines of information indicate an effect of fluoride exposure on thyroid function.” In the Ukraine, Bachinskii (1985) found a lowering of thyroid function, among otherwise healthy people, at 2.3 ppm fluoride in water. In the middle of the 20th century, fluoride was prescribed by a number of European doctors to reduce the activity of the thyroid gland for those suffering from hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) (Stecher 1960; Waldbott 1978). According to a clinical study by Galletti and Joyet (1958), the thyroid function of hyperthyroid patients was effectively reduced at just 2.3 to 4.5 mg/day of fluoride ion. To put this finding in perspective, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS, 1991) has estimated that total fluoride exposure in fluoridated communities ranges from 1.6 to 6.6 mg/day. This is a remarkable fact, particularly considering the rampant and increasing problem of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) in the United States and other fluoridated countries. Symptoms of hypothyroidism include depression, fatigue, weight gain, muscle and joint pains, increased cholesterol levels, and heart disease. In 2010, the second most prescribed drug of the year was Synthroid (sodium levothyroxine) which is a hormone replacement drug used to treat an underactive thyroid.
Fluoride causes arthritic symptoms. Some of the early symptoms of skeletal fluorosis (a fluoride-induced bone and joint disease that impacts millions of people in India, China, and Africa), mimic the symptoms of arthritis (Singh 1963; Franke 1975; Teotia 1976; Carnow 1981; Czerwinski 1988; DHHS 1991). According to a review on fluoridation published in Chemical & Engineering News, “Because some of the clinical symptoms mimic arthritis, the first two clinical phases of skeletal fluorosis could be easily misdiagnosed” (Hileman 1988). Few, if any, studies have been done to determine the extent of this misdiagnosis, and whether the high prevalence of arthritis in America (1 in 3 Americans have some form of arthritis – CDC, 2002) and other fluoridated countries is related to growing fluoride exposure, which is highly plausible. Even when individuals in the U.S. suffer advanced forms of skeletal fluorosis (from drinking large amounts of tea), it has taken years of misdiagnoses before doctors finally correctly diagnosed the condition as fluorosis.
Fluoride damages bone. An early fluoridation trial (Newburgh-Kingston 1945-55) found a significant two-fold increase in cortical bone defects among children in the fluoridated community (Schlesinger 1956). The cortical bone is the outside layer of the bone and is important to protect against fracture. While this result was not considered important at the time with respect to bone fractures, it did prompt questions about a possible link to osteosarcoma (Caffey, 1955; NAS, 1977). In 2001, Alarcon-Herrera and co-workers reported a linear correlation between the severity of dental fluorosis and the frequency of bone fractures in both children and adults in a high fluoride area in Mexico.
Fluoride may increase hip fractures in the elderly. When high doses of fluoride (average 26 mg per day) were used in trials to treat patients with osteoporosis in an effort to harden their bones and reduce fracture rates, it actually led to a higher number of fractures, particularly hip fractures (Inkovaara 1975; Gerster 1983; Dambacher 1986; O’Duffy 1986; Hedlund 1989; Bayley 1990; Gutteridge 1990. 2002; Orcel 1990; Riggs 1990 and Schnitzler 1990). Hip fracture is a very serious issue for the elderly, often leading to a loss of independence or a shortened life. There have been over a dozen studies published since 1990 that have investigated a possible relationship between hip fractures and long term consumption of artificially fluoridated water or water with high natural levels. The results have been mixed – some have found an association and others have not. Some have even claimed a protective effect. One very important study in China, which examined hip fractures in six Chinese villages, found what appears to be a dose-related increase in hip fracture as the concentration of fluoride rose from 1 ppm to 8 ppm (Li 2001) offering little comfort to those who drink a lot of fluoridated water. Moreover, in the only human epidemiological study to assess bone strength as a function of bone fluoride concentration, researchers from the University of Toronto found that (as with animal studies) the strength of bone declined with increasing fluoride content (Chachra 2010). Finally, a recent study from Iowa (Levy 2009), published data suggesting that low-level fluoride exposure may have a detrimental effect on cortical bone density in girls (an effect that has been repeatedly documented in clinical trials and which has been posited as an important mechanism by which fluoride may increase bone fracture rates).
People with impaired kidney function are particularly vulnerable to bone damage. Because of their inability to effectively excrete fluoride, people with kidney disease are prone to accumulating high levels of fluoride in their bone and blood. As a result of this high fluoride body burden, kidney patients have an elevated risk for developing skeletal fluorosis. In one of the few U.S. studies investigating the matter, crippling skeletal fluorosis was documented among patients with severe kidney disease drinking water with just 1.7 ppm fluoride (Johnson 1979). Since severe skeletal fluorosis in kidney patients has been detected in small case studies, it is likely that larger, systematic studies would detect skeletal fluorosis at even lower fluoride levels.
Fluoride may cause bone cancer (osteosarcoma). A U.S. government-funded animal study found a dose-dependent increase in bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in fluoride-treated, male rats (NTP 1990). Following the results of this study, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) reviewed national cancer data in the U.S. and found a significantly higher rate of osteosarcoma (a bone cancer) in young men in fluoridated versus unfluoridated areas (Hoover et al 1991a). While the NCI concluded (based on an analysis lacking statistical power) that fluoridation was not the cause (Hoover et al 1991b), no explanation was provided to explain the higher rates in the fluoridated areas. A smaller study from New Jersey (Cohn 1992) found osteosarcoma rates to be up to 6 times higher in young men living in fluoridated versus unfluoridated areas. Other epidemiological studies of varying size and quality have failed to find this relationship (a summary of these can be found in Bassin, 2001 and Connett & Neurath, 2005). There are three reasons why a fluoride-osteosarcoma connection is plausible: First, fluoride accumulates to a high level in bone. Second, fluoride stimulates bone growth. And, third, fluoride can interfere with the genetic apparatus of bone cells in several ways; it has been shown to be mutagenic, cause chromosome damage, and interfere with the enzymes involved with DNA repair in both cell and tissue studies (Tsutsui 1984; Caspary 1987; Kishi 1993; Mihashi 1996; Zhang 2009). In addition to cell and tissue studies, a correlation between fluoride exposure and chromosome damage in humans has also been reported (Sheth 1994; Wu 1995; Meng 1997; Joseph 2000).
Proponents have failed to refute the Bassin-Osteosarcoma study. In 2001, Elise Bassin, a dentist, successfully defended her doctoral thesis at Harvard in which she found that young boys had a five-to-seven fold increased risk of getting osteosarcoma by the age of 20 if they drank fluoridated water during their mid-childhood growth spurt (age 6 to 8). The study was published in 2006 (Bassin 2006) but has been largely discounted by fluoridating countries because her thesis adviser Professor Chester Douglass (a promoter of fluoridation and a consultant for Colgate) promised a larger study that he claimed would discount her thesis (Douglass and Joshipura, 2006). Now, after 5 years of waiting the Douglass study has finally been published (Kim 2011) but in no way does this study discount Bassin’s findings. The study, which used far fewer controls than Bassin’s analysis, did not even attempt to assess the age-specific window of risk that Bassin identified. Indeed, by the authors’ own admission, the study had no capacity to assess the risk of osteosarcoma among children and adolescents (the precise population of concern). For a critique of the Douglass study, click here.
Fluoride may cause reproductive problems. Fluoride administered to animals at high doses wreaks havoc on the male reproductive system – it damages sperm and increases the rate of infertility in a number of different species (Kour 1980; Chinoy 1989; Chinoy 1991; Susheela 1991; Chinoy 1994; Kumar 1994; Narayana 1994a,b; Zhao 1995; Elbetieha 2000; Ghosh 2002; Zakrzewska 2002). In addition, an epidemiological study from the US found increased rates of infertility among couples living in areas with 3 ppm or more fluoride in the water (Freni 1994), two studies have found increased fertility among men living in high-fluoride areas of China and India (Liu 1988; Neelam 1987); four studies have found reduced level of circulating testosterone in males living in high fluoride areas (Hao 2010; Chen P 1997; Susheela 1996; Barot 1998), and a study of fluoride-exposed workers reported a “subclinical reproductive effect” (Ortiz-Perez 2003). While animal studies by FDA researchers have failed to find evidence of reproductive toxicity in fluoride-exposed rats (Sprando 1996, 1997, 1998), the National Research Council (2006) has recommended that, “the relationship between fluoride and fertility requires additional study.”
Some individuals are highly sensitive to low levels of fluoride as shown by case studies and double blind studies. In one study, which lasted 13 years, Feltman and Kosel (1961) showed that about 1% of patients given 1 mg of fluoride each day developed negative reactions. Many individuals have reported suffering from symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, rashes and stomach and gastro intestinal tract problems, which disappear when they avoid fluoride in their water and diet. (Shea 1967; Waldbott 1978; Moolenburgh 1987) Frequently the symptoms reappear when they are unwittingly exposed to fluoride again (Spittle, 2008). No fluoridating government has conducted scientific studies to take this issue beyond these anecdotal reports. Without the willingness of governments to investigate these reports scientifically, should we as a society be forcing these people to ingest fluoride?
Other subsets of population are more vulnerable to fluoride’s toxicity. In addition to people suffering from impaired kidney function discussed in reason #30 other subsets of the population are more vulnerable to fluoride’s toxic effects. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR 1993) these include: infants, the elderly, and those with diabetes mellitus. Also vulnerable are those who suffer from malnutrition (e.g., calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D and iodine deficiencies and protein-poor diets) and those who have diabetes insipidus.
Don't shoot the messenger
C101
Don't shoot the messenger
C101
Photos From the Tahrir Square Protests Egypt
U.S. Interventionist foreign policy is the gift that keeps on giving. Is there any Middle Eastern country that the Anglo-American cartel haven’t screwed up yet? Oh yeah – Iran.
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