Dentistry

Harvard Professor Investigated in Fluoride Research FLAP

Harvard University is investigating an allegation that a dentistry professor downplayed research showing an increased risk of bone cancer for boys who drink fluoridated tap water.

Chester Douglass, who heads Harvard’s Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, received a $1.3 million grant in 1992 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to conduct a study of fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

Douglass’ 1992-1999 study found that the odds of having osteosarcoma after drinking fluoridated water were “not statistically different” from those who drank non-fluoridated water.

And that is an important finding, considering all of the fluoride supplements and fluoridated water out in the community today.

But Elise Bassin, a doctoral student who Douglass supervised, reported in her 2001 thesis that boys who drink fluoridated water appear to have an increased risk of developing the bone cancer. Her findings were based on some of the same people used in Douglass’ study.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., filed an ethics complaint against Douglass last month after discovering that Douglass cited Bassin’s research in his final grant report. In it, he said her work supported his claim that there was no significant risk from fluoridated water, even though Bassin had found a strong link between fluoride levels in tap water and an increased osteosarcoma risk for boys.

Oooops you cannot have it both ways, Professor!

Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the environmental group, also said there is a conflict of interest between Douglass’ research and his position as editor-in-chief of The Colgate Oral Health Report, a quarterly newsletter funded by Colgate-Palmolive Co., which makes fluoridated toothpaste.

“It’s safe to say that he appears to be one of the leading members of the fluoride apologists group of scientists,” Wiles said. “Clearly, the fluoride-using industry, the dental industry, has an interest in the image of fluoride as being a healthy, good thing.”

Bassin declined to comment when reached at her home Wednesday.

Her thesis has not yet been published and is not available to the public. The environmental group, which obtained Bassin’s thesis, cited excerpts in a letter to sent to Douglass last month.

“Among males, exposure to fluoride at or above the target level was associated with an increased risk of developing osteosarcoma,” Bassin wrote. “The association was most apparent between ages 5-10 with a peak at 6 to 8 years of age.”

Douglass’ study looked at men and woman of all different ages who drank fluoridated tap water. Bassin looked at the boys and girls used in Douglass’ study and verified fluoride levels in tap water for each year of the child’s life.

“She found the strongest association ever between fluoridated tape water and bone cancer among boys,” said Wiles.

Fluoridation of tap water in the United States began in the 1950s and was seen as an effective way to fight tooth decay.

So, is this another attack by the anti-fluoride folks or a legitimate study that needs to be followed up?

Controversy over the practice began to grow in the 1970s after a study found a high incident in bone structure defects in Newburgh, N.Y., one of the first communities in the country to fluoridate its water, when compared with the rate in the non-fluoridated town of Kingston, N.Y.

A study completed in 1991 by the U.S. Public Health Service found that the rates of osteosarcoma were significantly higher among males under 20 who lived in fluoridated communities than in communities with non-fluoridated water.

Several other major studies have reached the opposite conclusion, including a 1995 study by the New York State Department of Health that found fluoride exposure does not increase the risk for childhood osteosarcoma.

Wiles said the Environmental Working Group is not opposed to fluoridated toothpaste because most of the fluoride in toothpaste has contact with the teeth and is not ingested. He said when fluoride is ingested through tap water, it can stimulate growth at the end of bones, where osteosarcoma occurs.

“I think the industry realizes that the public may not make the distinction,” Wiles said. If fluoride gets a big black eye in tap water then the public is going to wonder about this fluoride in my toothpaste.”

The Washington Post has this piece, Professor at Harvard Is Being Investigated.

The Environmental Working Group’s piece, Harvard Fluoride Findings Misrepresented?

The Harvard Crimson has this story, Dental School Begins Investigation of Prof

Stay Tuned!

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  • Fluoride Action Network

    Group calls on NIH to remove Harvard professor from fluoride-cancer study

    BURLINGTON VT – The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) has urged that a Harvard Professor be removed from a research group studying the association between fluoride and osteosarcoma because his objectivity and ethics are disputed and he has ties to a company that profits from fluoride. FAN also urges other steps be taken to ensure this study meets the highest standards of scientific integrity.

    In June, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) charged Chester Douglass, a professor at Harvard and editor of Colgate’s oral health newsletter, with suppressing research linking fluoridation to osteosarcoma, a rare but frequently fatal form of bone cancer. (1) Douglass remains central to the ongoing project.

    In a letter sent to Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), FAN requests that Douglass be replaced with a scientist who is independent of the fluoridation debate, and has no other conflict of interest. (2) FAN also requests the NIH make the data of the $1.3 million taxpayer-funded study freely available for full independent review.

    EWG recently issued an ethics complaint against Douglass for misrepresenting his doctoral student’s successful dissertation linking fluoridation to osteosarcoma. (3)

    Elise Bassin, Douglass’ doctoral student, analyzed data collected from U.S. hospitals in the early 1990s by a team of scientists led by Douglass and funded by NIH. In her case-control study, Bassin found that males exposed to fluoridated water during their “mid-childhood growth spurt” (ages 6 to 8) had a significantly increased risk of later developing osteosarcoma. Bassin described the findings as “remarkably robust.” (4)

    Bassin’s dissertation, completed in May 2001 but unpublished and unknown prior to FAN obtaining a copy earlier this year, was recently sent to several expert reviewers by a Wall Street Journal science writer. The reviewers found it to be of “publishable quality.” The head of oral health at the CDC, and fluoridation supporter, William Maas said, “She did great shoe-leather epidemiology.” (5) According to EWG, Bassin’s work “is the most rigorous study of the link between bone cancer and fluoride in tap water ever conducted in the United States.” (6)

    Prior to the discovery of Bassin’s results, the only information available on Douglass’ research was a very brief summary published in 1995 in the Journal of Dental Research where Douglass reported no link between fluoridation and bone cancer. (7) Despite assurances by Douglass that a more comprehensive analysis of his data would be forthcoming, Douglass never published the study.

    “It’s been 10 years now, and Douglass has yet to publish the findings of his first study,” says Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director of FAN. “Now that we know what his data showed, Douglass’ failure to disclose these findings is deeply troubling. It will simply not be possible for us or the general public to have confidence in any further work he produces on this matter.”

    Summarizing Connett says, “With lives at risk and the public’s trust at stake, the NIH cannot afford anything less than to secure scrupulous scientific integrity on this study. We are asking that NIH do three things: 1) remove Douglass from the study; 2) demonstrate that none of the other study members has any other conflict of interest or ties to the government’s fluoridation program, and, 3) make the data of the study, not just the conclusions, available for independent analysis and review.”

    Contact:

    Paul Connett, PhD
    Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network
    Email: paul@fluoridealert.org

    References:

    (1) Washington Post, “Professor at Harvard is Being Investigated,” July 13, 2005.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/12/AR2005071201277.html

    (2) http://www.fluoridealert.org/letter-to-NIH.htm

    (3) Environmental Working Group, “Harvard Fluoride Findings Misrepresented?” July 13, 2005. http://www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/20050627/index.php

    (4) Bassin EB. (2001). Association Between Fluoride in Drinking Water During Growth and Development and the Incidence of Ostosarcoma for Children and Adolescents. Doctoral Thesis, Harvard School of Dental Medicine. http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/cancer/bassin-2001.pdf

    (5) Wall Street Journal, “Fluoridation, Cancer: Did Researchers Ask the Right Questions?” July 22, 2005.
    http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/2323.html

    (6) http://ewg.org/issues_content/fluoride/20050627/pdf/ltr_strother_20050627.pdf

    (7) Journal of Dental Research 1995; Volume 74, Page 98.
    http://www.fluoridealert.org/images/douglass-1995.gif

    SOURCE:

    Fluoride Action Network http://www.fluoridealert.org
    PO Box 5111
    Burlington, Vermont 05402