Another I want to scream (but only do so quietly to myself) or bash my head on the desk moment (which I do not do because it hurts); prompted by a reference to fluoride from coal combustion on the Fluoride Alert web site (see above). Why is somebody not looking in depth at our total fluoride / goitrogen exposure; if this is an issue in China should it not be under active consideration in the western world. If governments were looking at it surely all of these iodine blocking factors would be brought together in one place for assessment and reported on; I have not seen any suggestion that they are. To the contrary those who are better placed than me to know suggest no agency is looking at intake overall; see video link below.
Where we are going to get affordable energy from is a whole other issue; logically finding ways to use less might be a good start.
I wondered how much of an issue is fluoride emission from coal combustion, and was this only something particular to Chinese coal or a more global issue.
Depressingly it appears one way or another humans do absorb significant amounts of airborne fluoride. For those who feel China is a long way a way, it appears the reality is US (and so likely all) coal power plants emit significant amounts of fluoride (or at least did; I need to check if air scrubbing technology has improved ?).
So even those for whatever reason who have chosen to avoid fluoridated water and toothpaste may still be getting a daily dose of fluoride - OK the amount will depend on where you live etc etc! and maybe airborne fluoride alone may? not be an issue but we are back to disease by a thousand cuts and the as yet unassessed in full cumulative effects of fluoridation of water toothpaste, use of fluorine based products in the food chain, chlorination of water, nitrates, perchlorate etc etc etc.
The extent to which higher iodine intake will counter balance a higher fluoride intake is not clear, but the ever growing list of sources of 'goitrogens' including fluoride (water, air and food), chlorination (water and food), nitrates (water and food), toothpaste + perchlorate etc would add to the weight of argument for reexamining how much iodine we need and how to incorporate it into the diet (or even maybe by supplementation).
Fluoride from coal burning emission.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...55123115,d.Yms
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOTAL FLUORIDE INTAKE
AND DENTAL FLUOROSIS IN AREAS POLLUTED
BY AIRBORNE FLUORIDE
In fluorosis resulting from consumption of high fluoride (F) levels in drinking water, F enters the human body through the digestive tract. But,
in fluorosis induced by airborne F, F enters the human body through both the respiratory and digestive tracts. The latter clearly involves contamination of both water and food by airborne F.
The total fluoride intake of a patient with air-pollution-type fluorosis is, thus, the sum of fluoride intake through the respiratory and the digestive tracts.
http://208.109.172.241/f-powerplants.htm
Electric Power Research Institute - Hydrogen Fluoride.
Hydrogen fluoride from power plants is about
84% of all the hydrogen fluoride from human activities released into the air each year in the United States.
Almost all hydrogen fluoride from power plants comes from burning coal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that U.S. power plants burning coal released about 32,100 tons of hydrogen fluoride into the air in 1994.
Fluoride Pollution from Coal Burning in China Compilation of recent studies, 1990-2001
Recently a
huge amount of fluoride in coal has been released into indoor environments by the combustion of coal and fluoride pollution seems to be increasing in some rural areas in China...
Since airborne fluoride from the combustion of coal pollutes extensively both the living environment and food, it is necessary to reduce fluoride pollution caused by coal burning. ("Health effects of fluoride pollution caused by coal burning." Sci Total Environ 2001 Apr 23;271(1-3):107-16