Fluoride causes cancer: Colgate's dental editor accused of fudging study results

I've been talking for years about the dangers of fluoridation, and also about the dangers inherent in allowing medical and research people who work for private companies to also publish in medical journals.

This week brings us a story that combines the worst of both issues.

A Harvard-related journal on Wednesday published a study that indicates that young boys who drink fluoridated tap water are at greater risk for a rare bone cancer.

The study is expected to intensify debate over fluoridation and mean more scrutiny for Harvard's Dr. Chester Douglass, who has been accused of doctoring the findings to downplay a cancer link.

"It’s the best piece of work ever linking fluoride in tap water and bone cancer. It’s pretty damning for him [Douglass]," said Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group, which filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health against Douglass.

Douglass, who is an epidemiology professor at Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine, moonlights as as a paid editor of the Colgate Oral Care Report, a newsletter supported by the toothpaste maker. Talk about a conflict of interest!

The National Institutes of Health, which provided Douglass and his students a $1 million grant, and Harvard are investigating whether Douglass misrepresented research findings last year when he said there was no link between ingested fluoride and bone cancer, despite extensive research to the contrary by one of his doctoral students.

That student, Dr. Elise Bassin, wrote in yesterday’s Cancer Causes and Control that boys who drink water with levels of fluoride considered safe by federal guidlines are five times more likely to develop osteosarcoma than boys who drink unfluoridated water, the Boston Herald reported.

Douglass wrote a letter to the editor, which was published in the same issue, downplaying Bassin's study, calling it a "partial view of this ongoing study," and urging readers to be "especially cautious" when interpreting the findings. It's a blatant attempt at sleight of hand. Apparently, he's not a very good magician, though, because most everyone can see through this.

Medicine | Health | Alternative Health | fluoride | Medical Studies | Harvard School of Dental Medicine | Chester Douglass | Elise Bassin | National Insitutes of Health | Colgate Toothpaste | Conflict of Interest