India`s groundwater is flooded with fluoride
Fluoride is an acute toxin, with a rating slightly higher than lead. It is, in fact, one of the most bone-seeking elements known to human beings. And groundwater in India shows the presence of unhealthy quantities of fluoride. A worrying scenario: daily ingestion of just 2 milligram (mg) of fluoride could result in crippling skeletal fluorosis after 40 years. Excess fluoride causes several diseases, like osteoporosis, arthritis, brittle bones, cancer, infertility in women, brain damage, Alzheimer's disease and thyroid disorders.
The very nature of fluoride increases this danger manifold. Almost half of each day's fluoride intake is retained, and is absorbed by the bones and teeth. It was Gerald Cox, of the Mellon Institute in the us, who first found in 1938 that while 1.0 milligram per litre (mg/l) of fluorine in water prevents dental caries, over 1.5 mg/l causes mottled teeth. The Bureau of Indian Standards (bis) standard for fluoride content is 1-1.5 mg /l. It is believed that levels above or below this could cause dental decay. Ironically, there is an increased incidence of dental caries, yellow teeth and twisted limbs among people of all age groups in India.
A recent publication of the Geological Survey of India (gsi) names areas that should go on fluoride red alert: Fazilka and Jalalabad in the border district of Ferozepur in Punjab; parts of Gurgaon, Rewari, Mahendergarh, Hisar, Fatehabad and Faridabad in Haryana; Unnao, Rae Bareilly and Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh; Sidhi district in Madhya Pradesh; Beed district in Maharashtra; Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh and Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu.
Recent studies have shown that the fluoride content in tube-well water in Fazilka is 6 to 12 mg per litre. Almost 70 per cent of Fazilka's population suffers from dental decay. Jalalabad is not much better off. Although the surface water is less contaminated, tubewells pump out water that contains high fluoride content. The affluent farmers, of course, drink