FLUORIDE	International Society for Fluoride Research	Table of Contents 32(1) 1999

SCHATZ: MORE ON PARADOXICAL EFFECTS

Neil Jenkins continues to deny that paradoxical effects with fluoride are important phenomena (Fluoride 31 (4) 245 1998).

It is not surprising that fluoride exhibits paradoxical effects. It would be surprising if it did not because paradoxical effects have been reported for many substances in many systems under a wide range of conditions.¹ Paradoxical effects occur in the yields of wheat and corn fertilized with municipal solid waste compost,² with carcinostatic agents,³ adenine,⁴ diethylstilbestrol,⁵ and many other organic and inorganic, synthetic, and naturally-occurring compounds in vitro and in vivo.

The danger of electromagnetic fields "may actually decrease with an increase in the strength of the field."⁶ There are well-documented reports on supralinear (paradoxical) effects of low-level radiation.^7–9 "The electrical field in biomembranes is sufficient to make the protein macromolecules in the membranes behave in a non-linear dielectric manner."¹⁰

With respect to paradoxical effects, irreproducibility, and non-linearity, one researcher concluded: "You simply can’t model nonlinearity. It’s like chaos."¹¹ Some researchers did the same experiment several times until they were convinced that the paradoxical effects they observed were real.¹ Other paradoxical effects are not reproducible.¹

Fluoride systems in vivo are especially complex. When we add fluoride to a biological system, that fluoride is transformed into different fluoride-containing substances, each of which has its own unique chemical, physical, and biological properties including toxicity. Furthermore, different factors are responsible for the formation and amount of each substance. Schatz et al. discussed this complexity of paradoxical effects in a 1964 review of the subject.¹

Schatz et al. published the only review of paradoxical effects in the spring of 1964.¹ Wainwright recognized the importance of paradoxical effects and commented on our 1964 review in the Mycologist in England in 1994.¹² In October, 1964, Schatz and Martin reviewed the literature on paradoxical effects of fluoride in vitro and in vivo.¹³ No one has published a review of paradoxical effects since the 1964 review, although many reports of paradoxical effects have appeared in the literature since then.

What fluoride has in common with low-level radiation¹⁴ and low exposures to pesticides and other toxic chemicals which exhibit paradoxical effects is that very low doses may be harmful. Consequently, there is no such thing as a threshold level below which fluoridation is not harmful. In other words, there is no safe dose.

Albert Schatz PhD
6907 Sherman Street
Philadelphia, PA 19119,
USA

REFERENCES

1. Schatz A, Schalscha EB, Schatz V. Solid organic matter as a natural chelating material. Part II: The occurrence and importance of paradoxical concentration effects in biological systems. Compost Science 5 26-30 1964.
2. Avnimelech Y, et al. Can we expect a consistent efficiency of municipal waste compost application? Compost Science & Utilization 1 7-14 1993.
3. Rodriguez A, et al. Survival of 17 patients with inoperable bronchial cancer treated with cytostatic agents and radiation in the "minimal useful dose." Revista Medica de Chile 99 560-565 1971.
4. Schatz A, Schatz V. Paradoxical effect of adenine on Salmonella typhimurium. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 11 1029-1031 1965.
5. Colborn T, Dumanoski D, Myers JP. Our Stolen Future. Dutton, New York 1996.
6. Radelat A. Wired. Are power lines and household appliances hazardous to your health? Public Citizen May/June 1991 pp 16-22.
7. Gould JM, Goldman B. Deadly Deceit. Low-Level Radiation. High-Level Cover-Up. Four Walls Eight Windows, New York 1991.
8. Gofman JW. Radiation and Human Health. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco 1981.
9. Gofman JW, O’Connor E. X-Rays: Health Effects of Common Exams. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco 1985.
10. Smith CW, Best S. Electromagnetic Man: Health and Hazard in the Electrical Environment. St. Martin’s Press, New York 1989.
11. Dowie M. A sky full of holes. Why the ozone layer is torn worse than ever. The Nation July 8, 1996 pp 11-16.
12. Wainwright M. Strange bumps in the data—mycological implications of the paradoxical effect. Mycologist 8 (4) Nov 1994.
13. Schatz A, Martin JJ. The importance of paradoxical effects of fluoride with respect to fluoridation and the toxicology of fluoride. Pakistan Dental Review 14 (4) 1–16 1964.
14. Schatz A. Low-Level Fluoridation and Low-Level Radiation. Two Case Histories of Misconduct in Science. (Published by the author, 1996).

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CORRECTION

On page 123 in the May 1998 issue of Fluoride (Vol. 31, No. 2), the concentration unit (given as mg/ml) at the beginning of the seventh line down from the top should have been ng/ml. We regret this inadvertent error and thank Professor Pollick for calling it to our attention.

FLUORIDE 32 (1) 1999 pp 43-44	International Society for Fluoride Research
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