F.A.N.
Dr. Sam Epstein, author of "The Politics of Cancer Revisited", has joined the chorus of distinugished voices calling for a more open, and thorough, investigation of Chester Douglass' research on fluoride and osteosarcoma.
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August 31, 2006
Dear President Bok,
I am professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, and Chairman of the non-profit Cancer Prevention Coalition. I should also mention that I was Director of Laboratories of Environmental Toxicology and Carcinogenesis at the Children's Cancer Research Foundation at Harvard School of Public Health from 1961-1971. I attach my curriculum.
The notion that the common practice of fluoridating our water could be contributing to cancer in this country has been a long and controversial one and far from resolved.
One of the cancers implicated to be caused by fluoride for which there has been considerable speculation, and growing evidence since the beginning of fluoridation, has been osteosarcoma, particularly in young boys and men (Caffey, 1955; NAS, 1977; NTP, 1990; Hoover, 1991; Cohn, 1992). Thus, when Dr. Elise Bassin found a robust relationship between osteosarcoma and exposure to fluoridated water in their 6th, 7th and 8th years, this was a finding of monumental importance. While her study does not resolve the issue completely, her methodology has showed the way forward.
For Professor Chester Douglass to have concealed this finding from the public, his peers and the governmental agencies which support this practice, for four years, is reprehensible in my view.
I and, I suspect, many other scientists are baffled by Harvard's exoneration of Professor Douglass's recent actions in this regard.
With due respect, you owe it to both Harvard's distinguished reputation, besides every parent of every young boy in this country, a full and watertight explanation of this extraordinary action. If you cannot do so, I urge you to open a new, and this time, totally independent inquiry into this affair.
Meanwhile, I hope you will also urge Professor Douglass to release all his data so that independent scientists may review it in its entirety.
Sincerely,
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition
2121 West Taylor Street, MC 922
Chicago, IL 60612
phone 312 996 2297
e-mail epstein@uic.edu
web www.preventcancer.com
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