B. A. Biology and Ph. D. Chemistry, University of California, San Diego (1966-1976).
Scripps Clinic Research Flow (1976-1980).
National I stories of Health Principal Investigator in diabetes research, and Supervisor of Rees Stealy Clinic Research Foundation (1981-1991).
Instructor of Physiology, Staff Tutor in Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology,
Palomar College (1991-present).
(published 40 research articles in scientific journals on topics ranging from insulin action, membrane structure, features of Calculus, errors in relativity, the nature of gravity, and fluoride toxicology in man and animals.
Richard D.Sauerheber, Ph.D
Fluoride Toxicology
Richard Sauerheber, B.A. Biology, Ph.D. Chemistry
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037
and STAR Center Palomar Community College, San Marcos, CA 92069
The study entitled Physiologic Conditions Affect the Toxicity of Ingested Industrial Fluoride (used in public drinking water) describes the chemistry of fluoride and its dissemination and pathologic effects after ingestion. From observational and epidemiologic studies of humans, and controlled experiments with mammals, fluoride toxicity is now more broadly understood.
The decision in 1945 in the U.S. to infuse industrial fluoride compounds into public water supplies to permeate the blood and organs of consumers with fluoride, presumed to be an ingestible dental prophylactic, has resulted in serious consequences including loss of life.
Fluoride is converted into intact corrosive hydrofluoric acid HF under acidic conditions that prevail in the stomach of man (pH 1.5 – 3) and animals, which is assimilated from the GI tract.
Fluoride is a contaminant of blood, not a normal component. The ion at any concentration disrupts normal inter-molecular hydrogen bonding, forming abnormal inter-atomic H - - F hydrogen bonds, binds calcium-rich structures, and influences calcium homeostasis. Hard water regions with plentiful calcium salts are more protected from fluoride assimilation since fluoride is a calcium chelator. Fluoride toxicity depends not only on its concentration but also on its environment, as well as the calcium, magnesium, and iodine content of the diet.
High blood fluoride levels of 3 ppm from accidental fluoridation overfeeds have caused acute lethality. This level compares with calculated levels that would begin calcium precipitation at physiologic calcium concentrations in blood.
Ironically, the Eskimo natives in Hooper Bay existed, using pure soft pristine Yukon River water free of fluoride, for thousands of years before the fluoridation overfeed poisoned half of the village with one fatality in 1992.