From pfpc@istar.ca Thu May  4 10:33:07 2000
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 16:56:05 -0800

In the Ukrainian town of Sosnivka, near Lviv, drinking water is polluted
with fluoride.

A governmental commission had been established to investigate the
situation. The commission found that there were three possible sources of
the pollution: the activity of a nearby coal mining company, the
underground  storage of rocket fuel by a former military base that had been
closed in 1990, or
a "natural phenomenon".

The NGO Ecopravo-Lviv attempted to bring a case to arbitration court on
behalf of mothers whose children suffered from this fluoride pollution of
drinking water. The state duty for the case, which totaled GRV 9,000 (about
US$ 4,500), made access to justice unaffordable. According to the
Arbitration Procedure Code, it is impossible to waive payment of state duty
even for an NGO that is trying to defend environmental rights of citizens.
As a result, the number of severely sick children has grown from 600 to
about  3,000, and the pollution and aggravation of diseases has also
increased.

Because the community cannot afford to carry out adequate scientific
analysis and the government has failed to monitor local industrial plants,
this important case has now foundered.

When studies are done on endemic fluorosis regions, it is almost never
specified as to how these " high fluoride levels" occur.  Presumed to be
"natural"...

STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL STATE OF BONE IN THE WOMEN OF DIFFERENT AGE
RESIDING IN THE ENDEMIC REGIONS WITH HIGH WATER FLUORIDE CONTENT

1Vladislav Povoroznjuk, 2Teofil Pidlesetsky
1Institute of Gerontology AMS of Ukraine, 2Medical University, Lviv,
Vyshgorodskaya St.
67, 254114, Kyiv, Ukraine

Effects of an increased water fluoride content on the bone tissue, the rate
of its aging
and the prevalence of osteoporosis were studied in 109 women (gr. 1) aged
20- 69
years residing in the areas of Lviv Region with a high fluoride content of
drinking
water. The control subjects (gr. 2) included women of the same age from the
areas in
which there was a normal water fluoride content, standardized according to
the body
mass index and peculiarities of nutrition. The bone tissue was examined
using an
ultrasound densitometer "Achilles+" (Lunar Corp.). The speed of the sound
(SOS, m/s),
broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA, dB/MHz) and an estimated "stiffness"
index
(SI, %) were measured. The results of the studies show the negative
influence of the
high fluoride content in the drinking water on the structural-functional
bone tissue
state, that leads to the accelerated aging, decrease of the bone density
characteristics, development of osteoporosis. The female population of age
groups of
20- 29 years (the period of bone peak formation) and 50- 59 years
(postmenopausal
period) turned out to be the most sensitive. In the 1stgroup's women, there
was a
significant decrease in SOS, BUA and SI (20- 29 yrs - 1550±5,8 m/s,
105,4±2,62 dB/MHz
and 85,2±3,3%; 50- 59 yrs - 1521±6,8 m/s, 98,2±2,65 dB/MHz and 71,2±3,8%)
in comparison
with control group (20- 29 yrs - 1592±6,5 m/s, 119,2±3,31 dB/MHz and
92,4±1,6%; 50- 59
yrs - 1552±5,8 m/s, 106,1±2,51dB/MHz and 83,8±2,3%) The essential
difference between
indexes characterizing bone tissue state among the age groups of 30- 39
years and
40- 49 years weren't revealed. Structural-functional age of bone tissue in
the 1st
group's women exceeded the population standard among the age groups of 20- 29
years (by 5,8 years) and 50- 59 years (by 6,3 years). Among the group aged
50- 59
years in the women 1st group osteoporosis was revealed in 26,3%, osteopenia
- in
63,2%, while among the women of 2 group with the appropriate age
osteoporosis was
revealed only in 12,5%, osteopenia - in 35,4%.

In summary, the high fluoride content of drinking water promote the
worsening of
structural-functional bone tissue state among the women during the period
of bone
peak formation and the postmenopausal period.
----

Wendy Small