During over 50 years of debate on water flouridation, neither supporters nor critics paid attention to differences between sodium flouride (NaF) and two chemicals called silicoflourides - hydroflourosilicic acid (H2SiF6) and sodium silicoflouride (Na2SiF6) - as the chemicals for this purpose. The biochemistry of silicoflourides (SiF), as revealed by Westendorf's research (for which a translation is provided in this site), differs greatly from sodium flouride (familiar in toothpaste and tested for safety). Today over 116 million Americans drink water treated with one of the silicoflourides even though they are toxic compounds whose residue after dissociation in water had never been studied for their safety. This web-site focuses on research I've conducted with Myron (Mike) Coplan, a retired chemical engineer with experience in designing equipment for the separation of SiF in plants producing phosphate fertilizer.
Our collaboration began after Mike heard of my EPA-funded studies of the association between industrial pollution with lead or manganese and higher rates of violent crime and asked if I'd want to investigate the effects of SiF use in public water supplies. A decade of research together began with finding that, compared to NaF, water treated with either SiF is associated with greater absorption of lead from environmental sources such as lead paint in old housing. Because lead is a neurotoxin that reduces inhibition and learning, we compared the effects of NaF and SiF on behavioral problems due to changes in brain chemistry. Taking socio-economic and demographic factors into account, the studies summarized below show that SiF has signficant association (not found for NaF) with increased rates of violent crime as well as higher rates of substance abuse and learning disabilities. Since these behavioral problems cost American tax-payers billions of dollars, our research can have substantial practical benefits - and thus illustrates the need to link some public policy decisions to new developments in scientific research on human behavior.