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a Pulitzer Prize-winning account by Eileen Welsome—led to a allegedly safe for children's bones and good for their teeth. 1995 US presidential investigation and a multimillion-dollar cash Planning began in 1943 with the appointment of a special New settlement for victims. York State Health Department committee to study the advisability Program F was not about children's teeth. It grew directly out of adding fluoride to Newburgh's drinking water. The chairman of litigation against the bomb program, and its main purpose was of the committee was, again, Dr Harold C. Hodge, then chief of to furnish scientific ammunition which the government and its fluoride toxicity studies for the Manhattan Project. Subsequent nuclear contractors could use to defeat lawsuits for human injury. members of the committee included Henry L. Barnett, a captain in Program F's director was none other than Dr Harold C. Hodge— the Project's Medical Section, and John W. Fertig, in 1944 with who led the Manhattan Project investigation of alleged human the Office of Scientific Research and Development—the super- injury in the New Jersey fluoride pollution incident. secret Pentagon group which sired the Manhattan Project. Their Program F's purpose is spelled out in a classified 1948 report. military affiliations were kept secret. Hodge was described as a It reads: "To supply evidence useful in the litigation arising from pharmacologist, Barnett as a paediatrician. Placed in charge of an alleged loss of a fruit crop several years ago, a number of prob- the Newburgh project was David B. Ast, chief dental officer of lems have been opened. Since excessive blood-fluoride levels the New York State Health Department. Ast had participated in a were reported in human residents of the same area, our principal key secret wartime conference on fluoride, held by the Manhattan effort has been devoted to describing the relationship of blood flu- Project in January 1944, and later worked with Dr Hodge on the orides to toxic effects." Project's investigation of human injury in the New Jersey incident, The litigation referred to and the claims of human injury were according to once-secret memos. of course against the bomb program and its contractors. Thus the The committee recommended that Newburgh be fluoridated. It purpose of Program F was to obtain evidence useful in litigation selected the types of medical studies to be done, and it also "pro- against the bomb program. The research was being conducted by vided expert guidance" for the duration of the experiment. the defendants. The key question to be answered was: "Are there any cumula- The potential conflict of interest is clear. If lower dose ranges tive effects, beneficial or otherwise, on tissues and organs other were found hazardous by Program F, than the teeth, of long-continued this might have opened the bomb pro- ingestion of such small concen- gram and its contractors to public out- trations?" According to the cry and lawsuits for injury to human Today, news that scientists from declassified documents, this health. was also key information Lawyer Jacqueline Kittrell com- the A-bomb program secretly sought by the bomb program. mented further: "This and other doc- shaped and guided the Newburgh In fact, the program would uments indicate that the University of . . . require "long-continued" expo- Rochester's fluoride research grew fluoridation experiment and sure of workers and communi- out of the New Jersey lawsuits and ties to fluoride throughout the was performed in anticipation of law- studied the citizens’ blood and Cold War. suits against the bomb program ior tissue samples is greeted m May ee. Newburgh’s uman injury. Studies undertaken for aos . water was fluoridated, and over litigation purposes by the defendants with incredulity. the next 10 years its residents would not be considered scientifically acceptable today because of their State Health Department. inherent bias to prove the chemical In tandem, Program F con- safe." ducted its own secret studies, focusing on the amounts of fluoride Unfortunately, much of the proof of fluoride's safety rests on Newburgh citizens retained in their blood and tissues—informa- the work performed by Program F scientists at the University of tion called for by the bomb program in connection with litigation. Rochester. During the postwar period, that university emerged as "Possible toxic effects of fluoride were in the forefront of consid- the leading academic centre for establishing the safety of fluoride _ eration," the advisory committee stated. Health department per- as well as its effectiveness in reducing tooth decay, according to sonnel cooperated, shipping blood and placenta samples to the were studied by the New York Rochester Dental School spokesperson William H. Bowen, MD. Program F team at the University of Rochester. The samples The key figure in this research, Bowen said, was Dr Harold C. were collected by Dr David B. Overton, the department's chief of Hodge—who also became a leading national proponent of fluori- paediatric studies at Newburgh. dating public drinking water. The final report of the Newburgh Demonstration Project, pub- lished in 1956 in the Journal of the American Dental Association,’ THE A-BOMB AND WATER FLUORIDATION concluded that "small concentrations" of fluoride were safe for Program F's interest in water fluoridation was not just "to coun- US citizens. The biological proof, "based on work performed...at teract the local fear of fluoride on the part of residents", as Hodge the University of Rochester Atomic Energy Project", was deliv- had earlier written to Colonel Warren. The bomb program ered by Dr Hodge. required human studies of fluoride's effects, just as it needed Today, news that scientists from the A-bomb program secretly human studies of plutonium's effects. Adding fluoride to public shaped and guided the Newburgh fluoridation experiment and water supplies provided one opportunity. studied the citizens' blood and tissue samples is greeted with Bomb-program scientists played a prominent, if unpublicised, incredulity. role in the nation's first-planned water fluoridation experiment in "I'm shocked...beyond words," said present-day Newburgh Newburgh, New York. The Newburgh Demonstration Project is Mayor Audrey Carey, commenting on these reporters’ findings. considered the most extensive study of the health effects of fluori- "It reminds me of the Tuskegee experiment that was done on dation, supplying much of the evidence that low doses are syphilis patients down in Alabama." tissue samples is greeted with incredulity. THE A-BOMB AND WATER FLUORIDATION Program F's interest in water fluoridation was not just "to coun- teract the local fear of fluoride on the part of residents", as Hodge had earlier written to Colonel Warren. The bomb program required human studies of fluoride's effects, just as it needed human studies of plutonium's effects. Adding fluoride to public water supplies provided one opportunity. Bomb-program scientists played a prominent, if unpublicised, role in the nation's first-planned water fluoridation experiment in Newburgh, New York. The Newburgh Demonstration Project is considered the most extensive study of the health effects of fluori- dation, supplying much of the evidence that low doses are APRIL - MAY 1998 NEXUS © 17