IPCS INCHEM Home

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Summaries & Evaluations

INORGANIC FLUORIDES USED IN DRINKING-WATER
AND DENTAL PREPARATIONS

VOL.: 27 (1982) (p. 237)

5. Summary of Data Reported and Evaluation

5.1 Experimental data

Sodium fluoride was tested in three experiments in three different strains of mice by oral administration. The available data are insufficient to allow an evaluation to be made. Sodium fluoride was not mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium or Drosophila melanogaster and did not induce gene conversion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

5.2 Human data

Significant mining of fluorspar (calcium fluoride) started in about 1775. The natural occurrence of some inorganic fluorides and their use in water fluoridation and anti-caries dental products results in widespread exposure of the general population. In addition, the numerous industrial applications of these chemicals result in significant occupational exposure and emissions to the environment.

Only studies on water fluoridation and cancer were reviewed. The relationship between cancer mortality or incidence and both natural and artificial fluoride in drinking-water has been investigated in a large number of descriptive epidemiological studies of population aggregates, carried out in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Because of the uneven distribution of natural fluoride in the earth's crust, and the fact that local communities make independent decisions with regard to fluoridation, some of these studies could be viewed roughly as natural experiments. When proper account was taken of the differences among population units, in demographic composition, and in some cases also in their degree of industrialization and other social factors, none of the studies provided any evidence that an increased level of fluoride in water was associated with an increase in cancer mortality.

5.3 Evaluation

The available data are inadequate for an evaluation of the carcinogenicity of sodium fluoride, the only inorganic fluoride tested, in experimental animals.

Variations geographically and in time in the fluoride content of water supplies provide no evidence of an association between fluoride ingestion and mortality from cancer in humans.

For definition of the italicized terms, see Preamble Evaluation.

Subsequent evaluation: Suppl. 7 (1987)

Last updated: 8 April 1998 






























    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations