Fluorosis of concern to Kenyans
Health
Almost half of Kenyans cannot serve in the armed forces because they have weak bones from ingesting too much fluoride.
The first test conducted on prospective recruits are for signs of fluorosis — a disease caused by water high in fluoride — which gives a good indication of the state of their bones.
A study carried out by the Kenya Society for Fluoride Research and published in the current issue of Kenfluoride News, says 19 million Kenyans suffer from fluorosis.
“In some recruitment centres in Central Province, more than 80 per cent of attendees fail the test because of this,” says Mwangi Chomba, chairman of the society.
But possibly, the worst hit community is the El-molo, which lives near lake Turkana. The report says that almost all the 186 members of the smallest tribe in the world are affected by fluorosis.
They drink the salty waters and eat fish from Lake Turkana, which has a very high level of fluoride recorded at 13.1milligrammes per litre.
Considering the World Health Organisation’s and Kenya Bureau of Standards’ permissible level of fluoride is 1.5 milligrammes the water consumed by the community is far too high.
The water affects bone formation, leaving a quarter of the population bowlegged. This means over 140 of the El-molo have some form of disability while over 80 per cent of them have discoloured teeth.
In Naivasha, the study says, more than 90 per cent of the children suffer from fluorosis. The latest national study on the prevalence of fluoride was carried out almost two decades ago showing that the problem was biggest in Central Province where it affects 56 per cent of the population, followed by Eastern and then Rift Valley. The lowest levels were found in Western Province at 11.7 per cent of the population.
But even a more significant finding is the relationship between fluorosis and bone cancer — osteosarcoma. Kenya, according to Mr Chomba is one of the countries with the highest cases of bone cancer.
A study carried out in Kenya last year by Christopher Neureth of Fluoride Action Network reports a link between fluoride and bone cancer.
Using data covering 251 bone cancer patients, hence capturing most of the osteosarcoma cases in the country, the rates of bone cancer correspond with the levels of fluoride in the various provinces.
Central leads followed by Eastern Province and the lowest levels reported in western Kenya.
The study corroborates another in Malaysia and both conclude that fluoride exposure during certain childhood ages is an important factor for osteosarcoma.
The study also dismisses the widely held belief that the presence of many people in Central Province with brown teeth has something to do with eating potatoes.
“Potatoes hot or otherwise have low fluoride levels and are not the cause — drinking and cooking water is,” says Chomba.
But even those with white teeth are put on notice before they laugh at their neighbour with browning dentals.
Dental fluorosis is characterised by discoloured, blackened, mottled or chalky-white teeth, a clear indication of over exposure to fluoride during childhood when the teeth were developing. These signs are not apparent if the teeth were fully developed prior to fluoride overexposure. “Therefore, the fact that an adult may show no signs of dental fluorosis does not necessarily mean that their fluoride intake is within the safe limits.”
There is no cure for dental fluorosis but whitening or bleaching and cosmetic veneers can help, though expensive for most people and have to be done repeatedly.
A bigger problem, says the study, is skeletal fluorosis. This affects both the young and old and is common in areas with high levels of fluoride.
The disease manifests when there is poor balancing of body minerals that control bones development. This can cause difficulties in the movement of joints and in severe cases can cause total immobility.
People with this problem are said to have brittle bones, prone to fractures, which are difficult to heal. This makes them poor candidates for careers in the armed forces.
This condition, sometimes very painful, has no cure. The deformities are permanent but suffering can be eased if fluoride intake is reduced.
In parts of Nakuru where water has high rates of fluoride, the Kenya Society for Fluoride Research is working with the Catholic Diocese in trying to reduce this gas in drinking water.
The duo are using bonechar, a natural filter material from cow bone that absorbs the fluoride in the gravels, letting the water flow free of the substance.
Lake Nakuru has the highest level of fluoride in the world at 2800mg L/F compared to Lake Victoria with only 0.60. However, fluoride in water cannot be seen has no taste and at low dosages, the effects are not felt until years later.
In Nairobi, the level of fluoride in borehole water has been found to be significantly high, averaging 4.1 mg/LF
Other methods of removing fluoride — defluoridation — from drinking water include distilling, reverse osmosis and several others, which can be quite expensive.
There are available household filters which depending on requirement can do anywhere between 10 to 200,000 litres per day.
According to a United Nations World Health Organisation statement released two weeks ago, excessive amounts of fluoride in drinking water are exposing millions of people around the world to risks ranging from crippling skeletal problems to milder dental conditions.
The report, issued in Geneva, finds that the widespread effects of fluoride in drinking water remain largely unrecognised and neglected, and that much of the suffering could easily be prevented.
The report identified Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and South Asia as three regions where unusually elevated concentrations of fluoride are causing concern. One of the worst affected areas is an arc stretching from Turkey to China.
The effects can be devastating. In China, for example, at least 10 million people are estimated to suffer from skeletal fluorosis.
Fluoride in water is mostly of geological origin. Waters with high levels of fluoride content are mostly found at the foot of high mountains and in areas where the sea has made geological deposits.
Known fluoride belts on land include: one that stretches from Syria through Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Sudan and Kenya, and another that stretches from Turkey through Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India, northern Thailand and China. There are similar belts in the Americas and Japan.
The report states that although removing excessive fluoride from drinking water can be difficult and expensive, there are alternative lowcost options available at a local level, such as the use of absorptive filters, bone charcoal or crushed clay pots.
Fluoride (fluorine) is a highly toxic and corrosive gas and among gases targeted by the international community for reduction because of its role in global warming.
