Did prof lie about fluoride-cancer link?
Chicago Sun Times July 15, 2005 BOSTON — Harvard University said it is investigating whether a dentistry prof essor who edits a newsletter funded by a toothpaste maker played down research showing an increased cancer risk from drinking fluoridated tap water. The school will work with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to review Chester Douglass’ research into fluoride and osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, Harvard Medical School spokesman John Lacey said. The institute gave a $1.3 million study grant in 1992 to Douglass, editor of the Colgate Oral Health Report, who found the odds of having osteosarcoma after drinking fluoridated water were ”not statistically different” from the odds for those who drank non-fluoridated water. But a doctoral student who studied some of the same people reported in her 2001 thesis that boys who drink fluoridated water appear to have an increased risk of developing the bone cancer.
