Fluoride or fluorine is an element that is found everywhere in the environment. However, this does not excuse its misuse and overuse to increase the toxicity of our environment.
In industry, fluoride compounds are the flux of choice for most metal refining processes (ex. Copper, Steel, Aluminum) as well as for many activities surrounding the production of glass, ceramics, plastics (including Teflon and Gore-Tex), and a host of useful chemicals like lubricants, solvents, refrigerants, and propellants. "Proper" disposal (i.e. to be made unavailable to the environment in non-toxic concentrations) of extremely corrosive and very water-soluble liquid Fluoride waste products is difficult and expensive, and hence also very uncommon. Also, incorporation of industrial atmospheric Fluoride contamination into the biosphere is very similar to the Fluoride emissions associated with volcanic activity. The important differences being that the lower-volume industrial Fluoride emissions are continuous rather than sporadic, and are typically released into densely (versus sparsely) populated areas. Surface "slag" heaps produced by the mining industry sometimes also contain solid, but soluble, Fluoride-bearing minerals that represent a potential point source for surface and groundwater contamination.
"Fluorosis" describes a state of toxicity of the trace element, Fluorine (commonly referred to in its ionic state as Fluoride) within an organism. Fluorosis is not limited to humans, and can affect any aspect of the ecosystem.
Fluoride toxicity will manifest as any combination of;
Fluoride toxicity may be acute or chronic, with affects ranging from cosmetic damage, to disability and even death. With the exception of Dental Fluorosis, Fluoride-related illness is often attributed to other diseases or syndromes (i.e. osteoarthritis for Skeletal Fluorosis, cardiovascular failure for death by acute Fluoride poisoning) making Fluorosis in itself very difficult to track epidemiologically in the absence of an ecosystem health framework.
In agriculture, many commonly-used agricultural pestiticides, including rat poisons, and fertilizers both contain significant quantities of Fluoride and are responsible for local Fluoride pollution near the processing plants. The more obvious destination of agricultural Fluoride is into food and beverage products, but incorporation into drinking water sources is perhaps less obvious. Not only is it suspected that the Fluoride associated with the application of some phosphate fertilizers and cryolite-based insecticides may "leach" into surface waters and shallow groundwater, but by-products of the phosphate fertilizer industry are the primary source of "artificial" Fluoride for many municipal water fluoridation programs.
NOTE! Coastal Areas, where the human population consumes large quantities of marine plants and animals as dietary staples and inhales Fluoride-rich water vapor. Salt water contains relatively large amounts of dissolved Fluoride which is imparted to marine plants and animals or which may enter the blood stream through respiration. Also, bones contain up to 3 times the amount of Fluoride as soft tissues, and so eating whole fish, especially small fish like sardines and anchovies, results in a greater Fluoride intake.
Children are worth special mention with respect to Fluorosis. With less body mass and decreased overall metabolic capacity, they are particularly susceptible to Fluoride toxicity as they undergo critical stages of rapid cell reproduction and differentiation. UNICEF attributes Fluorosis in 20 mostly Developing World countries around the globe to toxic amounts of Fluoride, primarily in drinking water. The United Nations acknowledges Fluorosis as a major threat to public health in those demographically "youth-full" countries where the majority of the world's population lives.
What can you do? Make sure your local water district or company is not dumb enough to be putting fluoride compounds in your water!
OR buy a water filtration system to make sure that the water you drink is as clean and as safe as it can be (filter out fluorides, nitrates, chlorine, MTBE and kill bacteria).