The Hidden Cause of Acne: How Toxic Water Is Affecting Your Health and What You Can Do about It

“This intriguing personal account of one woman’s experience with acne is a detailed case report that could have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. Using scientific deduction, careful observations, and self-experimentation--a process used by Nobel Laureates such as Barry Marshall, Werner Forssmann, and Ralph Steinman--Melissa Gallico figured out that the cause of her chronic acne was the fluoride added to her drinking water. The fact that other people who read her book also report that their acne cleared up when they switched to fluoride-free beverages and foods suggests this is an area that deserves rigorous clinical investigation.” ― Hardy Limeback, D.D.S., Ph.D., head of preventive dentistry at the University of Toronto (ret.)

“This is an astounding piece of work and a ‘must-read’ for people wanting the true story about how and why and to what terrible effect the addition of fluoride to drinking water is having. As Gallico’s riveting personal story attests, public water fluoridation is, in essence, a hazardous waste management tool that is damaging our health in ways we have yet to fully comprehend. Her deep research into this area and the clear, arresting manner in which she presents it is a valuable, even crucial, contribution to ending the antiquated and dangerous practice of adding fluoride to public drinking water.” ― Bill Hirzy, Ph.D., senior scientist at the EPA (ret.)

“Melissa Gallico has authored an engaging book, one that is enjoyable to read despite the seriousness of the subject matter. As she notes, ‘it doesn’t take a degree in medicine’ (or dentistry or science) to appreciate the importance of personal observations in matters of personal health, or to understand the potential consequences of one-size-fits-all medication of the public through the drinking water supply. Fluoride sensitivity (including dermatological, endocrinological, gastrointestinal, and other effects) has been in the medical literature for decades, unrefuted, and deserves the wider awareness that Gallico’s work will bring.” ― Kathleen M. Thiessen, Ph.D., senior scientist at Oak Ridge Center for Risk Analysis

"...it’s hard to not get fascinated by the rabbit hole Gallico uncovers in The Hidden Cause of Acne. Readers will discover more about the science and process that went into fluoridization of our water supply, as well as the many unexpected places fluoride can be found in everyday life, like pesticides used on food crops, medicines, even wine. And readers who are long-term sufferers of adult acne may well benefit from having this new information." ― San Francisco Book Review

An investigation into the root cause of the modern acne epidemic--fluoride--and how to remove it from your diet and lifestyle for clear, healthy skin

• Chronicles the existing acne research to reveal fluoride was behind the rise of teenage acne in the mid-20th century and the dramatic increase in adult acne today

• Details how to avoid fluoridated foods and beverages as well as other common sources of fluoride, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and household products

• Explains how to displace fluoride stored in your bones and other tissues through nutrition and the careful use of iodine

According to a recent study, over 20 percent of men and 35 percent of women experience acne after the age of 30. At the same time, remote indigenous societies--such as the Inuit before they “moved to town” in the 1960s--experience no acne at all, even among their teenagers. Many things have been cited as causing acne, from sugar, chocolate, or pizza to dirty pillowcases, hormones, or genetics, but none of these “causes” have been able to explain the majority of acne cases, nor why chronic acne is on the rise.

Using her FBI intelligence analyst skills, Melissa Gallico identifies fluoride as the root cause of the modern acne epidemic. Chronicling the existing acne research, she reveals where each study went wrong and what they missed. She shares her personal 20-year struggle with severe cystic acne not only on her face, but on her neck, chest, back, and even inside her ears. She explains how her travels around the world and her intelligence work helped her pinpoint exactly what was causing her treatment-resistant flare-ups--fluoridated water, foods, dental products, and the systemic build-up of childhood fluoride treatments. She details how to avoid fluoridated foods and beverages and explains how sources of fluoride work their way deeply into our daily lives through water as well as fluoride-based pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and common household products.

The author exposes the corrupt science used to convince people of fluoride’s health benefits and examines the systemic toxicity of fluoride, including its anti-thyroid and neurotoxin effects, how it remains in the body for years, and how it can cause the symptoms of illnesses, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, and depression. She explains how to displace fluoride stored in your bones and tissues through nutrition and the careful use of iodine.

Offering a guide to freeing yourself from persistent adult acne, Gallico shows that it is possible to heal your skin even when dermatologists and their prescriptions have failed.

Melissa Gallico is a former military intelligence officer, Fulbright scholar, and intelligence specialist at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She has instructed classes for FBI analysts at Quantico and provided intelligence support for FBI national security investigations. She graduated with honors from Georgetown University and holds a master’s degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She lives in South Florida.

Chapter 4

Stopping Breakouts Before They Start

It can be disconcerting to learn the cystic welts on your face are caused by the fluoride added to common tap water. The everyday world takes on new shades of danger. You start to wonder about the free glass of ice water at a restaurant. Maybe you notice an unsettling feeling as you sink into a warm bath.

Preventing acne should be as effortless for you as it is for a teenager on the island of Kitava, as described in chapter one. The long-term solution is to end artificial water fluoridation and demand more responsible use of fluoride-based pesticides (see Appendix: The Plan). But you don’t have time right now to rewrite bureaucratic decrees. You need to start healing your acne today.

Artificial water fluoridation will end--and I predict it will be our generation that makes it happen--but you don’t have to wait until then before you can live acne-free. Once you understand where fluoride comes from and how it makes its way into the industrialized food supply, you will know how to choose foods and drinks that are naturally low in fluoride. You will know, for example, that beer and wine can both contain significant amounts of fluoride but for different reasons. More importantly, understanding those reasons elucidates how to choose options that will not contribute to future breakouts.

Fluoridated water is just the beginning. Soft drinks, juice, iced tea, coffee, and other beverages can all be made with fluoridated water, and if so they will contain fluoride in equal amounts or higher to the water with which they were produced.

Researchers at the University of Iowa measured fluoride concentrations of 332 soft drinks and found over 70 percent contained fluoride at levels exceeding 0.6 ppm (Heilman et al. 1999). Researchers in New Zealand examined 532 juices and juice drinks and found fluoride levels ranging from .02 to 2.8 ppm (Kiritsy et al. 1996). The researchers in both studies accounted for the wide range of fluoride in large part because of variations in the amount of fluoride of the water used in production.

Beer made with fluoridated water will also contain fluoride. In 2002, researchers at King’s College in London measured the fluoride content of various brands of beer, lager, and cider available in the United Kingdom (Warnakulasuriya et al. 2002). They found a range of fluoride from .06 to .71 ppm and concluded that alcoholic beverages can be a significant source of fluoride. If you don’t have time to research the fluoride content of beer in advance, those brewed in continental Europe are generally a safe option since 97 percent of western Europe does not fluoridate its water supply.

Whereas beer is made from brewing certain grains in water, wine is made from crushing grapes. There is no water added. Yet certain brands of wine contain significant amounts of fluoride. According to measurements from the 2005 USDA National Fluoride Database of Selected Foods and Beverages, wine contains an average fluoride content of 1.05 ppm for red wine and 2.02 ppm for white wine (USDA 2005).

The reason wine contains fluoride is because of the Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer, a caterpillar with conspicuous tufts of long black poisonous spines. The Omnivorous Leafroller, a bell-shaped character with a gray bat-like snout and brown ombre wings, is also to blame. To limit crop damage from Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizers and Omnivorous Leafrollers, some grape growers use a pesticide called cryolite which acts as a deadly poison in their grapeleaf-greedy bellies. Cryolite is essentially ground fluoride minerals.

In 1989, European regulators noticed the excessive levels of fluoride in wine imported from California and set a limit for fluoride on all imported wine at 1 ppm. In response, the manufacturer of cryolite joined with Gowan Company, Gallo Winery, the Wine Institute, and California State University–Fresno to request an exception for California vineyards that use cryolite by raising their limit to 3 ppm, an amount that is over four times higher than the CDC’s current recommendation for fluoridated water. Their efforts were successful, and yet some California vineyards treated with cryolite still fail to meet the 3 ppm exception.

Here’s where your newfound insectology knowledge is put to good use. Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizers and Omnivorous Leafrollers tend to confine their grape-leaf dining activities to California’s Central Valley. To avoid wines that are high in fluoride, all you need to do is choose wines from vineyards outside this region. According to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s online database, the use of cryolite on wine grapes is generally confined to four counties in southern San Joaquin Valley: Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern. Northern vineyards, including those in Napa and Sonoma, do not use cryolite. Neither do vineyards in southern or coastal areas like Temecula or Monterey. Neighboring vineyards in Oregon and Washington states are not sprayed with cryolite, either.

Grape juice can be high in fluoride because of cryolite, as well. In a study of 43 ready-to-drink fruit juices, researchers from Tufts University measured the highest amount of fluoride in grape juice from the baby food company Gerber at 6.8 ppm, well above the EPA’s already inflated maximum contaminant level for fluoridated water of 4 ppm (Stannard et al. 1991). Even fruit juices and other fruit drinks that don’t have the word “grape” in their name often contain blends of grape juice with significant amounts of fluoride. Cryolite is prohibited on organic crops but juice made with fluoridated water will still contain fluoride even if it is labeled organic, since fluoride is not added to water as a pesticide and therefore does not count for organic labeling purposes.

References

Heilman, Judy R., Mary C. Kiritsy, Steven M. Levy, and James S. Weelph. 1999. “Assessing Fluoride Levels of Carbonated Soft Drinks” Journal of the American Dental Association 130(11): 1593-1599.

Kiritsy, Mary C., Steven M. Levy, John J. Warren, Nupurguha-Chowdhurym, Judy R. Heilman, and Teresa Marshall. 1996. “Assessing Fluoride Concentrations of Juices and Juice-flavored Drinks.” Journal of the American Dental Association 127(7): 895-902.

Stannard, Jan G., Youn Soo Shim, Maria Kritsineli, Panagiota Labropoulou, and Anthi Tsamtsouris. 1991. “Fluoride Levels and Fluoride Contamination of Fruit Juices.” The Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry 16(1): 38-40.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2005. “National Fluoride Database of Selected Beverages and Foods.” Release 2.

Warnakulasuriya, Saman, C. Harris, S. Gelbier, J. Keating, and T. Peters. 2002. “Fluoride Content of Alcoholic Beverages.” Clinica Chimica Acta 320 (1–2): 1–4.