Since the original discovery of fluorine in the enamel of teeth by GayLussac and Berthollet (1) in 1805, fluorine has been found to be a usual constituent of plant, animal and human tissues. This fact is an almost necessary corollary of the extremely widespread occurrence of fluorine in soils and waters. With the exception of the bones and teeth, the amounts found in the tissues of man or animals without specific fluorine exposure are usually small; in our experience generally less than 1 milligram per kilogram of tissue. Our observations on fluorine storage following exposure to hydrogen fluoride (5) and more recent studies of the urinary fluorine excretion of workers exposed to hydrogen fluoride and other fluorides, 2 demonstrate not only that there is a usual level of intake and excretion of fluorine but also that storage of fluorine in the bone, teeth and parenchymatous organs will occur if the intake is disproportionately high. It is generally assumed that the presence of fluorine in human tissues is of incidental occurrence and that it serves no useful physiologic purpose.The results of Sharpless and McCollum (8) indicate that rats will grow and reproduce on a diet containing very little fluorine and that the fluorine content of the teeth can be reduced below the limits of detection by the analytical
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