Air Quality Standards for the Protection of Farm Animals from Fluorides

Abstract

The ingestion of forages contaminated with inorganic fluorides from industrial sources constitutes an air pollution problem for domestic livestock. In cattle, which have been studied most extensively, the syndrome is characterized by dental and skeletal lesions, lameness, chemical evidence of increased fluoride ingestion, and in severe cases by effects on appetite and milk production. The only practical basis for a standard appears to be one based on forage fluoride concentrations. It is concluded that a standard should protect cattle from loss of milk production and from severe dental fluorosis, but need not be set so low that the animals will be protected against any discernible deviations from normal which do not influence their general health, productive ability, or the soundness and wearing quality of their dentition. As there may be wide seasonal variations in forage fluoride concentrations, the basic standard should be expressed as a yearly average of the forage fluoride concentration. However, as the developing teeth may be adversely influenced by short periods of high exposure, the standard should contain a provision which limits both the extent and duration of time that high concentrations may be tolerated even though they are balanced by lower values at other months. Based on these criteria, a tentative standard which limits forage fluoride to an average of 40 ppm, and limits the time that forage concentrations may exceed 60 or 80 ppm F is proposed.