ABSTRACT
Of late, uorosis has become endemic in many parts of the world (Figure 2.1), as it has spread its tentacles into more than 40 nations, particularly into midlatitude regions. Groundwater with high uoride occurs in large parts of Africa, China, the Middle East, and southern Asia, including India and Sri Lanka. The belt from Eritrea to Malawi along the East African Rift is the most popular uoride belt on the earth. Other uoride-rich zones span wide across China, Northern Thailand, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. The United States and Japan have similar uoride belts, as shown in Figure 2.1.1 India and China are the worst affected nations due to uoride attacks (Figures 2.2 and 2.3). The global scenario of the affected countries along with a description on the reported intensity and severity of excess uoride is presented in Table 2.1.
