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UK Against Fluoridation

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Dentist spared jail for NHS scam

Dentist spared jail for NHS scam
A dentist who swindled the NHS out of thousands of pounds has avoided jail. Inner London Crown Court heard Paul Browne, 38, filed hundreds of false invoices from his practice in Clapham, south London between 2000 and 2002. Browne, of Embankment, central London, was fined £12,500 and given 200 hours community service after admitting deception at the same court last month.
Judge Peter Grobel said: "It was a system that depended on trust and you abused that."

Fluoride treatments
Prosecutors said Browne was sentenced on the basis he made up to £17,500 from the fraud, but the true figure could have been much higher The court heard officials became suspicious when they noticed Browne was supposedly conducting 60 times more fluoride treatments than the national average. Investigators for the NHS Counter Fraud Service also found one of the patients he claimed to have worked on had been ill in hospital at the time. Browne pleaded guilty to 11 counts of obtaining money by deception.
After selling the Clapham practice in 2004 he now earns £90,000 a year running a practice on the King's Road in south-west London, The court heard he has already handed over a cheque for £40,000 as "compensation" for his actions.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Instant Tea May Have Too Much Fluoride

Researchers Find Potentially Harmful Levels of Fluoride in Some Instant Teas

The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS Jan 26, 2005 — Instant tea may be a source of harmful levels of fluoride that can lead to bone pain, researchers discovered after they looked into the case of a woman who drank one to two gallons of super-strength tea daily.
Scientists say it's not the country's biggest dietary problem. But it does make the point "all things in moderation," said lead researcher Dr. Michael Whyte of the Washington University School of Medicine.
He said the study tested 10 brands of instant tea at regular-strength levels in fluoride-free water; they didn't test brewed or bottled tea. Fluoride levels ranged from 1.0 to 6.5 parts per million. The maximum level allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency is 4 ppm.
Fluoride is absorbed naturally into tea plants from soil and rain water, and varies from "year to year, harvest to harvest and hill to hill … and among regions of the world," Whyte said.
Swallowing high levels of fluoride boosts bone density, but also makes bones more brittle. It can lead to skeletal fluorosis, which causes bone pain, calcified ligaments, bone spurs, fused vertebrae and difficulty in moving joints. It's a rare condition in the United States, Whyte said, but in some countries is more common than osteoporosis.
He said regular consumers of high-fluoride brick tea made from old leaves, berries and plant twigs in parts of China and Tibet suffer aching, dense, poor-quality bones.
It was this rare condition that prompted the Washington University study. Scientists wanted to find the cause of a middle-aged woman's spinal pain. Tests revealed high levels of fluoride in her urine. She then disclosed she drank one to two gallons of double-strength instant tea each day.
Now she drinks lemonade. Although her fluoride levels are back to normal, her bone density high but her pain has eased

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Group calls on NIH to remove Harvard professor from fluoride-cancer study

Burlington, VT – July 27, 2005 - The Fluoride Action Network (FAN), today urged that a Harvard Professor be removed from a research group studying the association between fluoride and osteosarcoma because his objectivity and ethics are disputed and he has ties to a company that profits from fluoride. FAN also urges other steps be taken to ensure this study meets the highest standards of scientific integrity.

In June, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) charged Chester Douglass, a professor at Harvard and editor of Colgate¹s oral health newsletter, with suppressing research linking fluoridation to osteosarcoma, a rare but frequently fatal form of bone cancer. (1) Douglass remains central to the ongoing project.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

NYSCOF: Dentists Celebrate Fluoridation Where Children Suffer With Cavities

NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- While Chicago children suffer with dental pain, limousines delivered dignitaries to a large white tent, ringed with yellow shirted security guards, where dentists and others, on government payrolls, kicked off a four-day 60th birthday party for water fluoridation replete with ice sculptures, free duffle bags, food and specially made fluoridated bottled water, on July 13, 2005, in Chicago's Millennium Park, hosted by the American Dental Association (ADA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF).

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

For and Against in Wales

Tooth decay and fluoride issues need Assembly's time and attention Jul 25 2005
Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail
There are few public health issues as emotive or controversial as the debate about whether fluoride should be added to the water supply.
On one side there is the persuasive argument that fluoridation would improve the dental health of our children, many of whom, especially those who live in deprived areas, suffer from alarming rates of tooth decay.
But on the other side is the equally persuasive argument against "mass medication" with a substance which is essentially toxic and the long-term effects of which have yet to be properly researched. Here, Health Wales brings together the arguments to allow readers to make up their own minds

Good Letter - Australia

Two kilograms of reasons to question fluoride
Tuesday, 26 July 2005
Tenterfield resident Peter Robinson has been studying and collecting information about fluoride over the past 18 months.
He now has 2kg of material. "Every page of which I have read," he said.

Mr Robinson studied human physiology and pharmacology during his five year veterinary course in London. He has since gained a Master of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

USA - Fluoride bill left decaying in Salem

A bill to promote the fluoridation of city water supplies has apparently died in the Oregon Legislature just as new questions are being raised about the practice.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

NY info

This is how the American Dental Association (ADA) instructs it's obedient foot soldiers to respond. This is from an e-mail that was sent 7/22/05 to their members and sympathizers in a knee-jerk attempt to dismiss this well-researched news report showing a cover up of science linking fluoride to bone cancer probably more to to
retain the ADA's political viability with legislators, whom should be very embarrassed that fluoridation is supported with these weak and non-scientific talking points. (Our talking points are in parentheses)
July 22, 2005

A forum for breaking news and timely information from the ADA


Water Fluoridation and Alleged Risk of Rare Bone Cancer


The Wall Street Journal (July 22, Section B-Market Place, page 1) and other news outlets are reporting that a Harvard University doctor was charged with misrepresenting the findings of a doctoral student's thesis that reportedly found that fluoridated water increases the risk of osteosarcoma (a rare bone cancer). Harvard University is conducting an investigation into the matter. Your local media may report on this story, and your patients may ask you about it. We will post a brief media statement about this issue on ADA.org.


To help you respond to patient inquiries, the ADA provides the following points:

Recent news reports may be alarming people unnecessarily about the safety of water fluoridation.
(How is it "alarming people unnecessarily" to tell people about studies showing their drinking water caused bone cancer and worse that the findings are being cover-up.. This is just one of many studies linking fluoride to cancer in general and fluoride to bone cancer, specifically. We think its just alarming the ADA whose political viability is being diminished.)
We're talking about one doctoral student's paper, a paper that has not been published in a scientific journal and therefore has not been available for peer review. Peer review is a process where a group of experts review studies prior to publication to determine if the study is designed well and if the conclusions are valid.
(What the ADA isn't telling you is that PhD theses (actually dissertations) usually go through extensive review by the faculty readers before they are approved. Thus the ADA is implying that the Harvard professors who signed off on the dissertation may not have been on the ball. Elise Bassin received her PhD based on this dissertation. If it didn't have merit, she wouldn't have received her degree. Also
the Wall Street Journal reporter has a science degree, knows science very well and taught at New York University's Science and Environmental Reporting Program for a stint. She already checked the viability of Bassin's dissertation with objective outside sources w ho said the paper is publishable. And, I guess, the ADA also wants you to ignore this quote, "She did great shoe-leather epidemiology," says William Maas, head of oral health at the CDC and a supporter of fluoridation)
The student notes in her thesis that there are several limitations to her study and recommends that the findings be confirmed using data from other studies. For example, she notes that the study may not accurately reflect the actual amount of fluoride consumed by study subjects.
(Show us any studies that support water fluoridation which reflect the amount of fluoride consumed by study subjects. This is a huge flaw, we always point out, in the studies the ADA uses to support its theory that fluoridation safety reduces tooth decay. Interesting the ADA uses the argument when they think it works for them)
The vast majority of studies by nationally recognized researchers in widely-published, respected and peer-reviewed scientific journals conclude that water fluoridation has not shown any ill effects on health.
(The truth is that both a U.S. government panel and British scientists
found fluoridation proponent studies flawed and scientifically invalid)
Studies show that water fluoridation can prevent between 15-40 percent of tooth decay, and that there is no association between cancer rates in humans and optimal levels of fluoride in drinking water.
(Also not true - the New Jersey Department of Health reports higher rate of osteosarcoma in fluoridated portions of New Jersey. The National Toxicology Program found more osteosarcoma in fluoridated rats. Procter & Gamble reports a link between fluoride and cancer. Drs. Burk and Yiamouyiannis found a higher rate of cancer in
fluoridated communities even after adjusting for age, sex and race. When fluoridation proponents were put on the witness stand in courts of law, Drs. Burk and Yiamouyianns's cancer studies could not be refuted scientifically. But cancer isn't the only health problem laid at fluoridation's door)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proclaimed community water fluoridation one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
(Notice they didn't say tooth decay reduction was the achievement. Yes organized dentistry has been very successful in spreading around fluoridation for the last 60 years to 2/3 of Americans via their water supply and 100% via the food supply; but the U.S. Surgeon General reports tooth decay is a national epidemic.)
According to our current Surgeon General, fluoridation is the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay and to improve oral health for a lifetime, for both children and adults.
(Tooth decay has gone down over the years equally in fluoridated and non-fluoridated countires. There's no evidence that proves fluoride in any form is responsible for the drop in tooth decay. Health generally has improved markedly during the same time that decay rates declined)

Unless and until the weight of scientific evidence shifts to the contrary, the American Dental Association continues to recommend that community water supplies be fluoridated to reduce the risk of tooth decay.
(This is sad because scientists are denied federal grant money to study the ill health effects of fluoride. Those that do manage to get grants and show ill effects get fired and see no more research money, such as Phyllis Mullenix who found and published a study showing fluoride enters the brain and adversely affects behavior. Self survival steers scientists away from even looking into this subject. What the ADA is telling you is that the ADA's stack of invalid science is still higher
than the valid science showing fluoridations' harm - so the ADA wins. That's not scientific.)
As a dentist, my goal is to help protect and improve your oral health. I believe that water fluoridation is important in preventing tooth decay.
(Yes they "believe." The science doesn't support this belief.)
As a member of the American Dental Association, I will be kept up to date on the latest dental research, so if the science on this issue changes, I will certainly let you know immediately.
(I've already shown you that the ADA will lie to it's members. The only reason, dentists now were made aware of the bone cancer link is because the media has picked up on it. So the ADA's number one goal is to protect the image of fluoridation and, therefore, their own image)
As the leader of a science-based profession, the ADA is open to new scientific information and welcomes the opportunity to address it according to the standards that prevail in the scientific community.
(The ADA is just a union that represents the best interest of dentists - not the American public. We would like a discussion not only on the merits of the Bassin dissertation; but the merits of the studies which show fluoridation is safe and effective and saves money, because actually it's does none of those things)

New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

Friday, July 22, 2005

Fluoride Chemicals Leach Lead Into Water Supplies


Fluoride chemicals, combined with other water additives, pull health-damaging lead from plumbing systems into drinking water, according to University of North Carolina researchers reported a North Carolina newspaper on May 18, 2005 (a). Fluoride is added to water supplies to prevent cavities, not purify it as some believe.

Another fear stops fluoride in one town - USA

Goldsboro temporarily halts flouride water treatment
Goldsboro's public utilities director says a decision to stop putting fluoride in city water is a temporary measure pending testing by state authorities.

The injection of fluoride into the city's water was halted June 30, said Karen Brashear, who cited a recent study released by a doctor at the University of North Carolina-Asheville that prompted the decision.

The study indicated potential problems for lead contamination when fluoridated water interacted with chloramines. Ms. Brashear emphasized that no evidence of a problem has been found in the city's water system but that city officials wanted to take the precautionary measure until more information can be obtained.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Taking a Closer Look at Fluoride

(Nothing new just a summary)

Is the fluoride controversy -- once a litmus test for crackpot-dom -- finally getting a little respect?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Big cancer increase in UK - do we get too much fluoride?

India
Cotton belt turns into cancer belt
By Perneet Singh - TNS
Jul 20, 2005, 01:38
200 deaths in Gidderbaha segment
Gidderbaha
Though Jajal and Gayana villages of Bathinda have mostly hogged the limelight when it came to cancer deaths, a much bigger disaster seems to have gone unnoticed. Nearly 200 persons have died of cancer in Gidderbaha Assembly constituency in the past three-four months, while 50 are under treatment, according to a survey conducted by Gidderbaha MLA Manpreet Badal.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Dentist theft case reveals huge Medicaid fraud

A New York dentist, whose exorbitant claims on the state's Medicaid programme suggested that she treated more than 100 patients an hour, faces prosecution in what looks set to become a major political scandal. Dr Dolly Rosen and an associate face charges of grand theft after her claims in 2003 for reimbursement from Medicaid, which is aimed at helping poor people get access to treatment, suggested that on one day she treated 991 patients. After an intensive investigation, The New York Times asserted yesterday that fraud and abuse of the programme was costing billions of dollars every year.

Restrictions on the sale of vitamins

They emphasised that many of the nutrients not contained in the approved list 'are commonly used in food supplements and have been so for a very long time'.
"Basic mineral nutrients such as silicon, boron and sulphur are missing form the list, while fluoride, the need for which in human nutrition has not been established, is included. Commonly used substances such as selenium yeast are also omitted...Also the positive list excludes many of the newer and more easily absorbed nutrient forms such as amino acid chelates, the orotates and all yeast-based nutrient forms", the associations told the Oireachtas Committee

Monday, July 18, 2005

Weird - sounds servile (USA)

Town receives award for fluoridating water
ARMINGTON -- Armington has received its 23rd award for continued excellence in fluoridation.The town is one of five in the state to receive recognition for 20 consecutive years of compliance.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Ann's report back

Notes on Meeting, 15 July 2005, Portsmouth City PCT.
Fifteen minutes were allowed for discussion of questions submitted by the public. There were 3 anti-fluoridation questions and none pro F.
The fluoridation question was dealt with very briefly because the committee had not yet discussed whether they wanted to go for a ‘consultation’. Mr Edmondson Jones said that he would make every effort to put both sides of the case before the committee when decision time came.

At this stage the chair asked if any of the question authors were present. I introduced myself and said I was delighted that both sides of the fluoridation issue were to be given but I wondered where he would look for information about the anti-case.
After the meeting Mr Paul Edmondson Jones stayed behind to talk to us. He said that the earliest the subject could come up was at their November Meeting and it might well be postponed until 2006. Apparently all of the Hampshire PCTs will be holding meetings to decide what to do at about the same time. It will be a majority decision and those against will have to fall in line should most opt for fluoridation. He said there were many strong and conflicting opinions in both the Southampton and Portsmouth PCTs
He said he wanted as full a discussion of the matter as possible and a presentation of 30-45 minutes would be set up to inform the committee of the pros and cons. As we were the most persistent objectors he would use us as his information source and invited me, or any other speaker of our choice, to address the committee. Stella Saunders would be in attendance too.
He reiterated that the final regulations for implementing the ‘consultation’ were not yet in place.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Reported now in the Hindu Newspaper

Scientists' inhibition


If health scares about fluoride were to be recognised in the courts, the litigation, could be expected to run for decades. Consequently, scientists have been inhibited from publicising any adverse findings.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

What a wonderful world

Since 1998, drug companies have spent $758 million on lobbying — more than any other industry, according to government records analyzed by the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group. In Washington, the industry has 1,274 lobbyists — more than two for every member of Congress.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005


Different slant on vitamin controversy - mentions fluoride

Federal investigators called in

July 12, 2005, 11:22PM
Did professor hide fluoride-cancer link?
Probe wants to know whether Harvard researcher buried evidence of bone disease threat
By JULIET EILPERIN

HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
• Tapped: The practice of fluoridating tap water — which more than 170 million Americans drink — has inspired controversy for years.

WASHINGTON - Federal investigators and Harvard University officials are probing whether a Harvard professor buried research suggesting a link between fluoridated tap water and bone cancer in adolescent boys.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which funded Chester Douglass' $1.3 million study, and the university are investigating why the Harvard School of Dental Medicine epidemiologist told federal officials he found no significant correlation between fluoridated water and osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

Douglass, who serves as editor in chief for the industry-funded Colgate Oral Care Report, supervised research for a 2001 doctoral thesis that concluded young boys exposed to fluoridated water were more likely to develop that form of cancer.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, urged federal officials late last month to explore whether Douglass had skewed his 2004 report to play down risks associated with fluoridation.Douglass' report concluded that the odds of developing osteosarcoma after drinking fluoridated water was "not statistically different" than the risk from drinking nonfluoridated water.

But in 2001, Douglass' doctoral student, Elise Bassin, published a thesis using his data that concluded: "Among males, exposure to fluoride at or above the target level was associated with an increased risk of developing osteosarcoma."The association was most apparent between ages 5-10, with a peak at 6 to 8 years of age."Bassin's thesis work is considered the most rigorous human study to date on a possible connection between fluoridation and osteosarcoma.Osteosarcoma is a rare but lethal form of cancer that affects males nearly twice as often as females.Patients with the cancer live an average of three years after diagnosis."Fluoride safety is a major public health issue, and a Harvard professor potentially falsifying public research results has huge public health implications," said Richard Wiles, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group.

He added that Douglass' role in editing a newsletter funded by Colgate-Palmolive Co. "creates the appearance of a conflict of interest."

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Never knew about this

Statement on the recent Toothpaste and cancer scareFollowing a recent article in the Evening Standard reporting on a USA study which found chlorine in tap water and the anti-bacterial chemical triclosan can react to produce chloroform.If inhaled in large enough quantities, chloroform can cause depression, liver problems and, in some cases, cancer.
The UK government has not recommended the removal of toothpastes on sale to the public, including brand names such as Colgate and Sensodyne.The author of the recent study clearly stated that their research had no implications for toothpaste use. Having studied the evidence I am convinced that this research does not undermine the safety of toothpastes which contain triclosan.These toothpastes continue to be sold in the United Kingdom and we have no reservation in supermarkets continuing selling this product.
Professor Raman Bedi
BDS MSc DDS DSc FDSRCS (England) FDSRCS (Edinburgh) FFPH FDGP
Chief Dental Officer – England

18 April 2005

Letter to the Hove Argus

First published on Friday 08 July 2005:
Letter: Less sugar is best for your teeth
attention to several points.Firstly, adding fluoride to drinking water is not the answer to dental decay, because it brings its own problems.For some time, there has been well-documented evidence overexposure to fluoride can cause cancer of the bones, osteoporosis, neo-natal death, thyroid problems and enzyme disruption in the body, where enzymes are involved in many vital processes in the body.

Fluoridation of the water supply would make it impossible to control who ingests fluoride and to regulate the quantities ingested, since there would be no way of avoiding exposure to it.Exposing a whole population to fluoride is a very poor way of targeting a minority who need it.

Secondly, the benefits of fluoride are not as were at first thought. Switzerland, for example, has now abandoned fluoridation because the benefits were outweighed by problems.In areas where drinking water is fluoridated, some people's teeth show signs of fluorosis, an unsightly mottling of the enamel.This is an outward sign of fluoride poisoning - there also tends to be internal damage occurring which cannot be seen until it is too late.
Thirdly, there are many other areas of the country where water is not fluoridated and where the rate of tooth decay is not as bad as in Brighton and Hove, therefore there must be other factors involved.Persuading parents curbing their children's consumption of sweets and fizzy drinks would be a good place to start.
-Liz Brynin, MARH MSECH, homeopath Hove

Abusive late night phone calls changed minds

New Zealand Greymouth council U-turns on fluoride
12 July 2005
By PAUL MADGWICK GREYMOUTH

Just two months after deciding to fluoridate Greymouth's water supply, the Grey District Council has got cold feet.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Harvard dentist investigated

School launches probe after accusations that faculty member misrepresented fluoride-cancer study
By Alison McCook
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine announced last week that it is investigating a faculty member after the watchdog Environmental Working Group (EWG) accused him of misrepresenting a study by a former student that reported that fluoride in drinking water increases the risk of bone cancer in young boys.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Sir John's Question and Minister's Answer

Water Fluoridation
Sir John Butterfill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the report of the World Health Organisation in 2002 concerning the findings of the US National Toxicology Programme relating to rates of osteosarcoma among young males living in fluoridated areas. [7280]

Caroline Flint: We are aware that, on 6 June, a research organisation in the United States, the Environmental Working Group, published a press release asking the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health to list fluoride in tap water in its report on carcinogens, "based on its ability to cause a rare form of childhood bone cancer, osteosarcoma". The request refers to a doctoral thesis completed in 2001 by a student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

The systematic review of water fluoridation undertaken by the University of York identified over 3,000 reports of research projects on fluoridation of which 735 met their criteria for inclusion in their study. The researchers did not find any evidence of an association between water fluoridation and bone cancer, but we are not complacent and are committed to strengthening the evidence base. In this context, we have been informed by the oral health division of the Centers for Disease Control that the author of the thesis has invited them to review her findings as part of the peer review process conducted before a research study is published. We have asked to be kept informed.


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Thursday, July 07, 2005

Calls For “Serious Review” of Water Fluoridation Programs in U.S.

On the 60th anniversary of community water fluoridation in the U.S., Springmill Products, Inc. (SPI), maker of PetRefresh®, joins others calling for a serious review of the water fluoridation program in the U.S. to investigate studies that point to a causal relationship between fluoridated water and dental/skeletal fluorosis, cancer, osteoporosis, decreased sperm counts, hypothyroidism, early onset of puberty, and a lowering of IQs in children. Explains Bill Fels, company founder: “We (SPI) are not qualified to say where there’s smoke there’s fire. What we are saying is where there is this much smoke, shouldn’t someone be checking to see if something is burning?”

Shame the SHA are not stripped of their power. (New Jersey)

BY CAROL ANN CAMPBELL
The Star-Ledger
Acting Gov. Richard Codey has stripped the Public Health Council, created in 1947, of its considerable power weeks before the independent body planned a controversial vote on water fluoridation.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

USA Dental Association still celebrate fluoridation

The American Dental Association, Georgia Dental Association and Centers for Disease Control continue to support using fluoride.
"Fluoride is such an inexpensive thing for us to do and is such a benefit for folks on the lower socioeconomic scale who can't afford good dental care," said Mark Wyzalek, Macon Water Authority manager of laboratory services and environmental compliance. "There's been a lot of controversy, but we're not concerned about it."

Tuesday, July 05, 2005


First Page DH letter


Latest reply form DH

Flouride - Clear proof of harm?

Sunday Life Home
04 July 2005
A BOMBSHELL report may have finally put paid to Government plans to re-introduce fluoride into tap water in Northern Ireland.

And it could also have major ramifications for the Republic, which along with Britain, are the only two countries in the EU where water is fluoridated.According to new American research, boys between the ages of five and 10 exposed to fluoride in tap water suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma - bone cancer.
Although osteosarcoma is rare, accounting for about 3pc of childhood cancers, it is particularly dangerous.The mortality rate in the first five years is 50pc, and nearly all survivors have limbs amputated.Fluoridation was abandoned in Ulster in 1996, but in many parts of Britain it is added to the water system on the advice of the British Dental Association.The Department of Health maintains that it is a cost-effective public health measure that prevents tooth decay.

But environmentalists and consumer groups here have seized on the study - conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health - claiming it vindicates their opposition to any artificial chemicals in our water.The increased cancer risks were found at fluoride exposure levels common both in the US, Britain and the Republic.It was the first examination of the link between exposure to the chemical at the critical period of a child's development, and the age of onset of bone cancer.The research has been made available by the Environmental Working Group, a respected Washington-based research organisation.

The group, although unable to explain why males should be affected rather than females, has asked that fluoride in tap water be added to the US government's classified list of substances known to cause cancer in humans.Local environmentalist Walter Graham told Sunday Life: "This report clearly demonstrates a link between bone cancer and water fluoridation. "Bone cancer rates in the Republic are far higher than in Northern Ireland, and you no longer need to ask why."

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Increase of fluoride in river - USA

Only fluoride levels increased. In 1963, fluoride averaged .167 ppm. In 2003 it averaged .222 ppm. Water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay started becoming popular after 1950. By 2000, 54.2 percent of Pennsylvanians were receiving fluoridated water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Water fluoridation could responsible for the increase, but it also could have come from fertilizers, chemical manufacturing and even natural sources said Joseph Dinkel, assistant executive director and plant manager for the West View Water Authority. However, the levels are low and shouldn't be harming the environment, he said.
Click above to see article

Friday, July 01, 2005

Fight continues downunder

Fluoride debate flows
Eugene Duffy
Friday, 1 July 2005

HORSHAM residents have weighed into an ongoing fluoride debate with concerns water fluoridation is receiving insufficient discussion by the community.
Since announcing a Wimmera Primary Care Partnership bid to fluoridate Horsham water on April 1, the Mail-Times has published 22 letters to the editor on the subject with 19 opposing the proposal. Horsham mother Donna Winfield said water fluoridation was forced medication that gave her no choice over what her four children consumed.

Mrs Winfield said fluoride was a toxic chemical with too many unknown health effects to become a mandatory solution for poor oral health. "It's all about freedom of choice, if they want to supply people with fluoride tablets then people can at least choose," she said.
Mrs Winfield said her children had terrific teeth and this was due to a careful diet and attention to oral hygiene."Only a tiny percentage of fluoride goes to the teeth, the rest goes to the liver and organs." She said having fluoride in water also made regulation of dosage impossible. "I'm feeding 11-month old Sophie and if I drink ten glasses of water a day and drink ten cups of tea how much fluoride am I taking in and how much is Sophie consuming?" she said. Mrs Winfield was particularly concerned by findings of Geelong naturopath Philip Robertson that said fluoride had led to asthmatic reactions in patients. She said her 11-year-old son Sam, an asthma sufferer, had been weaned off puffers and drug solutions to asthma and fluoride could have a terrible impact on him. Mrs Winfield said she objected to the labelling of fluoride opponents as fanatical. "I'm not a freak, I still enjoy chocolate and have a beer, but this issue is more about the kids. Are we strange for genuinely wanting to know more about this chemical?" Victorian Fluoride Information Network's David McRae said the regional community has had insufficient debate about the negative health effects of fluoride "The Victorian Department of Human services has a dedicated fluoride promotion unit, led by Dr Robert Hall which at this minute is pursuing a relentless campaign to force fluoridation upon Horsham and the Wimmera," he said. Mr McRae said health authorities failed to defend fluoride in public debates last year.