Canada - Dorval's plan to bring back fluoride stalls

CHERYL CORNACCHIA, The Gazette
Published: Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The mayor of Dorval contends the Montreal island council is blocking his city's plan to put fluoride back into its drinking water.
The provincial government has given Dorval the $400,000 the West Island suburb needs to upgrade its water filtration system to reintroduce fluoride. But, according to Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau, the island council is holding up the money and Dorval's plan to bring back fluoride. "They found a loophole," an angry Rouleau charged yesterday.Since Dorval needs a new fluoride tank, pumps and monitors so it can add fluoride to its water supply, the island council contends it - and not Dorval - has the final say on fluoridation.
The island council is responsible for overseeing Montreal Island's water infrastructure and other major services."It's not acceptable," Rouleau said. "People in Dorval want fluoride."

They wouldn't if they read up on it.

USA - Fluoride Was Never FDA Approved For IngestionFrom

Fluoride Was Never FDA Approved For IngestionFrom Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum.10-30-6
Furthermore, fluoride interacts with aspartame.
http://www.dorway.com/blaytox.txt

* http://www.swtexaslive.com/node//node/1811

* http://www.swtexaslive.com/node//node/1811/links
Submitted by
http://www.swtexaslive.com/node//user/473

FDA Never Safety-Tested Fluoride Ingestion
FDA approval of fluoridated bottled water may be premature

NEW YORK -- Because of a glitch in the law,3 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never safety-tested fluoride for ingestion.1 Yet, the FDA recently OK'd cavity-preventing claims on fluoridated bottled water labels,2 giving Americans a false sense of security about the safety and effectiveness of drinking bottled water with fluoride added..
Sodium fluoride was sold before FDA safety and effectiveness testing laws were enacted in 1938 and 1962, respectively. So fluoride was exempt from scrutiny, or "grandfathered in," without any FDA human or animal studies.3 "The premise was that all pre-1938 drugs were considered safe," according to FDA correspondence.3

Sodium fluoride was already sold pre-1938 but not as a decay preventive. As strange as it sounds, it commonly sold as a rat poison. The FDA has no information on the medical uses of fluoride before 1938.3

Posted by NYSCOF

The Charleston Gazette - News: West Virginia is 91% fluoridated"

“We have mothers in their 20s and 30s who come in here with no teeth,”


Need to sign on to see article.

USA - Scary tactics?

Legal summons were served on Lynn Warber, campaign chair for the initiative committee Our Water -- Our Choice! and Ann Mathewson, treasurer of the initiative committee Protect Our Waters. The legal procedure came as a surprise to at least one of the officers for the initiatives.
``I was pretty shocked and scared to have been served by a policeman with a summons,'' Mathewson said.
``It was pretty scary, I guess the city's playing hardball and want us to go away but we won't. It can be a little intimidating.'' she said.

The Washington Dental Services Foundation, which gave the city a $260,000 grant to start its fluoridation program, also was named in the city's lawsuit.

Tooth decay increased in fluoridation Mandated Kentucky:NYSCOF

A 2001 survey by the University of Kentucky found nearly half of Kentucky's children ages 2 to 4 have untreated dental decay -- about twice the national average. Kentucky also has one of the highest rates in the nation of adults over 65 with no teeth -- a pattern officials hope to break by providing better dental care to more children. "We really need to stop the cycle of our citizens in Kentucky losing their teeth," Elliott said.


Dr. Liliana Rozo worked on Jennifer Munoz yesterday at the University of Louisville dental school. Kentucky wants early dental care to break a cycle of poor oral health. (By Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal)

Watergate reporters

The letters are so laudatory. People thought that Woodward and Bernstein could save the world after Watergate and sent them scores of requests: investigate the kennedy assassination, look into fluoride in water, find someone's missing husband in Cuba, look into military medical malpractice.

Pity they didn't.

Sensible plants don't like fluoride.

Some houseplants, such as palms and dracaenas, are sensitive to fluoride in the water. Use distilled water or rainwater for these plants.

Accepted wisdom but try saying you are sensitive to fluoride.

Portsmouth PCT turn down fluoridation to get £8m for dental care.

Dental 'outreach' to improve care
Ambitious plans for a multi-million pound project to take NHS dental care to thousands of people in deprived areas have been put forward.
If the plans are approved, more than 13,000 new appointments a year would be created for people in Portsmouth, east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The scheme is the result of a joint funding bid between the University of Portsmouth and King's College, London.
The plan is for an £8m 'outreach' project, which would take dental care into the community, as an extension to the existing School of Professions Complementary to Dentistry.It already offers services including fillings, teeth extractions, scaling and polishing and preventative treatment.Fifth-year undergraduate students and medical care professionals would provide more complex care including surgical work and root canal treatment if the centre is approved.The bid is in its early stages but the Department of Health has already pledged £1.6m to the project.
University vice-chancellor John Craven said: 'We would like to be able to provide facilities for people who would not otherwise have access to a dentist.
'We want to have a much greater involvement in dental education. We hope that by training people here more dentists will settle in the area, building a more solid foundation for dental treatment in the future.'
Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: 'We have a real problem in this city with kids having access to dental care, particularly around the city centre. Only recently the NHS was discussing putting fluoride in the water, which shows how serious things are.'This is something that can help secure the future of dental care in the area for decades.'The British Dental Foundation (BDF) has welcomed plans.BDF spokeswoman Leigh Greenwood said: 'Not being able to access an NHS dentist has a much greater effect on people in deprived areas as they cannot afford to go private.'
'In addition, people in deprived areas are often in greater need of regular dental checks. If it is able to create an additional 13,0000 appointments every year then the proposed centre could help significantly.'
A bid for over £2m towards the project from the Higher Education Funding Council For England must be submitted by the end of October.
clare.semke@thenews.co.u
27 October 2006

Tooth decay increased in fluoridation Mandated Kentucky

A recent study reveals pre-school children's tooth decay rates doubled
after fluoridation became Kentucky law.
In 1987, 28% of Kentucky preschoolers developed cavities. That number
increased to 47% in 2001, according to the July/August 2003 journal,
"Pediatric Dentistry."Over 96% of Kentucky water systems add fluoride since a 1977 Kentucky law compelled water suppliers serving over 1,500 individuals to
fluoridate, aimed to reduce tooth decay by up to 60%
Fluoride supplements are prescribed to children without fluoridated water But cavities didn't decline at all. In fact, 57% of Kentucky third- and
sixth-graders also developed tooth decay. "...untreated decay and caries experience have increased since the state's 1987 survey. The state's levels also appear to be much worse than national levels for these same indices," concludes authors
Hardison et al., summarizing "The 2001 Kentucky Children's Oral Health
Survey..."
It turns out, these children need dentists more than fluoride. Forty-three percent of preschoolers suffered with festering teeth. "There are a lot of places, Appalachia being one, where kids do not always get the dental care that they need," said Jim Cecil, administrator of Oral Health Programs for the Kentucky Department of
Public Health in an AP wire story. "Oral disease is reaching a crisis level for children across the country and here in Kentucky," he said.
A Kentucky dentist "shocked by a dramatic increase in the dental decay rate" found poor diet to be the culprit.Besides water company expenses for fluoridation equipment, chemicals, housing, etc, surveillance, alone, cost Kentucky $350,000 yearly. Silicofluorides, used by over 91% of U.S. fluoridating communities are
linked to children's higher blood-lead levels which, in turn, is linked
to higher rates of tooth decay. Fluoride at doses slightly above dentists' recommendations can also cause cavities, according to Burt, Eklund, et al, in the dental textbook, "Dentist, Dental Practice, and the Community."
Cavity crises occur in many fluoridated cities:
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof2/_pgg5.php3

Quick about face - fluoridation back on.

DEL RIO, TX – Less than two months after voting to discontinue fluoridation of the city's drinking water, the city council has opted to reinstate fluoride, according to a recent report in the Del Rio News-Herald.

The council's 5-1 vote to resume fluoridation followed protests by dozens of health care professionals and members of the community, who championed fluoride's cavity-fighting capability and asked city leaders to reverse their decision, the story noted.
Dr. Howard Hunt, a local dentist, said fluoridation "provides unquestionable benefits to all socio-economic classes," while Dr. Larry Lindenschmidt, another dentist, added it is impossible to be poisoned by "optimally fluoridated water," according to the article.
As reported by WaterTech Online® on September 14, the city council voted to discontinue fluoridation after John Morony, a retired biology professor, made a presentation condemning fluoride and stating it is linked to higher rates of cancer.

USA - Syracuse, NY, is fluoridated: NYSCOF

Ronald McDonald mobile dental office
By: Marcie Fraser
Eighty percent of cavities are in 25 percent of the people and most of them are low income. There are various barriers to dental care.
Blythe Thompson, St. Peters Dental Heath Services coordinator, is concerned about the tooth decay in young children who live in poor areas. Many have never been to a dentist because they don't have insurance. If you have kids, do they fear that trip to the dentist? Well, Marcie Fraser knows the dentist that comes to your kids. Thompson described their physical and economic condition.
"Massive carious lesions, huge cavities in their whole mouth,” Thompson said. "This socioeconomic background parents often work one to two jobs, sometimes three..."

Why don't our health experts read this and take note?

USA - A dragon?

* Supporting Dr. Bill Tompkins to finally slay the anti-fluoride dragon for the benefit of our children and all citizens by adding fluoride to our water supply.

I'm asking citizens who believe I've served Cumberland (USA)well for their continued support by voting for me in the upcoming general election. It would be my pleasure to serve for another four-year term. I'd like service to my community to be part of the legacy I leave behind - an example to my family, my children, my friends and my neighbors.

One good reason not to!

USA - march against.

The Arcata Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, Yes on Measure W group will be hosting a “walk for safe water” on Saturday. Meet at New World Water, 778 18th St., Arcata, at 9:30 a.m. Bring a glass to fill with chemical-free water, and start walking at 10 a.m. The walk will continue down H Street, through the Arcata Plaza and to Arcata City Hall, 736 F St.

All ages are welcome

Wouldn't work here, too apathetic.

Dr Fox's letter

(Excuse the scanning problems.)

USA - Too much toothpaste

Kurland ES, Schulman RC, Zerwekh JE, Reinus WR, Dempster DW, Whyte MP.
Microabstract A 52-year-old man presented with severe neck immobility and radiographic osteosclerosis. Elevated fluoride levels in serum, urine, and iliac crest bone revealed skeletal fluorosis. Nearly a decade of detailed follow-up documented considerable correction of the disorder after removal of the putative source of fluoride (toothpaste).

PMID: 17014382 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

USA - NYSCOF: FDA Never Safety-Tested Fluoride Ingestion

FDA Never Safety-Tested Fluoride Ingestion
FDA approval of fluoridated bottled water may be premature
New York -- October 24, 2006 -- Because of a glitch in the law,3 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never safety-tested fluoride for ingestion. Yet, the FDA recently OK’d cavity-preventing claims on fluoridated bottled water labels,
2 giving Americans a false sense of security about the safety and effectiveness of drinking bottled water with fluoride added.Sodium fluoride was sold before FDA safety and effectiveness testing laws were enacted in 1938 and 1962, respectively. So fluoride was exempt from scrutiny, or “grandfathered in,” without any FDA human or animal studies.
“The premise was that all pre-1938 drugs were considered safe,” according to FDA correspondence.
Sodium fluoride was already sold pre-1938 but not as a decay preventive. As strange as it sounds, it commonly sold as a rat poison. The FDA has no information on the medical uses of fluoride before 1938.3
According to the FDA’s website: “New products that are designed to treat human conditions or diseases are scrutinized by FDA's reviewers for safety and effectiveness before they can be made available to consumers.” 4 But this never occurred for fluoride or fluoridated bottled water.In fact, the FDA can't assess whether something added to the water is safe because there's no way to know how much people will consume, according to an FDA spokesperson quoted in a Colorado newspaper. "The drug approval process requires specific dosing and conditions to be treated and clinical trials,’ [FDA spokesperson] Koontz said,” according to the Daily Camera.
The FDA approved fluoridated toothpaste, as a drug, for topical application as in toothpaste; but not for swallowing. In fact, toothpaste tubes are imprinted with FDA “do not swallow” warnings.However, fluoridated bottled water is meant to be swallowed. Not a nutrient, fluoride is a drug prescribed to treat humans against tooth decay. The FDA never studied fluoride ingestion, in any form, for adverse health effects or to discover if it really reduces tooth decay.Adding fluoride chemicals into public water supplies (water fluoridation) began in the mid 1900’s. It was then believed fluoride worked from the inside, that is to say, ingested fluoride incorporated into children’s, and only children’s, developing tooth enamel to shield against tooth decay. However, modern science proves fluoride absorbs into enamel by topical means alone or from the outside and it can occur over the lifetime of the tooth.Unfortunately, science also tells us that ingested fluoride has many health risks, including tooth damage or dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth – a consequence of fluoride over-ingestion which is a growing U.S. problem. The following side effects may be early signs of possible chronic fluoride overdose, according to the Mayo Clinic website: Pain and aching of bones; skin rash; sores in the mouth and on the lips; stiffness; white, brown, or black discoloration of teeth.“Modern studies also link fluoride to arthritis, allergies, kidney and thyroid dysfunction, bone damage and cancer even at the low levels dentists claim is optimal to reduce tooth decay,” says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. “Adding fluoride to bottled water implies to the American public that FDA studies give fluoride a clean bill of health – and that’s not true,” says Beeber.
No studies link fluoride-free bottled water to more tooth decay, according to the American Dental Association (ADA).9
“The ADA should lobby for fluoride content labeling on all foods,” says Beeber. “Because fluoridated water is used in processing and because of fluoride pesticide residues, virtually all foods and beverages have a fluoride content – even soda, candy, french fries, grape juice and some chicken products. Americans are actually over-fluoridated now; and should avoid fluoridated water – whether from the tap or the bottle, in our opinion.” says Beeber.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists the fluoride content of many foods here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/Fluoride.html
Contact: Paul Beeber, nyscof@aol.com
President and General Counsel
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

USA - letter

A book by Barry Groves entitled "Fluoride: Drinking Ourselves to Death" reviews the science and salesmanship involved in the fluoride debate. There is no clear valid evidence of significant benefits from added fluoride consumption, while there are many independent studies showing a variety of potential negative mental and physical effects. This evidence has been available previously in some other texts and online information collections, and is beyond rational refutation. There are, of course, some really insecure people who just can't accept or admit that the government, medical, & dental authorities are spreading lies and contaminating the public water supplies. One reviewer claims that people who denounce fluoridation are opportunists seeking economic profit and getting paid thousands of dollars per event for speaking against fluoridation. To deny one conspiracy, this reviewer has invented his own conspiracy, based on no evidence. If speaking publicly against fluoride were financially lucrative, where areall the wealthy fluoride opponents and anti-fluoride ads? Of course, all the damning evidence about fluoride is in professional journals and government documents for anyone to see. Then again, maybe consuming so much fluoride made that person dumb enough to think fluoride is good and anyone against fluoride isn't - after all, fluoridation has been correlated with diminished IQs.--Jed Shlackman, Miami, FL

Australia - Rally against

Anti-fluoride rally
By By Lisa Finnerty
MEMBERS of the local community are calling on the council to stand up to the state government over fluoride, even if it means taking the government to court.
At yesterday's anti-fluoride rally in Bruxner Park they called on Mayor Toby Smith for help.
"You've got to be the voice for us," they said. "You're elected to represent us, not government departments." Councillor Smith explained that he had done everything in his power to try and persuade the NSW Department of Health and even the Minister for Health to overturn the decision.
Despite his explanations the protesters said they felt the council had let them down by referring the matter to the Department of Health for a decision in the first place. They argued that fluoride is a toxic substance, harmful to people's health.
"You have to do your homework and know what that chemical is that you're putting in our water supply," one said. "I'm not a chemical engineer," Councillor Smith replied.
"These things were supposed to be taken into consideration by our health committee."
He said that he understood the Department of Health had based its decision on oral health grounds, especially to help young people in the town, to which a member of the crowd responded, "I've lived here all my life, I drank the water and I only have one filling. What this town needs is a dentist, not fluoride."
While the Mayor responded that a public dentist was now visiting town regularly, people argued that it wasn't enough and that there was already a six month waiting list.
The solution, they suggested was for the council to buy a house and set up a dentist in Tenterfield. "If lack of fluoride makes such a difference and we've all got such teeth then you think dentists would flock here! Forget the fluoride and get us a permanent dentist!" came the comment.
Although the gathering wasn't large it was vocal, addressing issues from poison through to democracy. "Tenterfield is the birthplace of a nation! But democracy? No! Well Australians wake up, they're taking away your rights!" came the cry.
The protesters called on the council to take the State Government to court over the issue after the Mayor told them if fluoride wasn't added to the water supply the State could fine the council $2,000 a day after June 30 next year. The council has taken the State to court before and won compensation when it lost the shire's electricity supply business to a state decision. Rally organiser Mike Rudge urged everyone concerned about the issue to write to Local Member of State Parliament Richard Torbay for help and to sign the petition asking council to take more action in having the decision overturned. Only one woman asked, "Where do we sign the petition in favour of fluoride?" The rally attracted coverage from several newspapers, the Channel 7 Today Tonight program and local prime correspondent Nathan Ross.
With 100 extra signatures on the petition, Mr Rudge estimated that at least 100 people turned out to show their support in the fight against fluoride.

Reply to Dr M Boyask BDS attack on Gary

I would like to offer Dr Boyask (letters October 17) an alternative parable.
Once upon a time three neighbours all bought chairs from their local garden.centre. The chairs were natural, made of good quality, well chosen, wood. The salesman offered them a special chair restorer compound guaranteed to make their chairs stronger
The first neighbour refused the special treatment but his chair was used carefully and lasted many years before eventually becoming worn and unsafe.
His neighbour bought the chair restorer mixture and painted his chair with it carefully, every day.
The chair did seem to be slightly sturdier than his neighbours’, although the colour became a bit patchy after a time. However, the chair restorer did not live up to the great advertised benefits. Also, he discovered, it was very poisonous .and he could not let the mixture get into the ground.
The third neighbour decided to buy the chair restorer’s active ingredient direct from the manufacturers. They were glad to be rid of it as it had been classified as a hazardous industrial waste. He contracted to buy a tanker full every week, and used a pump to spray his chair. Then he sprayed the garden. Then he filled the bath. More than 98 per cent was wasted. The plants began to die. And the chair, after a time, become discoloured, then brittle and broke.
Finally, he became a public relations consultant and set about convincing the whole nation it should get rid of its pure drinking water and drink chair restorer instead.

UK- Health bosses want fluoride gaps filled

Oct 23 2006
By Liz Hands, The Journal
The debate over using fluoride to protect children's teeth was reopened yesterday as North-East health bosses called for the chemical to be added to water supplies across the region. Water in Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, parts of Northumberland and Hartlepool is already fluoridated.
Public health chiefs say the better dental health of children in those areas is evidence to back their calls for the chemical to be introduced in Sunderland, South Tyneside, County Durham and Teesside.
The recommendations - which met with opposition by campaigners - come in a report by the North-East Public Health Observatory (NEPHO).
The report is based on the results of a dental health survey of more than 13,200 five-year-olds from 545 schools across the region. Around 40% of children in the North-East have dental decay, compared with around 30% in the South-East. Professor John Wilkinson, director of NEPHO, said: "Dental health is better now than at any time in the last 50 years, with 60% of five-year-olds nationally having no experience of tooth decay. However, not all children have good dental health.
"In the North-East, children living in the fluoridated water areas compare favourably with the national average for dental decay, although they still fall below many other parts of the country. "Of even greater concern," he added, "is the fact that unfluoridated County Durham and the Tees Valley is ranked among the worst five areas in England with a high proportion of five-year-olds having decayed teeth that go untreated." NEPHO wants the North-East Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to draft a timetable for consultation in advance of asking water companies to add fluoride to supplies.
He said children in County Durham and Tees Valley were in the bottom five SHA areas for dental decay, whereas those in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear compare favourably with the national average. The report says: "Two thirds of the regional population do not have access to fluoridated water. The Strategic Health Authority has a responsibility to work with local authorities and water companies to initiate the required processes. "Children in Primary Care Trusts with fluoridated drinking water are less likely to experience tooth decay." A spokesman for Northumbrian Water said any decision would be up to the North-East Strategic Health Authority after an extensive public consultation.
But John Graham, executive member for the National Pure Water Association, said he believed adding fluoride to water supplies could be illegal.
"The addition of fluoride to customers' water supplies is presented as a means of preventing tooth decay, which by definition makes the fluoridating chemical a medicine," he said. "Fluorosilicic acid does not have a medicinal licence."
Brushing teeth is the key, say nursery schools. Two nursery schools - one in an area with fluoridated water supplies, and one in an area without - said teaching children to brush their teeth properly was the most important step in the fight against tooth decay. Bridges Nursery in Gateshead town centre and Buttons Nursery in Washington, an area without fluoride in the water, both encourage their children to brush their teeth after meals.
Louise Firth, deputy nursery manager at Bridges, said: "We get our children to go to the sink and brush their teeth after lunch. We also promote healthy eating and they don't get sugary snacks. "For birthdays, we ask parents to try to think of something else to bring in rather than sugary birthday cakes, such as goody bags with toys in." Emma Forrest, deputy manager at Buttons, said: "I wasn't really aware that we didn't have fluoride in this area, but our children do have very good dental health anyway. "After tea, they go to get their own toothbrush and toothpaste and brush their teeth, sometimes to music like a song from Barney the dinosaur. "We don't let them have too much sugar. They have jelly or fruit for snacks and juice or water rather than fizzy drinks. It's all about getting them into good habits."

Fluoridated water gets approval and further linked articles

22 Oct 2006 Page 1
Improved Oral Health with Fluoridated water
The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of bottlers’ claim of reduced risk of dental caries or tooth decay by fluoridated water, is being backed by the American Dental Association (ADA).
"Whether you drink fluoridated water from the tap or buy it in a bottle, you're doing the right thing for your oral health," says ADA executive director James B. Bramson, D.D.S. "Thanks to the FDA's decision, bottlers can now claim what dentists have long known--that optimally fluoridated water helps prevent tooth decay." The ADA also agrees with the FDA that this health claim is not intended for use on bottled water marketed to infants for whom lesser amounts of fluoride are appropriate. According to the FDA's Center for Food Safety and applied Nutrition, "the food eligible to bear the claim is bottled water…containing greater than 0.6 and up to 1.0 mg/L total fluoride, and meeting all general requirements for health claims…."

Some people react badly to fluoride too

I have had very little luck maintaining any kind of palm plant. The plants are in a semi-sunny corner that has south and east exposure. I water them when they seem dry, but within a few months, they turn brown and die.
LISA MCDONALD
Norwood
Your light level is probably not the problem (unless you have a date palm, which requires bright light). If you purchased your palms at a mass-market outlet, which tend to use inferior potting mixes, repot using a mix with a sand component. (Try an African violet mix with sand added.) Do not use beach sand, as that will raise the salt level.
If only the older fronds are turning brown, this is a natural process. Use a sharp knife to trim them off. If just the tips are browning, the plant either needs more water or is reacting to fluoride or chlorine. A switch to rainwater or filtered water should help. Also, try to increase humidity around the palm by using the methods described in the previous answer on lemon trees.

Australia - Unfair financial backing

Supporters of Arcata's Measure W lead financial race
by Rebecca S. Bender, 10/21/2006
There’s a lot of money floating around in the fight over fluoride in Arcata, but the vast majority of it is on the side of those who want to keep the additive in the city’s drinking water.

The Citizens for Healthy Teeth, who are urging a “no” vote on Measure W in November — a “no” vote equals a “yes” to keeping fluoride — have raised a whopping $15,260 between late July and Sept. 30, the end of the most recent filing period. Nonmonetary contributions, largely in the form of polling services provided by McKinleyville-based Bellavia Research that were mostly paid for by the California Dental Association, brought the final balance to just over $21,850.

USA - Waiting

WISE DECISION: The debate has been raging for some time: Is it safe to add fluoride to Martin County's drinking water?
With county utility officials scheduled to begin implementing this process in January or February, the County Commission took a step back Tuesday, voting unanimously to delay fluoridation amid growing concerns for public safety.
"This is a legitimate public health issue that needs more discussion," Commissioner Lee Weberman said. "There are some people in our community who are legitimately concerned about this."
One of those is Pat Arena, an engineer from Jensen Beach who has brought the fluoridation issue into the forefront of public debate. Arena cites a study by the National Academy of Sciences, released in March, that shows a strong link between fluoride and cancer. These findings, however, are disputed by some health officials.
Clearly, the jury is still out on fluoridated drinking water. And until all the facts have been established, the commission is wise to delay this procedure.

USA - Round up of what is wrong.

No Safety in Numbers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Jill Chapin on Oct 22, 2006, 22:00
Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins discussion anew on the supposed benefit of more cancer research funding. It is discouraging that more cynical voices have not spoken out about the fallacy in this line of thinking. Simply throwing money around does not magically prevent or cure disease. Remember that multibillion dollar war on cancer that began 30 years ago? With breast cancer statistics skyrocketing since then, from one in 20 to one in eight, why do we remain confident that our government is nevertheless serving us well?
Because of the safety-in-numbers mentality, we assume that our entire population would not be put in danger. But tragically, this is exactly what is happening, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the area of public health.
Take mattresses for instance. By what measure of reasoning did we accept the law proclaiming all mattresses manufactured in the United States must be treated with carcinogenic flame retardants? Would anyone even imagine that our government would put an entire country in harm’s way with this one requirement?

Yet because a few foolish, careless people set themselves on fire in bed, everyone else must now suffer the "cure" for their irresponsible behavior with carcinogenic chemicals that we snuggle up with for one- third of our lives. Worse, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now debating how much fire retardant is acceptable in breast milk. Have modern experts lost their intellectual moorings, deep in their own subject matter without a shred of common sense attached to their thought process?

And what about mercury in children’s vaccines, fluoride in our water, hormones, pesticides and antibiotics in our food, pollutants in our air? How much more research do we need on the deleterious effects of all these toxins?

Well worth reading full article

UK - Ann's letter in the Bolton Evening News

Water is no place for fluoride
By Staff Reporter
I AGREE with Elizabeth McDonagh (October 6) that adding further to our body's intake of fluoride is very unwise.
People today receive high doses of fluoride because the chemicals are present in pesticides, industrial pollution, anaesthetic and dental products which, as Ms McDonagh points out, many children swallow.
Fluoride is added to many medicines, such as some anti-depressants, and is contained in the non-stick coatings on saucepans. When they are heated fluoride fumes are given off.
Teaching children to clean their teeth correctly and to eat a healthy diet with fewer sweets and fizzy drinks is much more effective than adding a potentially toxic chemical to water supplies.

A Wills Middlesex.

USA - Too much

The standard of 4 milligrams a liter is the maximum that the EPA allows. Some people who drink water with fluoride in excess of this level over many years could get bone disease, including pain and tenderness of the bones, the EPA says. The agency also set a secondary standard of 2 to protect against brown staining or pitting of teeth. It happens only in developing teeth, so the EPA warns that children younger than 9 should not drink water with more than 2 milligrams of fluoride per liter. A study due out this year examines a link between fluoride and bone cancer. EPA officials say they're waiting on that report before they decide whether standards should change. Isle of Wight resident Sandy Schlaudecker thinks that the county needs to do more to educate residents about fluoride. "I see so many kids in this county with horrible-looking teeth," Schlaudecker said. "My concern is for the children, and the parents don't understand how bad the water is," she said.
"These kids are going to have ugly teeth for the rest of their lives." Schlaudecker, who lives in Gatling Pointe South, received a high-fluoride notice from the county, but she couldn't understand it. The county plans to rewrite the notices, Rountree said.

I wonder if they use fluoride mouth washes and toothpaste as well?

MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- An employee at Muskogee's water plant will face "severe disciplinary action"

MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- An employee at Muskogee's water plant will face "severe disciplinary action" for a mistake that led to a toxic chemical reaction, which forced an evacuation of the Port of Muskogee, officials said. Emergency Management Director Jimmy Moore said the worker accepted a delivery of sodium chlorite Tuesday and allowed it to be dumped into a container of fluoride. The chemical reaction sent a plume of toxic smoke into the air and some 250 workers and residents were forced to leave the area, although no injuries were reported. Moore said a truck driver told the employee he was delivering "chlorite" and the worker thought the driver said "fluoride." The chlorite was supposed to be taken to another facility where it's used to purify the city's drinking water.

Unbelievable! Surely they check delivery notes?

Tenerife - too much fluoride

Tap water safety concern...just how safe is it?

There is growing consumer concern about the state of the water that comes out of their taps, despite determined and concerted efforts on the part of the relevant authorities to play the situation down.
First came a bacteria scare in Tenerife-Sur airport’s supply at the beginning of September. That was closely followed by more widespread alarm when the same bacterium was detected, a few days later, in the household supply in the area of Los Abrigos, El Médano and San Isidro. An eight day ban on drinking it or cooking with it ensued and affected 35,000 people.
A couple of weeks down the line and islanders are once again being made aware that all is not well again with the water coming out of our taps.
This time the cause is not bacteria but a glut of fluoride in the supply of twelve municipalities where inhabitants have been warned either not to drink (or cook with) the water at all or not allow it to be ingested by children under the age of 8, until such time as the correct balance has been restored.

USA - "Accidents" keep happening

Chemical accident results in evacuation
By SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
MUSKOGEE -- An accidental mixing of two chemicals used to treat water at the city's water plant resulted in a toxic plume over the Port of Muskogee on Tuesday, officials said. No injuries were reported, but about 200 workers were evacuated and the port was shut down for more than three hours. Area roads, including a section of the Muskogee Turnpike, also were shut down before being reopened a few hours later.
The incident occurred about 11:30 a.m. after a Groendyke Transport truck driver unloaded sodium chlorite into a container of a fluorosillic acid -- or fluoride solution -- which set off a dangerous chemical reaction, officials said.

USA - Dentist renews his call for town officials to treat water supply as way to prevent tooth decay

Bethlehem, which buys a portion of its water from Albany, has repeatedly debated fluoridation. The idea failed in the 1960s.Reintroduced with Hart's help in the 1980s, the proposal was discussed then at a public hearing, but it failed to reach a vote. Hart spoke a few years ago to the Town Board led by Supervisor Sheila Fuller in another failed effort to spark a change.

Now there are fresh faces on the Town Board, and a relatively new supervisor in Theresa Egan. So Hart, jokingly referring to himself as the "geezer" who keeps returning to talk fluoride, followed up his private appeals with a public pitch to the board last month.He received a warm reception. But Egan isn't committing to anything. Not now, or any time soon."We need more information," Egan said when asked her personal opinion about the issue. "I'm not a dentist. I'm not content with the information we just received in 45 minutes at a Town Board meeting. There's a lot of unknowns."National groups opposed to fluoride have blitzed Egan with e-mails since the issue emerged again. Fluoride opponents cite everything from safety concerns to dislike of "forced medication" by the government.

USA - Tennessee is 96% fluoridated:NYSCOF

"By the time a child gets to be 2 or 3 years old, they already have tooth decay," said Dr. Suzanne Hayes, director of oral health services in the Tennessee Department of Health.
Recent studies also have linked poor dental health to chronic disease. Meharry researchers are examining whether gum disease in black women causes miscarriages and pre-term labor. A new study in the Journal of Periodontology found that people with heart disease were more likely to have tooth bone loss and oral bleeding than people who did not have heart disease. Many earlier studies have also indicated that chronic infections and the inflammatory response from tooth and gum disease might initiate or worsen hardening of the arteries.

Dr M Boyask BDS hits out at Gary

Dental parable
Let's run this "action of fluoride on teeth" past Gary Kemp again - it might sink in one day.Suppose you have a bare, mildsteel garden chair whose owner doesn't know much about looking after garden chairs.
He leaves it out in the garden and even pours his household waste over it occasionally. It soon shows signs of rust but he is a lazy owner and only when the chair collapses on his foot, hurting him, and needs to be disposed of does he do anything - while blaming everyone but himself and screaming blue murder at the cost of disposing of the chair and getting a new one.
This represents the typical British tooth, "looked after" by the typical British owner. It accounts, in part, for the relatively high incidence of dentures in Britain. Now rewind to the chair being new. This owner takes a little more care and paints the chair with undercoat and gloss paint, which protects it a bit, and this owner doesn't empty quite so much acid waste over the chair, quite so often.
The chair keeps better but the rust will show through.
So he keeps repainting it until, after a longer life than the unpainted chair, this one too may have to be replaced.
This represents the tooth which developed in the absence of sufficient fluoride ion during its formative years, when its enamel was being laid down.
It has been better looked after and perhaps treated preventatively by a dentist.
The third owner buys a chair made of stainless steel.
Yes, it still needs care for it to look good and to not sink into the earth it stands on but it is a lot tougher and rust resistant from day one.
This represents the tooth whose owner was receiving one part per million of fluoride ion in his drinking water when the tooth formed.
So if the owner is still the typical average Brit, whose idea of dental care is to chew sweets every five minutes, there is a lot better chance of it surviving.
Dr M Boyask BDS, New Church Road, Hove

Australia - Anti-fluoride campaigner issues warning

Anti-fluoride campaigner issues warning
Monday, 16 October 2006. 14:00 (AEDT)Monday, 16 October 2006. 13:00 (ACST)Monday, 16 October 2006. 13:00 (AEST)Monday, 16 October 2006. 14:00 (ACDT)Monday, 16 October 2006. 11:00 (AWST)
An anti-fluoride campaigner is warning people of the dangers of fluoridation.
Warrnambool council's new health plan supports efforts to encourage water authorities to introduce fluoride to the water system.But Gillian Blair says there are many health risks associated with excessive fluoride intake, including fertility and kidney problems.She says it is a poison."The industries that have a problem with getting rid of this toxic waste have found a perfect way to get rid of it and you will find many many people, including medical authorities and people who have received worldwide acclaim for their studies, have all come out against fluoridated water," she said.

Africa - life changing

For 10 years, Siouxland orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Steven Meyer, the president of STEMM (Siouxland-Tanzania Education Medical Ministries), has journeyed to Tanzania where he has performed 450 orthopaedic surgeries. Recently the first lady of that country told him a story that he called "the most profoundly impacting thing" that has happened to him during this time.
She told him of a child with fluorosis, a bone disease caused by excessive consumption of fluoride which cripples many Tanzanian youngsters. Meyer had operated on the boy, cutting his leg bones in several places and putting in steel rods to straighten and strengthen the legs. The boy was 8 years old and couldn't walk before the operation. The boy's uncle was a Muslim and chief of the boy's village. When the boy walked back to the village, the chief decreed they would have a big festival to honor the miracle that Allah had performed to make his nephew's legs straight. "Somebody was accountable enough to go to the chief and say, 'You know, that's not really the right thing to do because some Christian guy from Sioux City, Iowa, is the one that did the operation,'" Meyer said. The chief then went to the hospital to see if this was true. "Then he came home and decreed that they would tear the mosque down," Meyer said. "And he built a church. And now where 300 people were Islam, they're now Christian."

Australia - FLUORIDATION is back on the agenda in Warrnambool

Fluoride water on agenda
MADELINE HEALEY
October 13, 2006
FLUORIDATION is back on the agenda in Warrnambool with the city council's new health plan advocating its introduction.
The plan, adopted this week, calls for the council to advocate and support State Government efforts to encourage water authorities to introduce fluoridation. Evidence of progress towards the introduction of fluoridated water is listed as a key performance indicator for dental health.
The often-contentious fluoridation issue prompted discussion at this week's council meeting.
Councillor Andrew Fawcett raised the issue, asking why Warrnambool doesn't have fluoridated water when it's a Government requirement.
The council's chief executive officer, Lindsay Merritt, said Warrnambool's dental health was much worse than other areas of the state.
He said fluoridated water had been introduced in Melbourne ``a generation ago''.
``It was never mandated in country Victoria, it's been a patchwork quilt across country Victoria,'' he said.
``Council received a deputation not that long ago from the Department of Human Services relating to the introduction of fluoride.''
The council discussed referring the matter to Wannon Water but acknowledged that it would probably be passed on to the State Government.
Yesterday, Wannon Water chief executive officer Grant Green said fluoridation was a government issue.
Mr Green said he was not aware of any plans to introduce fluoride to Warrnambool's supply.
Mayor Glenys Phillpot said the issue had been passed around between authorities the whole time she was in council, but there had been progress. ``I think we're closer now than we were 40 years ago,'' she said.
A State Government spokesman, Ben Hart, said the Government would be guided by the prevailing local opinion. ``We will listen to communities and if communities want to put it in they can,'' he said. One person decidedly against fluoridation is former mayor Frank McCarthy, who described it as a cumulative poison. He accused the council of being old-fashioned for advocating fluoridated water.
``It was a big hit 20 years ago, like square-dancing,'' Mr McCarthy said. ``I don't know how they're thinking. You drive around Warrnambool and anyone can see big five-tonne trucks loaded with bottled water.
``That's not fluoridated. The game's over, fluoride is a thing of the past now, move on, don't waste people's money.'' He said the only way he would support it was if there was a public vote and the majority of people supported fluoride. ``I can't see any other fair way to do it . . . give them the vote.''

Dental care, family income linked

Dental care, family income linked
Published: Friday, October 13, 2006
By John Briggs
Free Press Staff Writer
A low family income contributes to tooth decay.
That insight from the Vermont Health Department's Office of Oral Health was provided to the Burlington City Council this week, a year after the council asked the Board of Health to report on dental health in the city "relative to household income and insurance coverage."
Dr. Steve Arthur, director of the oral health office, said in his report to the Board of Health and council, "in general, those who have lower income levels, lower education levels and no insurance will have more oral health needs."

Burlington, VT, has been fluoridated since 1953: NYSCOF

The Teeth Gap

By Audrey Forbes
Middlesbrough children have among the highest levels of dental decay in the North-east prompting fresh calls for fluoride to be added to water supplies. Five-year-olds in the Tees Valley ranked among the highest in England for dental decay with Middlesbrough coming top in the region.
The town has the worst levels despite having the third highest number of NHS dentists in the region per 1,000 people.
Health officials say children in Hartlepool experience better dental health where water is naturally or artificially fluoridated.
The recommendation comes in a report by the North East Public Health Observatory (NEPHO) which reveals the results of a survey of more than 13,200 five-year-olds from 545 schools across the region. Professor John Wilkinson, director of NEPHO, said: "In the North- east children living in the fluoridated water areas compare favourably with the national average for dental decay, although they still fall below many other parts of the country. "Of even greater concern is the fact that un-fluoridated County Durham and the Tees Valley is ranked among the worst five areas in England with a high proportion of five-year-olds having decayed teeth." The survey was commissioned by the Department of Health and its data is used by NEPHO to help Primary Care Trusts, which are responsible for dental screening and oral health promotion, to plan their services in the future.
What do you think? Vote online on gazettelive - No longer available

Source: Evening Gazette - Middlesbrough

Dentist inundated with patients

Poor and uninsured town children whose families can't afford a dentist are turning out in droves to see a specialist hired by Greenwich Hospital, officials say.

Though she's only at the hospital's clinic one day a week, pediatric dentist Dr. Sangeeta Sethi sees 130 kids per month and typically is booked three weeks in advance, said Jennifer Inintoli, manager of the hospital's Outpatient Center.

Water fluoridation is required in Connecticut: NYSCOF

From NYSCOF

New York – October 12, 2006 -- A 52-year-old American man’s arthritic-like joint pain and immobility went away after he stopped brushing his teeth with fluoridated toothpaste, according to a new study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research(1).

There’s no scientific dispute that large fluoride doses cause crippling skeletal fluorosis over time. (See. http://www.nalgonda.org) But, “less well-known causes of chronic fluoride toxicity include fluoride supplements, certain teas and wine and some toothpastes,” report researchers Kurland, et al.(1)

Skeletal fluorosis often results in abnormal bone hardening and thickening (osteosclerosis) with painful and impaired neck and spine mobility, spine curvature, and/or painful lower extremities ultimately causing crippling and incapacitation, report the researchers.

“Fluoride at any level accumulates in the body,” says Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. “So even water fluoridation will cause arthritic-like symptoms in susceptible individuals which is compounded by U.S. physicians’ and dentists' lack of training to diagnose fluoride toxicity.”

In this case, the only obvious fluoride exposure was toothpaste. The patient drank no fluoridated water, tea or wine; had no occupational fluoride exposure; did not chew tobacco, inhale snuff, cook with Teflon pots, use fluoridated mouthwash or get fluoride treatments at twice-yearly dentist visits. But he brushed before and after all meals (minimum 6 times daily) with fluoridated toothpaste.

Fluoride was elevated in his serum, urine and iliac crest (bone), the researchers report.

Within 8 months of eliminating all obvious fluoride sources, the patient’s urinary and blood fluoride levels dropped and bone function markers showed clear cut improvement, the researchers report.

“By approximately two years after diagnosis and apparent elimination of excess fluoride exposure, the patient had complete resolution of his neck immobility and no longer required analgesics,” the researchers write.
Roos, et al. documents a woman whose painful swollen fingers healed after she ceased eating fluoridated toothpaste.(2)
Whyte, et al. report a woman’s fluoride-caused debilitating joint pains disappeared when her two-gallon-a-day iced tea habit stopped.(3)
Eichmiller, et al. report a patient’s leg and joint pains from a dentist-prescribed high-concentration fluoride product.(4)
“We know US schoolchildren are fluoride-overdosed(5). What’s it doing to their bones?” asks Beeber.
More about skeletal fluorosis: http://www.fluoridealert.org/s-fluorosis.htm
and arthritis http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/bone/fluorosis/arthritis/
Contact: Lawyer Paul Beeber, President NYSCOF http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof nyscof@aol.com
Paul Connett, PhD, Emeritus Chemistry Professor and Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network http://www.FluorideAction.Net paul@fluoridealert.org

Australia - Council supports fluoride

An impassioned address by anti-fluoride campaigner Dr John Ryan failed to sway Lismore City councillors at their meeting on Tuesday night, with Council voting down Cr Ros Irwin’s motion to oppose fluoridation.
Dr Ryan travelled from Brisbane with the sole purpose of addressing Council, and a full gallery watched the debate. But it seems councillors’ minds were well and truly made up, with only three councillors – Ros Irwin, Vanessa Ekins and John Chant – voting in favour of the motion.
Lismore and Richmond Valley Councils both support fluoridation, while Ballina Shire and Byron Council remain opposed.

Latest up-date on Southampton PCT request to fluoridate

SCSHA has been asked by Southampton City Primary Care Trust to commission a cost and feasibility study of the implications of fluoridating water supplies for the population living in the Greater Southampton area. It is anticipated that the SCSHA Board will be asked to consider the outcome of that study at a meeting in Spring 2007. Depending on the outcome of the findings of the study the Board will be asked about whether to proceed to public consultation, which would of course involve the public and interested groups.


The Greater Southampton area? Sounds ominious how much greater?

UK - Too much fluoride in body already

Too much fluoride in body already
By Readers' Letter
RE "Bolton needs water fluoride - chief dentist", The Bolton News, October 3.
Bolton needs fluoridated water like a hole in the head.
Fluoride is a cumulative poison, and has never been shown to be an essential element for humans.The first sign of fluoride poisoning is the mottling and staining of developing teeth, known as dental fluorosis.
The NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York carried out a systematic review of research into fluoridation. Reporting in 2000, the scientists found that in fluoridated areas, 48 per cent of children showed some degree of dental fluorosis and 12.5 per cent had dental fluorosis severe enough to be "of concern".Dental fluorosis was also found in non-fluoridated areas, probably because children have a tendency to swallow toothpaste.We must conclude that many children are already receiving too much fluoride without the health authorities forcing them to take more via the public water supply.York found the studies underpinning fluoridation to be of poor quality, and could not draw definite conclusions as to benefit to teeth, effectiveness at reducing dental inequalities, long-term safety or costs.
This year, the US National Research Council has warned of a number of potentially harmful effects of long-term ingestion of fluoride.
There is evidence that increased rates of life-threatening osteosarcoma in young boys and painful, crippling skeletal fluorosis in old age might be the pay-off for this so-called "public health measure".
Elizabeth A McDonagh BSc(Hons), Cert. Ed.
Chairman of National Pure Water Association

USA - The great fluoride fight

Stuart — The great fluoride fight is coming to Martin County later this year.

The county plans to start adding the mineral to its drinking water for its 28,000 customers early next year, almost four years after commissioners voted 4-1 to fluoridate the water. But commissioners voted Tuesday to let supporters of the additive, and opponents who regard it as poison, to argue their case to commissioners at a public hearing before letting the fluoride flow.

"The majority of the e-mails and calls I am getting are against fluoridation," said Commissioner Lee Weberman, who suggested the public debate before the commission continues with its earlier decision to fluoridate. "I personally don't think fluoride is harmful. But do you force something on a percentage of the population that doesn't want it?"

No, you should not. If you go to the newspaper report you can read letters against fluoridation printed below article

USA - Fluoride's future on Nov. 7 ballot

JACKMAN -- After about 35 years of having fluoride added to their drinking water, residents of Jackman and Moose River are being asked whether they want to continue with the tooth decay preventative.
A referendum on the ballot for the Nov. 7 election asks residents: Shall fluoride be added to the public water supply for the intended purpose of reducing tooth decay?

What a mad world to allow it.

Natural Solutions Foundation also submitted comments during this comment period which are critical of US support for the proposed addition of fluoride, a known multi-system toxin and dangerous industrial waste product, to infant formula. Codex' standards and guideline (texts), which govern international trade of food, allow dangerously high levels of many biologically active, toxic compounds (e.g., reintroduction of banned dangerous pesticides, veterinary drugs and synthetic growth hormones) and production techniques which are favored by industry interests. Consumer health and well-being is often significantly compromised by these texts.

For more information, please contact the Natural Solutions Foundation (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org)

USA - “We’re losing our civil liberties every day.”

She described herself as “definitely” against adding fluoride to the city’s drinking water supply.“I’m a holistic person,” she explained. “And I’m really not into co-depending people. Don’t infect our whole water system.”
She believes that it is entirely within the City Council’s purview to address state and national issues, particularly in the current political climate.
“Extreme measures are necessary in extreme times,” she said. “We’re losing our civil liberties every day.”

Australia - Very logical or naive?

Council defends water fluoridation plans
Tuesday, 10 October 2006. 12:43 (AEDT)Tuesday, 10 October 2006. 11:43 (ACST)Tuesday, 10 October 2006. 11:43 (AEST)Tuesday, 10 October 2006. 12:43 (ACDT)Tuesday, 10 October 2006. 09:43 (AWST)
The Lismore City Council says it will still go ahead with plans to add fluoride to the public water supply despite new concerns being raised about the practice.

At a meeting tonight Dr John Ryan of Professionals Against Water Fluoridation will address the council about a number of health issues associated with fluoride.
The Lismore Mayor, Merv King, says he will listen to what the doctor has to say but remains confident.
"The council is doing the right thing," he said. He says all the capital cities of Australia except for Brisbane have fluoridated water and there has been no health crisis. "If there were health risks out there I could imagine the media hoping on to that very quickly and they are not," he said. "There is none of those sort of headlines in the capital cities in the areas where the 90 per cent of our reticulated water does have fluoride in it."

USA - petition

Petition to get rid of fluoride in area water system

Dear Editor:

There are some of us who are very concerned about our town drinking water containing fluoride which is now reported as a dangerous cumulative toxin and a health risk. One can find scientific studies and doctor reports of fluoride causing cancer, etc. by typing in fluoride or water fluoridation to online search engines. You will see that it states, "Fluoride is used in rat poisons, pesticides, nerve gas, etc. It is associated with high rates of birth defects, cancer, immunosuppression, dental and skeletal fluorosis, cause of increased bone fractures, lowers IQ of children; studies on rats caused alterations in the brain similar to Alzheimer's Disease, highly corrosive, etc." We get enough fluoride in toothpastes and other sources (e.g. foods and beverages) that we are ingesting intolerably dangerous levels. It is also costing taxpayers thousands of dollars per year to add. Please sign the petition to take the fluoride out of our drinking water - we are ingesting too many chemicals as it is.Petition papers can be found in Boothbay at the Centah of Attention; in Boothbay Harbor at the Humane Society Thrift Shop; in Southport at the General Store. You may also contact Gwen Salata at 633-4779 or Marie Tupper at 633-4608 to sign or obtain petition papers to help us get signatures.
Marie Tupper
Boothbay Harbor

USA - Candidate Dave Meserve talks progress, regional solutions

As for the recently resurrected argument over adding fluoride to the city’s drinking water supply, he said that the coming public vote is the appropriate way to make that decision. However, he said, “Proponents of Measure W have not suggested alternate ways of delivering fluoride to those who need it, especially the poor and the young. They should’ve had an alternative plan; that was their responsibility.”
Perhaps the most well-known aspect of Meserve’s record — certainly the most vehemently and publicly discussed — includes a number of resolutions he’s introduced, which have called for the impeachment of the president and vice president and the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, among other things.

Sounds a sensible chap.

Australia - Govt's inquiry response hits raw nerve with dentists

Dr Wilson says the Government has refused a recommendation to force councils around the state to add fluoride to drinking water.
"That's one of the ones the Government's just said 'no, we don't agree with that recommendation'," he said.
"So that leaves something like 10 per cent of the New South Wales population without fluoridated water and with a very difficult mechanism there to try and get their areas fluoridated."

So Dr Wilson despairs of the very difficult mechanism to get fluoridation. I'm sure the governement would like to have a despot's power as well to do everything they want without common people having a say.

USA - Bobbi Fleming: Join debate on fluoride

Bobbi Fleming: Join debate on fluoride
With great interest, I read the recent articles in the Grand Ledge Independent and LSJ - "Campaign for fluoride in drinking water takes shape" and "In the water", respectively. I encourage both publications to write more on the fluoride debate in Grand Ledge. Many people are not aware there is a debate. Yet, last month, Prevention Magazine ran "The danger in your water", which revealed a panel of dentists, toxicologists and epidemiologists assembled by the National Research Council determined the level of fluoride allowed in the community drinking water in this country is too high.
What does that mean? I did some digging. While it appears fluoride may keep you from getting a cavity or two, the risk side of the ledger is much longer.
What is fluoride and where does it come from? According to the American Dental Association, fluoride is a naturally occurring element that prevents tooth decay systemically when ingested during tooth development and topically when applied to erupted teeth. Natural? I like natural. But I kept digging. The chemicals used to fluoridate 90 percent of public drinking water are industrial grade hazardous waste captured in the air pollution scrubber systems of the phosphate fertilizer industry - silicofluorides. It is a corrosive liquid more toxic than lead; and like lead accumulates in and can be damaging to the brain. Other health risks linked to fluoride include, but are not limited to, kidney damage, nervous system, heart disease and dental fluorosis (overfluoridation causing white spots, staining, chalky and brittle enamel). The "natural"-occurring fluoride that the ADA talks about is not the fluoride added to the drinking supply.
Now, instead of breathing this pollutant (which by the way is the third most dangerous air pollutant in the country), we can now drink it!
According to my research, dental scientists now concede that fluoride's main benefit comes from applying it to the surface of teeth, as in brushing or mouthwash, not ingesting it. In 1985, the EPA's own scientists internally opposed fluoridation but were overruled.
Fluoride has been sold to us for years as a healthy and necessary mineral. I am not convinced. Check it out for yourself. Google "the fluoride debate." Grand Ledge votes Nov. 7 on whether to add fluorosilicic acid to their drinking water. I urge citizens to join the many countries around the world and many cities across this nation to reject adding toxins to our drinking water.
According to the Grand Ledge 2005 Water Quality Report, the drinking water had .44-.48 milligrams per liter of naturally occurring fluoride. We don't need the other stuff! Oh, and if you think your water filter will remove the fluoride - it won't. The fluoride molecule is smaller than the water molecule and won't be filtered out. Will one glass of fluoridated water kill you? No. Will one cigarette kill you? No. Jump ahead 20-30 years. How's your health?

Martin County debates fluoridated water

By LILY LADEIRA
lily.ladeira@scripps.com
October 8, 2006
STUART — Martin County Commissioner Lee Weberman wants the county to re-examine a decision to add fluoride to its drinking water next year after residents claimed it is a health hazard.
Weberman voted for the measure four years ago because the scientific evidence supported the practice, he said.
"A lot of people in the health care industry say it's good for children's teeth, and in Martin County it was to assist juveniles and children who couldn't get the best dental care. Not everyone has access to dental care," Weberman said.
Weberman began to doubt the health benefits after Pat Arena, a Jensen Beach resident, argued that adding fluoride to tap water can cause cancer and other health problems.

World wide trend.

Time is now for awareness
10/08/2006
Please take a moment today as we make our way through October and head into the holiday months to encourage a woman you know to have a breast exam. One in every eight women will be diagnosed with some form of breast cancer, and that statistic is up from one in 20 in 1960, according to breastcancer.org. How is it that in less than 50 years that number has more than doubled?
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the news just doesn't seem to get any better - even with all of the millions of dollars being raised each year. As many agencies and organizations make plans for raising money for breast cancer awareness, including Montgomery County's own chapter of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Team Norristown, both in today's big event in Philadelphia, we would hope a renewed focus is on the disease, at least during this month. We have and will continue to support every group that makes an effort to raise funds for breast cancer research. Finding a cure for this horrific disease, which, according to the statistics, is increasing instead of being brought under some type of control, is a must. However, we also would like to make a push for research into the cause of the disease. A second look at the numbers above and a quick check of when we started adding fluoride to our water reveals some correlation, at least in terms of timing.

We are simply re-floating a theory that has been out there for years to perhaps refocus some attention on the cause of breast cancer. After all, wouldn't that be the fastest way to finding a cure?
As you're taking a moment to encourage a family member or friend to have that exam, please take another moment to ask whether a cause has ever been determined, and why.

There is all that fluoride in toothpaste as well as fluoridated water. Not sure screening is the answer as that also contributes to breast cancer.

Australia - letters against.

As one of the few rare and unlucky people to be allergic to fluoride, mandatory inlcusion of fluoride in the water system has a real consequence to my daily life. I'm living in Canberra, in a town with compulsory mass medication of fluoride, and due to my allergy, I can't eat anything boiled in the water (eg rice/pasta). I can't drink the water, or anything mixed with the water (ice, post mix), or anything cooked that uses local water (sauces). It's not an easy task to find a safe meal in a town with containminated water. From a selfish point of view, I want the water of Brisbane to still be drinkable, the food edible, and the personal responsibility for my teeth to remain mine. Really, if we won't be trusted to clean our own teeth, what other basic task will the government think we need to be mass-medicated about next?

Posted by: Stephen Dann of Canberra 7:50pm October 07, 2006
Comment 13 of 13

As the Facts behind Fluoridation Waste become Public Knowledge, it will likely become a Health Policy Forever Marking an Embarrassment on Behalf of our Public Health Agencies Lunatics and those Believing their every Word without Independent Follow-Up!!
It Boogles the Mind, as the so-called Health Experts continue, in their Absurd Claims, it's 100% Safe; Dumping a Diluted Toxic Industrial Waste-by Product into the Precous water, or through any other means into the Food Supply! What a Miracle that would be, if that were to be True!!
If People Truly Realized the Connection, between Fluoride and say Arthritis & many other Diseases related to it (what did one expect from a Toxic Sludge?!), they may be able to Sue the Maniacs responsible for it!
Indeed, those Profiting from Selling their Toxic Litter, are the ones who're mainly benefiting from all this with Huge $$$ Profits Involved, so Instead of Paying for it, they get Paid!!!...

Posted by: Joe Engleheart of Melbourne Vic. 6:56pm October 07, 2006
Comment 12 of 13

Pity that Armfield and Spencers most recent research released in August 2006 wasnt included in the article. In that they find that the main cause of high rates of dental decay is lack of access to good dental health programs, dentists and socioeconomic disadvantage. The report was funde by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the researchers found that "at any given age, children from lower socioeconomic areas had more deciduous decay experience than those from higher socioeconomic areas". Their study aligns with a 2004 WHO study conducted in 17 countries that found that children who were educated in good personal dental health practices (brushing, flossing etc) and whose diets did not include an excess of sugary and fatty foods had better teach than those who did not have good dental hygiene and ate sugary and fatty foods. The WHO styudy found that regardless of whether the child lived - fluoridated or unfluoridated water area - good dental hygiene practices and a balanced diet was the key. In short, fluoride has neve been 'proven' to be "Safe and effective". However, there is ample science to show it is, at best, only a marginal factor and at worst has massive negative health outcomes.

Posted by: Shane Elson of Morwell VIC 5:50pm October 07, 2006
Comment 10 of 13

The claim by pediatrician John Peam that "credible studies---suggest increase in dental decay in Qld childrens teeth is due to the fact that they haven't got the correct levels of fluoride in their water." is just that, a claim, no proof, no acceptance of other causes and no quoting of research or credibly/ adequate statistics. What credible studies have been carried out to prove whether the teeth of residents in Townsville, Dalby, Maraba, Moranbah, & Bamaga are any better than in a similar list of towns,- probably none. The ADA Robert McCray should be prepared to give a balanced overview of international research linking fluoride in drinking water with dubious advantage to teeth but with disturbing links to other illnesses, including cancer of the bones. Manditory fluoridation is undemocratic, it is forced medication without informed consent, fluoride is a poison and therefore dangerous. Let's hope the Qld. Government sticks to it's guns and 'mandates" fluoridation only where there is "informed public discussion" as proposed by Peter Forster, followed by referendum as in Warwick.

Posted by: Harry Kilminster of Wangaratta Vic. 4:51pm October 07, 2006
Comment 9 of 13

I see Porter Novelli have been handing out the publicity material for the Chemical companies again? With most people now drinking spring water or having tanks and with the restrictions we have on reticulated water due to lack of availability, when is someone in the media going to wake up to this con and expose it for what it is? The "medical evidence" in support of fluoridation only seems to exist in the minds of the spin "doctors" employed to sell this chemical to Councils. If you'd like to do a bit of investigative journalism, why not see who supplies this info to the Dental Association and who employs them. The company named above appears with monotonous regularity; hardly "medical evidence" in my opinion and that of a lot of others.

Posted by: A Smith of Hervey Bay 3:11pm October 07, 2006
Comment 8 of 13

Qld ADA president Robert McCray wants the Beattie Government to forcibly fluoridate the drinking water of all Queenslanders(7.10.06). Dr McCray says the evidence stands right behind his claim that it works. How could he be so out of touch with reality.

Due to strong doubts about safety and effectiveness, countries throughout Europe like Holland, Sweden, Austria, Finland and Germany do not fluoridate their water. Yet the evidence shows they have better dental health than Australians. The Dutch government ceased fluoridation after medical researchers showed people were getting sick drinking fluoridated water.

Given the recent USA studies also showing toxic effects of fluoride on bones, endocrine system ( particularly the thyroid gland) and teeth, it is clear fluoride in our water could actually be making our health a lot worse.

But it is not just Queensland that has been awake enough to avoid getting fluoridated. In my Victorian hometown of Geelong we have long been aware of the toxic effects of fluoride as Geelong industry supplies the industry fluoride by-product sent to other cities and put in drinking water. So we have certainly made sure this cocktail of fertilizer waste with its fluoride, arsenic, cadmium and lead is not going into our drinking water.

So wake up Dr McRay and wake up Australia. The time for this obsolete idea has finally come and gone.

Philip Robertson BHSc ND Carmoora Clinic Geelong Victoria 3220

Posted by: Philip Robertson of Geelong 12:20pm October 07, 2006
Comment 7 of 13

No Government has the right to medicate members of the public without the individuals concent. Make flouride tablets freely available to all citizens who wish to take them and please leave the rest of us alone.

ian smith ( Health professional)

Posted by: ian smith of Mt Fox 11:33am October 07, 2006
Comment 6 of 13

Objection. Human beings need to be more cautious about making any change to the nature. The water we drink is part of the nature though fluoride is added to the water supplied.

Posted by: Linda Ni 8:03am October 07, 2006
Comment 5 of 13

Get tablets or drops from your chemist but think about those who can't have it. Most water filters won't remove it, so what happens to those people? Are they forced to buy distilled water for the rest of their lives. If you want it you can have it but don't force medication on everyone.

Posted by: Annette Reid of gold coast 7:39am October 07, 2006
Comment 4 of 13

When do we want it,,,NOW............ Never had a problem with my teeth,until I moved to Brisbane 20 years ago,from Townsville...

Posted by: Bill Grieve of Enoggera 6:27am October 07, 2006
Comment 3 of 13

Study shows fluoride lowered the levels of dental decay, but maybe another problems turned up by the fluoride (or will later) but they were out of the field of the study. We have fluoride in the toothpaste, do we really need to drink it? How can we "set up" the demanded daily level from it?

Posted by: Laslo Bezdan 5:05am October 07, 2006
Comment 2 of 13

I must admit to having strong reservations about adding flouride to our water. For a start, why would we add a listed, high ranking poison to our dwindling water supplies? Also, as we actually drink only about 1 percent of the water we use, I wonder what else in our susceptible environment would be affected by the added fouride? Last, I would like a choice on this issue as we already have the option of buying tootpaste with added flouride, why do we need to take more of it, without option, in our tap water?

Please let's have less populist science on this one more common sense. Look at Europe, why don't they do it?

Posted by: Mervyn Hyde of currently in New York 3:04am October 07, 2006
Comment 1 of 13

Something to think about.

Toothpaste
Dental decay and gum disease are widespread these days and affect more than just the mouth: gum disease is linked to heart problems, and there are stronger risks of strokes, osteoporosis, respiratory diseases and diabetes. Several of the active ingredients on toothpastes are apparently worrying. Widely used industrial strength detergent sodium lauryl sulphate is a suspected gastro-intestinal or liver poison, mouth ulcers could occur. Abrasives in toothpaste, such as silica, are also potentially harmful but the most controversial ingredient in toothpaste is fluoride, which many people mistakenly believe protects the teeth. An alternative theory is that fluoride is actually a poison, causing allergic-type reactions and is a suspect in many illnesses including bone problems, diabetes, thyroid malfunctions and bone impairment. It would be healthier to concentrate more on buying a better toothbrush, use a low-fluoride paste and brush for longer.

Floss
There have been problems with some holistic dentists concerning modern dental floss, which may be contaminated with mercury-containing antiseptics. Some flosses are also coated with flavourings derived from petrochemicals and waxes of petrochemical origin.
Mouthwash
Said to fight plaque, strengthen teeth, combat tooth decay and freshen the breath, in addition to killing germs. Mouthwashes are a complex mix of chemicals that in the long term could do more harm than good. They may also contain alcohol, which could cause an increased risk of throat and mouth cancers because the pH of the mouth will be changed, stripping away the protective mucus membrane of the mouth and throat. Make your own mouthwash by adding a couple of drops of peppermint oil or sage tincture to a cup of water.

Scientists say fluoridation supported?

Over 110 international and national organizations recognize the public health benefits of community water fluoridation for preventing dental decay, but that has not stifled public debate that is taking place in Arcata as citizens ponder the fate of Measure W. The initiative would remove flouride from the city’s water unless it is specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which currently has no regulatory responsibility for municipal drinking water.

That's telling them

I see Porter Novelli have been handing out the publicity material for the Chemical companies again? With most people now drinking spring water or having tanks and with the restrictions we have on reticulated water due to lack of availability, when is someone in the media going to wake up to this con and expose it for what it is? The "medical evidence" in support of fluoridation only seems to exist in the minds of the spin "doctors" employed to sell this chemical to Councils. If you'd like to do a bit of investigative journalism, why not see who supplies this info to the Dental Association and who employs them. The company named above appears with monotonous regularity; hardly "medical evidence" in my opinion and that of a lot of others.

Posted by: A Smith of Hervey Bay

Click title to see original report that led to this letter

Palm Beach - rethinks fluoride amid health angst

Martin rethinks fluoride amid health angst
By Jason Schultz

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 07, 2006
STUART — After weeks of appeals from residents, Martin County commissioners on Tuesday will discuss whether they want to revisit their decision three years ago to inject fluoride into the county's drinking water.

Commissioners voted 4-1 in March 2003 to start fluoridating water. But because it took time to get grants and hire a contractor to build the injection system, the county doesn't plan to start putting fluoride into the drinking water at its Jensen Beach and Tropical Farms water plants until early next year, Utilities Director John Polley said.

Reliably measure free fluoride concentration

Employing a fluoride sensitive ion selective electrode (ISE) sensor, ATi's novel A15/82 fluoride monitor provides dependable measurements of fluoride down to 0.1ppm and as high as 1000ppm. A chemistry module offers sample conditioning for the sensor while the measured fluoride concentration is displayed on a separate electronics module that has been equipped with alarm and analogue output functions. Fluoride is widely added to drinking water systems to help prevent tooth decay.

Optimum fluoride levels of around 1ppm are safe for human health, but concentrations above 2ppm are considered excessive and need to be detected as early as possible.

Therefore, monitoring of final fluoride concentrations is absolutely essential in order to identify any overfeed problems.

Loss of chemical feed can also be detected quickly and reliably with on-line fluoride monitoring.
Does this mean that other older systems in use are not reliable?

Dont blame sugar - according to The Sugar Association

Child Health Month: The Real Truth About Sugar and Child Nutrition
Thursday October 5, 5:20 am ET
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- October is Child Health Month, making this the perfect time to clarify some facts about kids' health and what they eat. When it comes to a healthy diet, concerns about kids and sugar consumption are disproportionate to current findings.

The prevailing reaction of "blame sugar first" is based more in myth than with sound medical science, according to The Sugar Association. This article aims to separate facts from folklore. If you have children you'll want to read on.

Myth #1: Sugar causes

At the Southampton PCT meeting when they voted for fluoridation to be put on the agenda one committee member said that coming from a deprived third world background one thing they took for granted was sound healthy teeth. Admitting it is diet that was the cause.

USA - ``silent epidemic"

The silent epidemic in our mouths
By Kathy O'Loughlin | October 6, 2006
IT HAS BEEN six years since the US surgeon general issued a warning about the ``silent epidemic" of oral disease and urged us to recognize oral health as a critical component of overall health. Despite the call to action in the nation's first-ever report card on the oral health of Americans, dental disease remains the most common, chronic disease of childhood -- affecting five times more children than asthma.It doesn't have to be this way. By working to expand access to important preventive measures such as dental screenings and sealant programs in community settings, we can eliminate oral disease in thousands of children and adults.
Dental disease is caused by bacterial infection in the mouth. The effects of dental decay are serious and can be permanent. In children and adults, decay, pain, and infection can inhibit learning, speech, and eating, leading to problems in school and on the job, negative self-image, and poor nutrition.
Oral infection in children is a harbinger of future dental disease, and chronic oral infections are associated with an array of problems later in life, including heart and lung disease, diabetes, stroke, and premature births. The costs can be calculated not only in debilitating pain and suffering, but in the more than 51 million school hours and 164 million work hours that are lost each year because of oral health problems.
What is tragic is that these costs do not need to be borne. We have made great progress in our understanding of oral disease -- to the point where it is almost entirely preventable today. Together we can prevent this widespread disease.
As a first step, we need to ensure that children have

Correct diet and brushing teeth, not fluoride, is the answer

USA - Fluoride foes have enough signatures on petitions

Fluoride foes have enough signatures on petitions
October 5th, 2006 - 5:50am

(Port Angeles) -- Two initiative petitions aimed at stopping adding fluoride in the Port Angeles water system have enough valid signatures. The city forwarded the petitions on to the auditor. The auditor's office reportedly found more than the required 16-hundred signatures to validate the petitions. It's still not clear if voters will get a look at the measures in the upcoming general election. The city is seeking a judge's opinion that the proposals may go beyond the legal realm of the city's new initiative process. Petition supporters are also turning to the courts to put the issue in front of voters. "Our Water - Our Choice" seeks to have the Medical Independence Act put in place for the city. It would prohibit the "medication" of people through drinking water. "Protect Our Waters" wants the Water Additives Safety Act adopted. It would prohibit introduction of anything into the water supply unless it is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

USA - The Danger In Your Water

The Danger In Your Water
Timothy Gower
c. 2006 Rodale Press Inc.
Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate
Photo: Rina Castelnuovo/The New York Times)
If the fluoride concentration in your community water is more than 2 ppm, the CDC recommends finding an alternative source of drinking water for children ages 8 or younger to reduce their risk of dental fluorosis. The best alternative: bottled water to which no fluoride has been added -- it will say on the label. However, to be doubly sure, you'll have to contact the bottler.
One fall day in 2004, Lea Anne Burke got a call from a neighbor. Had she heard that the city council was talking about adding fluoride to their water supply in Snohomish, Wash.? For years, the northern end of town had received fluoridated water from the nearby city of Everett. But nonfluoridated water from the Pilchuck River ran through pipes on the south side of Snohomish, where Burke, her husband, and their two little girls live.
Burke, 33, is a soccer mom and vice president of the local PTA. She studied environmental science in college and learned enough about fluoride to be convinced that she didn't want it flowing from the taps in her home. She won't even let her family brush with fluoride toothpaste. So Burke joined a small group of citizens who, last year, persuaded the city council to abandon its plan to fluoridate the water.

Very long article

Keep Fluoride Out of Infant Formula

"Keep Fluoride Out of Infant Formula" Natural Solutions Foundation Tells FDA, Codex Alimentarius
Natural Solutions Foundation, a leading global health and health freedom advocacy group, urged the FDA and the US Codex Office to oppose Codex regulations permitting the addition of fluoride to infant formula. Flouride, a toxic by-product of the mining industry and potent pesticide, causes IQ loss, cancer, bone disease, kidney failure and increases the impact of lead on the brain. US policy supports Codex Alimentarius in its proposal to add fluoride to infant formula despite its dangers.

Australia - fight against fluoridation goes on.

Opponents of fluoride plan rally
BY DI THOMAS
ORGANISERS are hoping thousands of people will attend a water fluoridation protest rally to be held in Wodonga on October 14.
Fluoride Education Awareness Team president Marilyn Edgar urged those 5000 Wodonga residents who have signed the team’s petition calling for a binding referendum on fluoridation to attend the rally, which will be held in Woodland Grove from 10am.
“We need to make more impact and we need to show the Government that we mean what we say,” Ms Edgar said.“They are ignoring us so far.They have told us they will not hold a binding referendum and they will not consult with the community.By Christmas I can’t see why we can’t have 6000 signatures on the petition and we are asking people who haven’t yet signed it to come along to the rally.”
Ms Edgar said even if fluoridation of water supplies to Wodonga and five smaller North East towns went ahead in February, protesters wouldn’t let up in their campaign.“Civil disobedience is always at our disposal when the Government fails to acknowledge people’s concerns,” she said.
Ms Edgar said she had already notified North East Water that she would be deferring all payments of her water bills until she had recouped the cost of installing a reverse osmosis water filter and the ongoing operation costs of the filter on her own water supply.
“If enough people joined us in our action they couldn’t take us to court,” she said.
Ms Edgar said following 12 months of continued requests by the community for consultation about the advantages and disadvantages of water fluoridation, Wodonga residents were still waiting for open and face-to-face consultation with either the Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike or the state’s chief medical officer Dr Robert Hall.
“No reasonable responses have been received to date, only the old and inaccurate speech which claims water fluoridation is both safe and effective even though there are plenty of scientific reports which prove the dangers of water fluoridation,” she said.Ms Edgar said among the speakers at the October 14 rally would be Nationals’ candidate for Benambra, Bill Baxter.She said the State Government’s inaction had made fluoridation a political issue and she believed it should be addressed by local candidates.

EXACTLY who is responsible for our health?

Oct 2 2006
Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail
A special Citizens' Jury will this week start to consider the wider issues of who is responsible for our health. Health Editor Madeleine Brindley met a panel of experts to discuss whether that responsibility rests with the individual, with the NHS, or somewhere in between

Long article you may like to read

Australia - Rally planned to oppose Wodonga fluoridation

Rally planned to oppose Wodonga fluoridation
2 October 2006. 10:37 (AWST)
A campaign against the fluoridation of Wodonga's water supply will take to the street and rally on Saturday week.
The Fluoride Education Awareness Team is against the Victorian Government's plan to add fluoride to the city's water in February. The team has already collected a petition with 5,000 signatures. Team president Marilyn Edgar wants Wodonga residents to rally on October 14 for a referendum on the issue. But she says the group also has other ideas."If the Government continue to ignore the people's wishes we have a duty to prevent it happening in any way we can," she said."We can't physically stop them from putting it in, but what we could do is possibly defer payments of water bills until there is enough money owing so we buy a reverse osmosis water filter."

HEALTHY EATING HABITS

(HealthNewsDigest.com).. To incorporate healthy eating habits into your current lifestyle you don’t have to turn your life upside down, and give up all your favorite foods. On the contrary, people who make drastic changes, rarely maintain them for long. Small, constant changes have a more lasting effect. Here are 10 healthy eating habits. Try them. If you adopt even just a few, you’ll make a positive impact on your overall health. (Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN, Food and Nutrition Columnist - HealthNewsDigest.com)

Seems sensible - worth reading

The Brushing for Life initiative

Better Oral Hygiene For Children

Teeth Brushing Habit
Families with young children are being encouraged to get into the habit of brushing their children's teeth regularly.
The Brushing for Life initiative, launched by Health Minister Rosie Winterton at the Appleby health centre in the London Borough of Newham, will see health visitors and health care professionals distribute free Brushing for Life packs to families with young children when they visit their local health centre.
The packs contain a Colgate toothpaste, toothbrush and a leaflet on oral hygeine. The staff will also provide advice about caring for children's teeth.
Launching the initiative, Rosie Winterton said, 'Thanks to the introduction of fluoride toothpaste and better oral health education, there have been major improvements in oral health. However, behaviour we learn as children on diet and dental hygiene lasts all our lives.
That is why it is so important that children learn to look after their teeth well when they are young. Learning the importance of brushing your teeth well when you are young means you are less likely to suffer from bad oral health when you are older, and that is what these kits are designed to do.'

"GOVT. MUST PROVE FLUORIDATION BENEFICIAL"

Green Health Watch mag. Supplement to edition 30. Received on 30.9.06
"GOVT. MUST PROVE FLUORIDATION BENEFICIAL" (slightly shortened)
If your Area Health Authority (AHA) wants to fluoridate & you wish to oppose it, part of your campaign should be in court. It appears that because of Directive 2004/27/EC of the European Parliament & of the Council of 31 March 04 amending Directive 2001/83/EC:-
Adding fluoride or silicofluorides to water on the grounds they improve dental health makes the water a medicine.
Medicines may not be given until both their claimed benefit & safety have been proven. The burden of proof of benefit & safety falls on the AHA & the UK DoH. You do not need to prove harm. However, you can quote:
Prof. Vyvyan Howard, toxicopathlogist in the Centre for Molecular Bioscience at Ulster University "I'm glad that there now appears to be a legal framework to test the dubious practice of mass medication via the water supply. There are so many unanswered questions relating to the addition of hexafluorosilicic acid to the water supply, particularly to the unborn & infants, that it is my personal & professional opinion that the practice should cease until the basic toxicological resarch required has been performed.
(11980) Alliance for Natural Health.
greenwatch@btinternet.com website: www.greenhealthwatch.com
Ann