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UK Against Fluoridation

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

International Society for Fluoride Research.

FLUORIDATED BOTTLED WATER

SUMMARY: The recent health claim notification for fluoridated bottled water provisionally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration is shown to be scientifically unsound except for the exclusion of the use of such water by infants. Water fluoridation was introduced on a trial (or “demonstration”) basis in the 1940s and later widely promoted by health authorities as a viable dental public health measure that would significantly help prevent tooth decay. At the time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not rule on claims for its safety or
effectiveness. Instead, the FDA took the position that water fluoridation did not come under its purview but fell under the aegis of the US Public Health Service (USPHS).1 Later, in the 1970s, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) became responsible for regulating fluoridation, and afterward the US Centers for Disease Control actively encouraged and promoted it. Endorsements of fluoridation by various dental and medical officials and groups like the World
Health Organization and other professional bodies are based largely on the original approvals by public health authorities.1 Recently, the FDA, in the centennial year of its origin in 1906, reversed its previous position and, on October 14, 2006, issued a Health Claim Notification for
Fluoridated Water and Reduced Risk of Dental Caries.2 With this document the FDA approved by default after 120 days a health claim notification filed on June 16 by the law firm of Covington and Burling to allow marketing in the United States of bottled drinking water containing sodium fluoride at a level of 0.6 to 1.0 ppm total fluoride with a label claiming: “Drinking fluoridated water may reduce the risk of [dental caries or tooth decay].” In support of this action, the FDA accepted and relied on the Covington and Burling health claim notification that cited as its authority three government documents: Recommendations for Using Fluoride to Prevent and Control Dental Caries in the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control (2001), Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (2000), and Review of Fluoride: Benefits and Risks by the USPHS (1991). However, even along with its approval, the FDA admitted that this health claim notification is open to further review and possible litigation.2 Surprisingly, the
notification failed to cite the recent comprehensive, 367-page March 22, 2006 report of the National Research Council of the US National Academy of Sciences, Fluoride in Drinking Water, prepared at the request of the EPA and which, by law, should have been consulted by the FDA. As a matter of fact, far from supporting the endorsements of fluoridation noted above, and three years in the making, with over a thousand references to the primary literature, the NRC report included a large amount of recent well-documented evidence of adverse health effects of
fluoride in drinking water at or close to 1 ppm or even lower concentrations.3 Among these findings are disturbing increases in disfiguring dental fluorosis, stage I skeletal fluorosis including arthritic joint pain and stiffness, depressed thyroid function, gastrointestinal irritation, and detrimental neurological effects. Editorial Fluoride 39(4)252–254 October-December 2006
Fluoridated bottled water Burgstahler 253 253
Just after the NRC report was released, a new study showing a “robust” association of fluoridated water with osteosarcoma in young boys appeared.4 Since the NRC report was prominently discussed in the news media and had been available online for over six months before publication of the October 14 health claim notification, the failure of the FDA even to mention the report is an inexcusable example of its failure to exercise legally required due diligence. Also very troubling about this recent FDA action is that there apparently has never been a formal review by the FDA for any pharmaceutical use of sodium fluoride (NaF), let alone in drinking water, either for health safety or as a cariespreventive agent. The reason given by the FDA for this failure to require testing of NaF by clinical trials is that it was in use prior to the 1938 law requiring testing for human safety and was simply grandfathered in. Before 1938, NaF was used only experimentally in humans (e.g., to treat hyperthyroidism) but was marketed as a pesticide for roaches and ants and as a rodenticide. How can one take seriously an agency that deems the prior use of NaF as a rat poison is reason enough not to test it for harmful effects in humans, especially for its use in vitamin-mineral dietary supplements? FDA acquiescence in the use of NaF and other forms of fluoride in toothpaste was similar. Only since April 7 1997, has the FDA required a printed warning on all fluoridated toothpaste sold in the USA: “Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age.” The warning continues: “If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional assistance or contact a poison control center immediately.”
Since the amount of water individuals drink is variable, the amount of fluoride ingested from fluoridated bottled water also varies and can easily be in the toxic range swallowed from “more than used for brushing” the teeth. Moreover, the FDA in its health claim notification also states that fluoridated bottled water “is not intended for use on bottled water products specifically marketed for use by infants.” 2 The FDA therefore tacitly recognizes that fluoridated bottled water is toxic to infants, in agreement with the fact that the complete, balanced nutrition from a mother’s milk, which contains only 0.01 ppm F or less, ordinarily produces healthy, decay-free teeth. Evidently prompted by this portion of the FDA health claim notification, and also citing the NRC report3 (but denying the existence of harm from 1-ppm fluoridated water other than dental fluorosis), the American Dental Association has recently issued an Interim Guidance on Reconstituted Infant Formula, November 9, 2006: Infants, Formulas and Fluoride www.ADA.org) in which parents and caregivers are urged to use “water that has no fluoride or low levels of fluoride” when preparing a baby formula that needs water to be added to it.
A further concern is the fact that both recent and older dental research provides little support for government agency claims for a significant anti-caries effect of fluoride in drinking water in permanent dentition. Thus, as Mark Diesendorf points out in this issue of Fluoride,5 decay of permanent teeth where nonfluoridated water is used is not significantly greater than where fluoridated water is used. Earlier independent large-scale studies, especially in Japan and
India, also indicate that cavity rates can actually be lower with less rather than more natural fluoride in the drinking water.6,7 Adequate intake of calcium, along with other important tooth nutrients, which today are often still deficient among children, even in developed countries, is far more important for caries resistance than exposure to fluoride.8,9
An inescapable cardinal principle of sound science is that pertinent research should never be disregarded,10,11 as the FDA has evidently done here. By ignoring a detailed, well-documented review of the relevant literature conducted by the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the FDA has not lived up to its mandate to make use of a review of that type in promulgating a highly disputable health claim notification. For the FDA to give a green light to very questionable health claims about fluoridated drinking water at a time when recent research shows that such water may lead to the death of young males from osteosarcoma
takes its long-time failure to recognize and publicize serious adverse health effects
of 1-ppm fluoride in water to a new low. This indifference flies in the face of scientific integrity and can only foster misplaced trust in faulty official thinking.12 Unfortunately, erroneous health claims for fluoridated water have far-reaching and even devastating consequences.
To various correspondents I am most grateful for suggestions in preparing this editorial.
Albert W Burgstahler, PhD
Editor, Fluoride
REFERENCES
1 Waldbott GL, Burgstahler AW, McKinney HL. Fluoridation: The Great Dilemma, Chapters 14–16.Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press; 1978.

2 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Health Claim Notification for Fluoridated Water and Reduced Risk of Dental Caries. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements, October 14, 2006.

3 Doull J, Boekelheide K, Farishian BG, Isaacson RL, Klotz JB, Kumar JB, Limeback H, Poole C, Puzas JE, Reed N-MR, Thiessen KM, Webster TF, Committee on Fluoride in Drinking Water, Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Division of Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies. Fluoride in drinking water: a scientific review of EPA’s standards. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2006. For analysis and comment, see Carton RJ. Review of the 2006 United States National Research Council Report: Fluoride in drinking water.
Fluoride 2006;39:163-72.

4 Bassin EB, Wypij D, Davis RB. Age-specific fluoride exposure in drinking water and osteosarcoma (United States). Cancer Causes Control 2006;17:421-8.

5 Diesendorf M. In Discussion: Response to Criticism. Fluoride 2006;39(4)326-30.

6 Imai Y. Relation between fluoride concentration in drinking water and dental caries in Japan. Koku Eisei Gakkai Zasshi 1972;22(2):144-96. [Abstracted in Fluoride 1973;6(4):248-51]

7 Ray SK, Ghosh S, Tiwari IC, Nagchaudhuri J, Kaur P, Reddy DCS. An epidemiological study of caries and its relationship with the fluoride content of drinking water in rural communities near Varanasi.Indian J Prev Soc Med 1981;12(3):154-8. [Abstracted in Fluoride 1983;16(1):69]

8 Teotia SPS, Teotia M. Dental caries: a disorder of high fluoride and low dietary calcium interactions (30 years of personal research). Fluoride 1994;27:59-66.

9 Cf. ref. 1 above, Ch. 19, pp. 377-9.

10 Spittle B. Fluoridation promotion by scientists in 2006: an example of “tardive photopsia” [editorial]. Fluoride 2006;39(3):157-62.

11 Burgstahler AW, Limeback H. Retreat of the fluoride-fluoridation paradigm [editorial]. Fluoride 2004;37(4):239-42.

12 Krook LP, Connett P, Burgstahler AW. Misplaced trust in official reports [book review editorial of Weinstein LH, Davison AW. Fluorides in the Environment. Oxford: CABI; 2004]. Fluoride 2004;37(3):147-50.

NZ - Fluoridation bid fails

Fluoridation bid fails again
31.01.2007
By HOHEPA WALKER
A plea to Te Arawa to put pressure on the Rotorua District Council to fluoridate the district's water supply has been unsuccessful.
Bay of Plenty Medical Officer of Health Dr Phil Shoemack says Taupo children aged 5 to intermediate school age have 20 per cent less tooth decay than those in Rotorua because the water they drink is fluoridated.
In Tauranga, children's dental health has worsened since fluoridation was stopped, he has told members of the Rotorua District Council's Te Arawa Standing Committee. He sought the committee's support for fluoridation but committee members voted for the status quo, which is not to fluoridate the city's water supply.
Dr Shoemack cited figures from 2001 Lakes District Health Board Dental Service data which showed that across schools of all deciles, more Taupo children were decay-free than Rotorua children, who also had more decayed, missing or filled teeth. The average difference in dental health was about 20 per cent better for Taupo children.
Dr Shoemack had hoped the Te Arawa Standing Committee would accept fluoridation was needed to improve the dental health of Rotorua children and would try to persuade the Rotorua District Council the city's water supply should be fluoridated in the interests of public health. However, the committee voted against accepting the recommendation.

Dr Shoemack said only Whakatane, Taupo and Turangi had fluoridated water. Dental health figures for Tauranga, which had fluoridated water until 1992, clearly showed an increase in tooth decay since fluoride was removed.

Late last year Dr Shoemack made the same presentation to Te Ropu Hauora o Te Arawa, a consultative group on Maori health attached to the Lakes District Health Board. While the Maori health group could not be contacted for comment yesterday, Dr Shoemack said it had accepted his recommendations.
"They particularly saw a need for Maori children to have it [fluoride]," he said.
Rotorua mayor Kevin Winters, chairman for the Te Arawa Standing Committee, said although the debate about fluoridation was a contentious one, it was not new. Despite the data in support, ultimately the decision to fluoridate Rotorua's water supply was outside the scope of local council and should be decided at central government level, he said.
"I will be writing to the minister of health as I did last year to put it to them that this issue is one for the Government to decide."
Councillor Bob Martin supported Mr Winter's stance. "I would hate to make a decision like that. "Who are we to decide on what's best for the people of Rotorua?"
Dr Shoemack told the Te Arawa Standing Committee fluoride had been well investigated and confirmed as being safe for all age groups and the Ministry of Health provided a 100 per cent subsidy for equipment needed to add fluoride to water supplies.
There was no evidence of health risk from the levels of contaminants in commercially available fluoride products.

There should not be any contaminants - and do they look

USA - Say no to those who say no to those who say no

Just say 'no' to fluoride foes
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 1:10 AM EST
Like a child who won't take no for an answer, fluoride foes in North Attleboro have gotten petulant in their demands.
There is a simple solution to their latest tantrum: Just say "no."
Foes including board of health member Diane Battistello last week went before the board of selectmen with a deal: The health board would agree to drop a lawsuit against the town's department of public works which seeks a halt to fluoridation. In exchange, the town would agree to stop fluoridating the town's water supply.
That's not a deal. That's extortion, and selectmen rightly dismissed it.
Battistello added insult to injury by suggesting that fluoridation of the water was a public health crisis, comparing it to raw sewage.
"This is a health concern," Battistello told selectmen. "If there were raw sewage flowing in the street you wouldn't ask the voters whether we should clean it up. You'd just want us to go and out and stop it."
Comparing the addition of one part per million of fluoride in town water to "raw sewage flowing in the street" is a slap in the face to the 6,778 North Attleboro voters who decided in November 2000 that they WANTED fluoridation. The wide margin of victory - 59 to 41 percent in an election that drew the town's highest turnout in more than a decade - was an indication that the voters didn't believe fluoride foes' scare tactics, that they wanted North Attleboro to join the growing majority of communities enjoying the benefits of fluoridation.

There is no "health concern." Leading health authorities, as they have for more than half a century, continue to support fluoridation. For example:

AMERICAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION: "The Association endorses community water fluoridation as a safe, beneficial and cost-effective public health measure for preventing dental caries."

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: "Fluoridation safely and inexpensively benefits both children and adults by effectively preventing tooth decay, regardless of socioeconomic status or access to care. Fluoridation has played an important role in the reductions in tooth decay (40-70 percent in children) and of tooth loss in adults (40-60 percent)."

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: "The AMA recognizes the important public health benefits of drinking properly fluoridated water and encourages its member physicians and medical societies to work with local and state health departments, dental societies, and concerned citizens to assure the optimal fluoridation of community drinking water supplies."

SURGEON GENERAL RICHARD H. CARMONA: "I join previous Surgeons General in acknowledging the continuing public health role for community water fluoridation in enhancing the oral health of all Americans."

Because of the wide margin of victory in 2000 and because leading health authorities continue to support fluoridation, selectmen should also reject Chairman John Rhyno's well-meaning proposal to put the issue back on the ballot as a way of resolving the question once and for all. This is simply a way to appease the foes, who, like petulant children, will never be satisfied unless they get their way.

However, there is no indication that fluoride is doing anything but helping public health in North Attleboro. And there is no evidence that the public at large has changed its mind since 2000.

Selectmen should just say "no" to the wailing of a handful of fluoride foes and follow the wishes of the nearly 7,000 voters who want fluoridation.

You can add comments to the article in the paper

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Canada - Is fluoride safe?

Is fluoride safe?
CAROLE CLINCH
(Jan 30, 2007)
As Dr. Gifford-Jones writes in his column of Jan. 19, Fluoride May Do More Harm Than Good, I too had believed what I was told - that fluoride use had no risks but it definitely prevented cavities. After reviewing over 1,000 research papers on the risks and benefits of fluoride I'm left with two haunting impressions: the benefits have been grossly overstated, and the risks have been ignored.
Fluoride is ubiquitous. It is in our water, our food and in the air. It is in the toothpaste, mouthwash and topical applications used by dentists.
But is all this fluoride actually good for us? Is fluoride essential to our health? What potential harm can it do to, say, thyroid function, our bones, our teeth, pineal function (melatonin, our sleep hormone), kidney and diabetes patients, the very young and the elderly? Does the public have the right to know and understand the risks involved in fluoridation?
Dr. Hardy Limeback, associate professor and head of preventive dentistry at the University of Toronto, is making a concerted effort to explain why he is opposed to water fluoridation to the dentists that he once taught. An April 25, 1999 article in the Toronto Star quoted Limeback as saying: "Children under three should never use fluoridated toothpaste. Or drink fluoridated water. And baby formula must never be made up using (fluoridated) Toronto tap water. Never."
Can the City of Waterloo prove that fluoridating water is causing no harm? Can the city prove fluoridation is providing any benefit? Until these important issues of risk and benefit are resolved with credible evidence, the city should not be fluoridating water.
Carole Clinch
Waterloo

Interest to holidaymakers

Fluoride millions to make water safer
Work to improve the quality of drinking water in the zones of Tenerife affected by excessive fluoride content will account for almost four million of the 12 million euros the island’s water council has earmarked for general improvements to the network this year.
There are problems in Adeje, Icod and the upper reaches of Buenavista and Acentejo (this last includes parts of La Victoria, La Matanza, Santa Úrsula and El Sauzal). In all these places running water is not fit for human consumption owing to its high fluoride levels, according to the council.

UK - Letter

Education not mass fluoridation
By Readers' Letter
AS a resident of a fluoridated area - the West Coast of Cumbria -I was concerned to learn about the proposals to introduce water fluoridation to Bolton.
I have two children whose teeth, and possibly health, have been damaged by excess fluoride (dental fluorosis). This motivated me to join with many others locally who oppose the use of this chemical in our drinking water.
Approximately 50 per cent of the fluoride taken in each day is deposited in the skeleton and remains there for life. High, long-term accumulation can cause the bones to deteriorate.
We requested our local Health Authority to undertake the simple 24-hour test which would determine the level of fluoride intake in the local population they refused We raised funds to finance tests for 30 local people. Of those who were taking no steps to control their fluoride intake (avoiding tea and fluoridated toothpaste), we found most exceeded a daily intake of 3mg/l.

Our water company had issued a public health document on water fluoridation which stated, "Higher concentrations between 3mg/l and 6mg/l can lead to skeletal fluorosis" (breakdown of skeleton).
All our appeals to our Health Authorities to behave responsibly and undertake tests and research into the daily introduction of 55kg of hexafluorosilic acid into our local water have been ignored.
It is disturbing that myths concerning fluoridation continue to be peddled when the Government's own independent scientific enquiry in 2000 found high levels of dental fluorosis (excess fluoride) in children living in fluoridated areas. Their advice, which has been ignored by the dental lobby and health authorities, was to undertake effective research before extending the use of water fluoridation.
I would advise others to explore the concerns and issues about fluoride before allowing the use of this chemical in their water.
Dianne Standen, High Street, Maryport, Cumbria

NYSCOF

Give Kids Their Smiles Back -- Stop Fluoridation
NEW YORK, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One day a year, dentists country-wide celebrate "Give-Kids-A-Smile" day, (GKAS), with much self- promotion and merchandising. This year it's February 2. But for the rest of the year, most dentists refuse children on Medicaid or other government- sponsored insurance (1). Instead, dentistry promotes water fluoridation to remedy tooth decay disparities between haves and have-nots. Unfortunately, that's failing: New York State Department of Health statistics(2) illustrate fluoridation's inability to equalize cavity rates between low and high socio- economic-status (SES) third-graders, and that fluoridation and tooth decay rates are not inversely related(3) See chart:
http://www.freewebs.com/fluoridation/chart.htm For example, non-fluoridated Nassau, Suffolk and Rockland Counties' third- graders decay rates: 50%, 54% and 46%, respectively. In slightly fluoridated Albany County 38% have cavities. Highly fluoridated NYS Counties include Monroe, Erie, Chemung, Broome, Wayne and Jefferson. Third-graders decay rates: 56%, 59%, 55%, 63%, 66%, 66% and 69%, respectively.
Despite fluoridated water reaching about 3/4 of New Yorkers, 54% of third- graders have cavities and more untreated decay than third-graders
nationally (33% vs 26%). Only one-fourth of NYS dentists submitted Medicaid claims(4). Third-graders in 100% fluoridated New York City had more untreated cavities (38%) than their state and national counterparts(4). Before organized dentistry became fluoride fixated, a 1950 Connecticut study, before fluoridation, clearly linked more fruit, vegetable and milk consumption to less cavities(5). Dentist Weston Price reported a similar correlation world-wide in his 1938 book, "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration." Today Connecticut mandates fluoridation. Yet 48% of 4-year-olds suffer untreated cavities(6) partially because 85% of dentists won't or can't treat patients with low-paying government-sponsored insurance(7). After 60 years of water fluoridation reaching 2/3 of Americans via public water supplies, virtually 100% via the food supply and fluoridated
dental products a multi-billion dollar international business, up to 1/2 of U.S. schoolchildren sport fluoride overdose symptoms as dental fluorosis --
white spotted, yellow or brown, sometimes pitted teeth(8). But tooth decay is still a national epidemic. Regardless of fluoride intake, modern science still shows that young children with fewer cavities eat more produce(9). Only 12% of US kids eat enough fruits and vegetables(10).
"Will dentists hand out food vouchers and dietary advice on GKAS Day or just more fluoride?" asks Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. "With fluorosis rampant, dentists could make more kids smile by stopping fluoridation."References: http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu

Contact:
Paul Beeber, Esq. 516-433-8882, nyscof@aol.com
nyscof
FluorideAction
FluorideResearch

Monday, January 29, 2007

Kashmir - 5000 in Doda contract flourosis, lose teeth

A small township, Ghat falls barely seven kilometers from the district headquarters of Doda. As per the report continuous consumption of contaminated water has resulted in Skeletal Fluorosis in nearly 50 per cent of the Ghat population. The ailment has visible symptoms like joint pains and weakening of bones.
The RRL report has not been able to wake up the Water Works department and according to the experts the disease is turning into an epidemic. Latest reports from Doda suggest the dental flourosis is spreading to the adjacent areas such as Jodhpur, Baboor, Arnora, Bhagina, Bhatla, Aanch, Kalote and Chicoth.
Local Health authorities say that the disease in these localities has been so far limited to lower age groups only.
Tranikal Chashma, Rai Chashma and Bharat Nallah are the main drinking water resources for Ghath and its adjoining areas. The RRI report had noted that the water from these resources contain excess amounts of fluorine. As per the national standards fluoride in drinking water should not exceed 1 parts per million (PPM). With 1 PPM being the maximum permissible limit Ghat is being supplied with the water that has fluoride content of over 1.2 PPM.
What aggravates the problem for the people in these areas is the fact that there is no fluoride treatment plant where the fluoride content could be reduced. In Doda town, where the drinking water is drawn from “Koti Nullah” and “Desa Nullah”, water has fluoride content which is higher than the permissible level and stands at 1.04 PPM, hence the spread of disease to other areas.
Health experts in Doda inform that although all the three types of flourosis –dental, skeletal, and non-skeletal are prevalent in Ghat, but more cases of dental flourosis have been reported from Ghat.

A lot of ill health for such a small rise in fluoride

Dental care not fluoride reduced tooth decay in fluoridated Arlington, Texas:NYSCOF

Depending on patients' ability to pay, the volunteer-based operation provides either free or low-cost dental care to 2,500 residents a year at its clinic at East and Division streets, plus examinations of an additional 7,000 low-income children in 26 schools. When its SMILES school program began, the volunteer dentists and hygienists found that 61 percent of children examined had active decay, 19 percent with decay severe enough to cause pain or infection.

"Thanks to DHA, 60 percent of those kids now have healthy smiles, and tooth decay has been cut to less than half what it was when the program started," Hopper said.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Fluoride may harm infant teeth

"Parents should be the ones placing the toothpaste on the toothbrush for their children, and just a small pea sized amount,” said Dr. Bill Osmunson, a Bellevue dentist. He says some patients can need repeated, costly cosmetic repair. He sides with critics who question fluoride's safety in drinking water. And he's active in efforts to have it removed.
According to Osmunson there are other ways to keep teeth healthy: limit the soda pops, sugar foods and candies. Even sticky snack foods like raisins are not good.

Video report available at web page.

USA - More than half of 6- to 8-year-olds have tooth decay

Event gives kids free dental care
BY MARIA BARAN

EDWARDSVILLE - More than half of 6- to 8-year-olds have tooth decay, according to information provided by the American Dental Association.

To combat this problem, dental professionals around the country are donating their time and resources for children who otherwise would not receive dental work.


2/3 fluoridated U.S.: NYSCOF

The other side - letter

LETTER OF THE DAY
In defence of fluoride
On behalf of Canadian dentists, I am writing in response to Dr. W. Gifford-Jones' column, which appeared in your newspaper Jan. 24 under the headline, Fluoride treatment for teeth carries other health risks. I am concerned that the tone of the article leaves an overall negative impression of fluoride and fluoridation.

In fact, fluoride's ability to prevent and halt the cavity process is not only well-established scientifically, but also dramatically apparent in practice. Ask any dentist who has moved from a fluoridated community to one without this benefit and you'll hear some heart-wrenching stories of children with rotted-out teeth.
Of course, water fluoridation is not a complete solution. Fluoride is safely and effectively delivered in a number of ways -- sometimes applied to the surface of the tooth (or topically), as is the case with toothpaste and fluoride treatments -- and sometimes "systemically" as with water fluoridation, to provide ongoing benefits while tooth enamel is forming. This point was overlooked in the article -- whether by accident or by design.
It would be presumptuous to assume that tooth decay is a thing of the past. Recent statistics show that in some regions, cavity rates are actually on the rise, particularly among children. Proper dental hygiene including fluoride toothpaste, a good diet and regular dental visits are equally responsible for keeping dental caries in check.

WAYNE HALSTROM, D.D.S.

President, Canadian Dental Association

Burnaby, B.C.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Daily Mail - Chlorine in the bathwater is linked to cancer

Low levels of chlorine in tap water used for bathing can almost double the risk of bladder cancer, a study claims. Scientists found chemical by-products from mains water containing the disinfectant can be absorbed through the skin in the bath or shower and accumulate in the bladder. Swimming in public pools can also present a risk because chlorine levels are much higher. The risk is caused by chemical by-products called THMs which are produced when chlorine is added to water.
Researchers found that those living in areas with high-chlorine content water, who bathed in it regularly, were 83 per cent more likely to get a tumour than those in low-chlorine areas. Those who drank high-chlorine tap water were 35 per cent more likely to get bladder cancer. Regular swimming in pools increased the risk by 57 per cent. Absorbing chlorine through the skin is thought to be more dangerous because it bypasses the liver, which filters out many harmful chemicals when water is swallowed.
Chlorine has been used to disinfect Britain's household water supplies for 100 years. Regulations say THMs must not exceed 100 micrograms per litre. The Spanish study, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests only 50 micrograms - present in some areas of the UK - is required to increase the tumour risk. Researchers at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona compared 1,200 men and women with bladder cancer to a healthy group, questioning each about their exposure to chlorine. Lead researcher Dr Cristina Villenueva said: "Inhaling or absorbing THMs may lead to a higher concentration in target organs, such as the kidney, bladder or colon. "Experimental studies have shown a significant uptake of THMs when showering, bathing or swimming in pools. If confirmed, this has significant public health implications."
Bladder cancer, of which the single biggest cause is smoking, kills nearly 5,000 in the UK every year.
A spokesman for the National Pure Water Association said: "There is now a lot of research on chlorine in drinking water that shows we should be concerned.
"Water firms use the cheapest products possible to disinfect water, such as chlorine. Yet there are safer methods used by other countries, such as ozone gas or ultraviolet light."

I wonder if the new boilers with no tank in the airing cupboard have higher amounts of chlorine in the bathing water?

USA - NORTH ATTLEBORO may put fluoride to vote

North may put fluoride to vote
BY AMY DeMELIA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Friday, January 26, 2007 11:59 PM EST
NORTH ATTLEBORO - Voters may get another chance to weigh in on fluoride, with selectmen Chairman John Rhyno planning to ask the board to place the issue on the ballot. While selectmen have urged fluoridation opponents for more than a year to put the issue back before voters, there has been no move to do so.
In fact, fluoride opponents, including board of health members, say the issue should not be left to a "popularity contest" because they view it as a public health issue.
Fed up with the controversy, Rhyno said he is ready to place the issue on the ballot himself.
"I honestly think we have more of a chance of solving the Iran nuclear crisis than this fluoride issue. It's crazy," Rhyno said. "If the members of the board of health who are against fluoride wanted this issue to be resolved, they would put it on the ballot." Rhyno pointed out that town counsel has determined that since voters approved fluoride in 2000, voters are the only ones with the power to remove it.The board of health is suing the department of public works because it has refused to stop fluoridating the water, based on the opinion from town counsel.

Weird, usually the opposite happens councils against and the health board all for fluoridation.

What to 'listen' for (Gardeners)

• Leaf tips that yellow from the edges in are a sign of too much salt from fertilizer, fluoride or soft (salty) water. Follow fertilizer directions to make sure the mix isn't too strong. Plants don't like a power drink. If the house water is salty (you'd need a water test to confirm this) or the plant is fluoride-sensitive, the solution is to give it bottled water. This sounds high-maintenance, but some plants prefer Evian.

Plants can be sensitive but not us.

Friday, January 26, 2007

USA - City switches, now says fluoride is good

City switches, now says fluoride is good

SPRING CITY, TN — The city manager here, who once was against adding fluoride to the city's water supply, has changed his mind after hearing a speech by Dr. William Peck, dental director for the Tennessee Department of Health's Southeast Regional Office, a January 22 story in The Herald News reported.
City Manager Woody Evans originally disapproved of adding fluoride after state Rep. Dr. Joey Hensley warned that fluoridated drinking water is harmful to humans and advised against adding the chemical to the water, the story said.
Evans, who was going to ask the Spring City water plant to stop adding fluoride, reversed his decision after hearing a pro-fluoride speech by Dr. Peck, the article said.
The city council is also writing a letter to Evans to convince him of the benefits of fluoride. An excerpt from the letter says, "Backed by overwhelming science, community water fluoridation is now acknowledged as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century," according to the article.

From NYSCOF

From Dan Stockin:

We had a GREAT local video story on TV news last night -- on
Nashville's biggest station, about Dr. Thiessen's letter to Gov Bredesen
and showing how a broad spectrum of people are against fluoride: a rocker
and a scientist. Here's the link:


Video Link

Letter

Thursday, January 25, 2007

UK - Support needed in Bolten

Join in the fight against fluoride
By Readers' Letter
WITH the news of United Utilities' water supply pumps breaking down in Horwich (The Bolton News, January 22), it begs the question, what happens if there is a multiple pump failure and excessive amounts of the fluoridation chemical hexafluorosilicic acid enter the water supplies?
There is no doubt in the minds of leading toxicologists, that a certain overdose of this chemical means certain death.
It is almost as if the Primary Care Trust and the pro-fluoridation lobbyists are banking on the public getting tired of the issue of fluoridation. We will never rest until the Strategic Health Authority, Primary Care Trust and the majority of pro-fluoridation dentists accept that the majority of the public in Bolton and Greater Manchester do not want a potentially lethal and toxic chemical adding to their drinking and cooking water.
It really is confusing why, when the Primary Care Trust have access to some toxicology experts, they choose to ignore their words of warning and instead rely upon people from an industry - dentistry -which will benefit from children with dental fluorosis who a large percentage will go on to possibly need expensive veneers on their teeth as a direct result of fluoridation.

As laid down in legislation, the Strategic Health Authority in the Greater Manchester area have an obligation to take notice of householders, and the only way that will happen is if people get together as a group. The laws have been diluted so much that only "groups" who are considered to be "interested parties" are to be acknowledged.
So there is the challenge - to form a group which can show as householders in Bolton we are directly affected by this process and that we are indeed an "interested party".
I would welcome anyone interested in joining me as part of the Bolton Against Fluoridation and would urge you to join us in the campaign. People are welcome to attend a meeting at the Friends Meeting House at Silverwell Street, Bolton, on Tuesday, January 30, from 7pm to 9.30pm. or Wednesday, February 7, from 9.30am to 1.30pm. Refreshments available.
Ian Upton, Bolton Email: notinmyname@ntlworld.com.
Text or phone: 07890 3898081.

Website: www.bafg.org.uk

New Method May Help Identify Bacteria That Causes Severe Dental Decay In Early Childhood

Science Daily — Researchers from the U.S. and abroad suggest that a new method of genetic profiling may distinguish bacterial populations that cause severe dental decay in children and be used as a basis for intervention and prevention development. They report their findings in the January 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

USA - 2 days of free dental care for needy kids helps, but won't solve the problem

"Consider this: You are a teenager. You have a toothache but can't afford dental treatment. The toothache is causing such discomfort that you are willing to take four city buses across town to be cared for by a dentist willing to see you for free.

Or consider this: You are an immigrant parent of a first grader. Your child has a hurting mouth but you have no money to pay to see a dentist. You save money for a month to pay for the dental care. And now, your child has such a severe problem that the only solution is to extract the tooth.

These stories seem implausible in this nation with the richest available health care. And yet, these are real-life stories from right here in Minnesota and what we dentists see and hear with increasing frequency."

...Research shows that tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting 50 percent of U.S. first graders. Nationally, more than one-half of children ages 6 to 8 have tooth decay, and one-third of it goes untreated. We can do better than that.

98% fluoridated Minnesota: NYSCOF

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

USA - Slippery Rock teachers won't hand out fluoride tablets

Teachers in a western Pennsylvania school district will no longer hand out fluoride tablets to students, the school board has decided.
Teachers in the Slippery Rock School District were worried about the legality of handling the prescription medicine, said Nancy Moser, president of the Slippery Rock Education Association.
For the past 15 years, teachers in the district have given one fluoride tablet daily to students who wanted to participate in the program.
Board solicitor Tom King said Monday that the law is clear about the dispensing of the supplements _ teachers "should not be doing it."

Better than putting it into the water.

USA - CDC develops new fluoride recommendations for formula

.....Until now, most researchers concluded that fluoride exposure during the first year of life had little impact on the development of this condition in permanent teeth. But a recent study suggests it may play a more important role on fluorosis development than was previously understood, according the the CDC.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Southampton Echo letter

Monday, January 22, 2007

USA - Indians bad breath?

It is very common for children in the northern plains reservations to have an especially destructive tooth decay caused by bacteria passed from mother to children. Consequences of such severe tooth decay are not only the pain, infections and tooth loss, but also eventual difficulty in speaking properly, in self esteem, and even in eating, Jones said.

Weird,why do they have the bad bacteria and why do they pass it on?

NZ - Public meeting to fight water change

Public meeting to fight water change
By JOANNA DAVIS - The Press | Monday, 22 January 2007
Anti-fluoride campaigners are gearing up to fight the possible introduction of the decay-fighting chemical into the water supplies of both Ashburton and Christchurch.
The Ashburton District Council has reopened the debate over fluoride after it realised decay levels in the town had leapt 25 per cent since fluoride was removed from drinking water in 2002.
A binding public referendum will be held in Ashburton from February 16 to March 10.
Most of Christchurch has never been fluoridated, unlike most major metropolitan areas in New Zealand, but the Canterbury District Health Board is pushing for it as "the most cost-effective, practical and safe" means of reducing tooth decay.
The Christchurch Anti-fluoridation Lobby will hold a public meeting in Ashburton this week because of concerns a decision to fluoridate there could affect Christchurch.
Group co-convener Yvonne McDonald said the lobby objected to the "mass medication" of fluoridation, particularly as Christchurch water had no added chemicals.
"It's a culturally unacceptable thing to do because we don't add anything to it and we're pretty well known for our excellent quality drinking water."
McDonald said children could get enough fluoride through fluoridated toothpaste, fluoride tablets, or from a gel available at dentists.
"It isn't right to impose a procedure on all and sundry for the benefit of a few," she said.
Dr Martin Lee, clinical director of Canterbury's school and community dental service, said he could understand the anti-fluoridation argument but "if you exercise your right to have untreated water then you're depriving others of the right to have good health".
Lee said Christchurch children had an average of 2.2 decayed, extracted or filled teeth by the time they were five. Rates of decay dropped 30% after fluoridation.
Lee said in Australia and Britain, health authorities took responsibility for deciding whether they should fluoridate.
The Christchurch Anti-fluoridation Lobby will hold a public meeting on Thursday, 7.30pm, at the Ashburton Hotel.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

A pro fluoride viewpoint. Attacking the rich.

More than just a pretty smile
Only the rich or uninformed could love Oregon's record of ignoring fluoride and let teeth rot where they may
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Nielsen: One dollar spent on fluoride saves $38 in treatment
Rich people with beautiful teeth may have no idea what I'm talking about. Their teeth are private treasures, to be whitened like fine cotton and tended like box hedges. Their smiles aren't a matter of public health, but of personal pride.
They can be forgiven for shrugging off Oregon's high tooth-decay rate and the endless fringe campaign to keep fluoride out of drinking water. They've never blanched at an unaffordable dental bill. They've never spent weeks steering cold drinks to one side of their mouth, waiting to see the dentist.
They've certainly never sent their kids to a free clinic. They bought fluoride supplements for their lovely children, and they can't imagine a dental problem too big to prevent or pay for.
The toothsome rich can be forgiven for their ignorance.
No one else can.

Not the activists who try to protect us from fluoride, and definitely not state lawmakers, who've helped maintain Oregon's status as a fluoridation backwater with the cavities to prove it.

There are 2 pages of this in the paper, if you click on "outside of the USA" you do not have to register to see second page. Amazing you can get this viewpoint and the complete opposite from yesterday's post from the doctor.

20% of Oregon is fluoridated

Fibre water?

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has long endorsed that children drink water with fluoride to combat tooth decay. At the same time, the Australian Health Ministers are seeking a solution to their nation's problem of childhood obesity. In numerous clinical studies it has been shown that soluble fiber addresses obesity by curbing appetite, stabilizing blood sugar levels, aiding digestion and removing toxins from the body, including cholesterol to maintain a healthy heart.

I ignored this strange news item in the beginning but I think it is serious. Howard will be wanting this in the water to cut down on obesity :o)

Saturday, January 20, 2007

USA - CDC: Beware Fluoride

New York -- January 19, 2007 -- Without fanfare or public announcement, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) posted a new fluoride caution on their website - avoid mixing fluoridated water into concentrated infant formula to prevent discoloring babies' new teeth. (1)
There is no dispute that too much fluoride causes dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow or brown and sometimes pitted enamel. The CDC now admits that babies can ingest too much fluoride when fluoridated water is mixed into their concentrated infant formula and foods. Fluoride is added to 2/3 of public water supplies based on a disproved theory that fluoride ingestion prevents cavities.
"Where's the media alert so that the parents, caregivers, healthcare workers and legislators know about this," asks lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.(NYSCOF).

Fluoride treatment awash with risks

By DR. W. GIFFORD-JONES
"Doctor, I'd suggest fluoride treatment to protect your teeth," my dentist said. I agreed. After all, I'd been told since I was knee-high that fluoride prevents cavities. I've also used fluoride toothpaste for years. But I recently decided to research the topic to see if there was a downside. Now I know why Montreal males are better lovers than those in Toronto. William, a three-year-old Brooklyn boy, had his first dental checkup in 1974. Fluoride gel was spread over his teeth. He was then handed a glass of water by the dental hygienist, who failed to inform him to swish the solution in his mouth and spit it out. Instead, he drank the water and a few hours later, he was dead from fluoride poisoning. Fluoride is an acute toxin with a rating higher than lead. Next, I discovered that 98% of Europe is fluoride-free. Sweden, Germany, Norway, Holland, Denmark and France stopped using fluoridation more than 25 years ago. These are not backward nations. In 1980, a New Zealand dentist, an ardent supporter of fluoride therapy, was sent by the government on a world tour to study fluoridation. He returned an outspoken critic.
In 1999, Dr. Hardy Limeback, professor of dentistry at the University of Toronto and former supporter of fluoridation, reported that fluoride may be destroying our bones, teeth and overall health. He claimed that children under three should never use fluoridated toothpaste, nor drink fluoridated water. And mothers should never use Toronto tap water to prepare baby formula.
he sole argument favouring fluoridation is that it does reduce tooth decay. But several studies involving as many as 480,000 children found no beneficial difference between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities. In fact, one study showed decay was greater in the fluoridated area! Moreover, dental health in Europe has improved since 1970 without fluoride.
Most parents are unaware of dental fluorosis, a discolouration of teeth due to excess fluoride. In 1940, this mottling condition occurred in 10% of children's teeth. Today in some areas, it's as high as 55%. One reason: Children's toothpaste tastes good and they swallow too much of it.
Dental fluorosis is the first indication that the body is getting excess fluoride. But bones also collect fluoride and can develop skeletal fluorosis. Since 1990, numerous studies have reported an association between fluoridated water and hip fractures. Fluoridation is also known to increase osteoporosis (brittle bones).
LINKED TO CANCER
In 1992, a U.S. study found a strong link between fluoridation and osteosarcoma, a bone cancer in young males. The rates of this malignancy were three to seven times higher in fluoridated areas.
Other studies in China show reduced IQ in children overexposed to fluoride from drinking water. Further effects include decreased concentration, memory loss and confusion. There's also concern that fluoridation is implicated in Alzheimer's, since fluoride combines with aluminum to cross the blood brain barrier.
I didn't know that Torontonians have double the fluoride levels in hip bones than Montrealers, whose city water is not fluoridated. Studies also show that fluoride causes decreased levels of sperm and testosterone. I wonder if that explains the rumour that they make love in Montreal, while Torontonians only think about making money.
Carl Sagan, the noted astronomer, was right when discussing "authoritarian" judgments. He remarked that "arguments from authority do not count; too many authorities have been mistaken too often."
There is no convincing reason why water should contain 1.5 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride when our bodies have no use for it, and when its risk is greater than its benefit. Toothpaste has up to 1,500 ppm and treatment in a dentist's office another whopping 10,000-20,000 ppm!
Besides, unlike calcium, magnesium and other nutrients, our bodies do not need fluoride.
The best solution is to ban fluoridation of water and buy toothpaste without fluoride. After all, the first rule of medicine is "Do no harm." I finally found a non-fluoride toothpaste in a health food store.
And I imagine you've guessed what I'll say when next asked, "Do you want the fluoride treatment?"

Wish there were more doctors like him

USA - This says a lot about fluoridation's effectiveness

Tooth pain gnaws at Spartanburg's youths.
One quarter of children in Spartanburg County -- twice as many as the percentage statewide -- need immediate dental care, according to a Statewide Oral Health Needs Assessment done by South Carolina's health department in 2002. Often abscesses -- oral, bacterial infections with pools of pus and swollen gums -- grow from untreated cavities to cause that need.
"The child is in pain," said David Rustin, executive director for Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg. "In some cases the mouth is in terrible shape."

Spartanburg, South Carolina is fluoridated NYSCOF

................Tooth decay afflicts five times more children than asthma and seven times more than hay fever. Kids nationwide, distracted by dental woes, lose more than 51 million hours of school time each year, according to a 2000 report by the U.S. Surgeon General.

USA is mainly fluoridated!

USA - Volunteer serves as point man for clinic's dental program

"Five years ago, when we had our first health fair, it became apparent that dental health was the No. 1 issue for our low-income people," says Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini. "Without Dr. Tarbet, any idea we had of serving those people would still be in the planning stages. He's really kicked it up a notch."
The clinic, operated by Intermountain Healthcare, offers health care to under-insured, low-income families or anyone in the greater Salt Lake City area who, due to language or cultural barriers, is unable to obtain medical care. It is patterned after the Salt Lake Donated Dental Clinic near Pioneer Park
in downtown Salt Lake City, where Tarbet also volunteers.

Midvale, Utah is fluoridated: NYSCOF

Friday, January 19, 2007

Ros makes a good point

It's amazing how bad children's teeth are in the UK. Everywhere they want to fluoridate has the worst teeth!
Let's see, over the past couple of years that would be Scotland, Sheffield, Doncaster, Southampton, Portsmouth, Manchester, London ... did I forget anywhere?
Either bottom place in the Dental Health League Table is a major tie, or someone's being economical with the tooth!

USA - Capitol Hill’s newest lobbyists: Page High students

By Jill Cecil Wiersma
Staff Writer
Page High School students are getting a unique chance today to lobby some state legislators about fluoride in the drinking water.
Chemistry teacher Larry Phillips asked Rep. Glen Casada, who is the father of a Page student, if he would be willing to hear a PowerPoint presentation the students created. Phillips asked students to research a scientific matter relevant to current issues. It’s a hot topic with legislators now, Phillips said. They may be creating legislation on whether to ban fluoride.
Casada has said he will bring Rep. Charles Sargent and Sen. Jack Johnson with him for his visit. Dr. Kenneth Robinson, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, has said Tennesseans have nothing to worry about with community water fluoridation. Phillips said his students initially believed that was true - until they started checking other sources.
The students will give their presentation in the auditorium at 1:30 p.m.

You are able to leave a comment on this article.

USA - Offering a little advice on fluoride and babies

Friday, January 19, 2007 1:36 AM EST
To the editor:
On Oct. 14, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration notified bottled water manufacturers that they cannot claim that fluoridated water that is marketed to infants prevents tooth decay.
On Nov 9, the American Dental Association's e-gram, to its members and supporters, advised using fluoride-free bottled water to reconstitute powdered infant formula to prevent dental fluorosis. The ADA's advisory to "simply and effectively reduce fluoride intake during a baby's first year of life," was based on the National Research Council's March 2006 in-depth review of fluoride in drinking water.
On behalf of infants whose health is at risk, I offer these suggestions, to help parents "simply and effectively reduce fluoride intake during a baby's first year of life:"
a) Make educational materials on this issue available for distribution to the media, health centers, schools, pediatricians, hospitals, obstetrician's offices, dental clinics, and water departments.
b) Advise water departments to send warnings with each water bill and urge landlords to inform tenants.
c) Common sense suggests that baby formula containers display a warning: "Do not mix with fluoridated water." Legislation is needed to require formula manufacturers to print such a warning.
d) Thought must be given to providing fluoride-free water, without charge, to economically-disadvantaged parents.
e) Since it is total fluoride intake that should be reduced, parents must also be informed of the high fluoride content in some foods, e.g. jarred chicken baby food, grape juice, soy-based formulas, fish, etc.
It took the ADA 60 years to finally acknowledge that fluoride is dangerous for infants; if fluoride is not safe for everybody, then it is not safe for anyone.
Kathleen Fontaine
Plainville

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Lots of thyroid problems

WELL, WELL, WELL
Connie Howard / health@vueweekly.com
Are you getting enough ...iodine?
This week I learned that the most common kind of liver disease isn’t alcohol-related cirrhosis (yay!), but fatty liver disease (which sounds equally unappealing).

And while alcohol-related liver disease is on the decline, fatty liver disease is on the rise—half of us are overweight and at risk. I also learned that our bodies can show serious distress in as little as two weeks of abuse—a good reason to pass on the fries and baked goodies in the cafeteria and get out for a walk today.

Not that obsession with thin is good either—weight categories and fat indexes are a little arbitrary and can be misleading and very disheartening (I once saw the term “obese” on my chart in a doctor’s office, back when I was a still a size eight and might’ve had three pounds of excess weight—what was that about?) And being disheartened can lead to giving up—or, on the other end of the spectrum, to the more-common-than-you-think and devastating problem of anorexia.

Health is the goal, not a particular size or number on the scale. And since I left you paranoid about the effects of soybean oil on our thyroids last week, and since our thyroids play a major role in metabolism and weight, here’s a little more (and hopefully more positive) on that.
An off-balance thyroid can usually be easily corrected with iodine supplementation. Now before you go nuts and remind me that it’s dangerous to ingest too much iodine, and that we in North America get plenty in our diets and that we can’t be deficient because we use iodized salt, hear me out.

Many of us, despite iodized salt, are either suffering with an off-balance thyroid (hypo- or hyper-), or are being treated for one—one in 10 women by age 50 and one in five by age 60, according to estimates by experts at Harvard. And in my teensy world, it’s just about everyone I know. Seriously.

Average blood levels of iodine are apparently down over the past 30 years, and thyroid cancer rates are up. I’m thinking that our modern world has (once again) thrown a few little wrenches into the thyroid health picture.

There are wrenches like iodine-depleted soil, and bromine in our bread, which replaced iodine as a dough conditioner in the 1980s (a slice of bread apparently used to contain 140 mcg of iodine, almost the current recommended daily intake). Then there’s fluoride in our water and chloride in our salt (all in the same family of chemicals as iodine, chemicals that compete with iodine absorption). Or how about mercury and radiation and pesticides and endocrine-disrupting chemicals of all kinds?

Soy, by the way, does increase iodine requirements, particularly if you’re using soy as a major protein source and eating a lot of commercially prepared soybean oil based salad dressings. The health benefits seen in Asian diets that include soy is what got us onto soy in the first place, but we’ve overlooked the fact that the high iodine content of their diets counter what they take in. And then we, in true North American style, went totally overboard with soy products, often using much more than they ever have in Asia (and in harder to digest forms), not to implicate Big Soy or anything.

So since it is impossible (and not even desirable) to avoid all iodine-disrupting substances (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, flax, sweet potatoes, beans and corn are also iodine-inhibiting, but too nutritious to pass on), increasing iodine intake is an option. And while too much of a good thing (as always) truly can be bad, levels much higher than our typical intake (and much higher than the Health Canada recommended daily allowance of 150 mcg) can work wonders in alleviating both hypo- and hyperthyroidism.

Thyroid disorders and low iodine intakes are also associated with higher incidence of breast cancer. Japanese women, who consume very high doses of iodine by Western standards (something like 12.5 mg/day rather than our roughly 125 mcg/day), tend not to get breast cancer. And incidence of breast cancer in American women 30 years ago, when iodine consumption was twice as high as it is now, was much lower than it is today—rates have gone up as iodine consumption has gone down.

And besides fixing most cases of hyper- and hypothyroidism and reducing our risk of breast cancer, research has shown that iodine supplementation also alleviates fibrocystic breast disease, fibromyalgia, obesity, menopausal symptoms and high blood pressure. It lowers insulin requirements in diabetics, and improves heart, liver and brain function.
But I’ve opened a can of worms with that. Better close it, at least for now.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

USA - Water Fluoride Chemicals Cause Cavities, study says

NEW YORK -- Chemicals commonly used to fluoridate drinking water may increase rather than decrease tooth decay, according to a study published in a U.S. government journal, "Environmental Health Perspectives." (1) Children studied in fluoridated Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts, have significantly more tooth decay than children living in non-fluoridated Farmington, Maine, report researchers Gemmel et al., contrary to American Dental Association assertions that fluoridation reduces decay from 40-59%. Ironically, the intended decay-preventative fluoride chemicals,
silicofluorides, added to Boston/Cambridge water supply are linked to higher blood lead levels. And lead is linked to cavities in Gemmel's study and several others.
"... blood lead level was positively associated with number of caries (cavities) among urban (fluoridated) children, even with adjustment for demographic and maternal factors and child dental practices," write Gemmel and colleagues.
Over 91% of U.S. fluoridating communities use silicofluorides. Yet, silicofluorides have never been tested for safety or efficacy.
"The recently reported association between use of silicofluorides as water fluoridants and the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels (Masters and Coplan 2000) might explain, in part, the stronger association between blood lead levels and caries...because the water supplies of Boston and Cambridge are treated with fluorosilicic acid (a silicofluoride)," write the researchers. Farmington water suppliers do not add any fluoride chemicals.
"It appears that silicofluorides facilitate the transport of lead from the gut into the bloodstream whatever the source of lead may be -- dust from indoor paint, lead oxide in the soil left from leaded gasoline exhaust, etc.," says Chemical Engineer, Myron Coplan, Senior Corporate Scientist, and co-author of "Association of silicofluoride treated water with elevated blood lead."
"Our data did not correlate high water lead with high prevalence of elevated blood lead when sodium fluoride or no fluoride was in the water," says Coplan.
Gemmel and colleagues theorize the "lead in saliva is absorbed onto the surface of a tooth and incorporated into the hydroxyapatite (tooth mineral), perhaps replacing calcium." Calcium loss creates cavities.
"This may explain why American children display over-fluoridated teeth (dental fluorosis), along with rampant tooth decay in fluoridated cities," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
(1) http://www.ehponline.org/members/2002/110pA625-A630gemmel/gemmel-full.html

UK- Bolton must brush up on oral hygiene

Bolton must brush up on oral hygiene
By Jane Lavender
Comment | Read Comments (13)

ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: Children in Bolton are being encouraged to brush their teeth and cut down on sweets YOUNGSTERS in Bolton's poorest areas have at least four teeth which are missing or rotting. That is the finding of a study carried out in 98 primary schools from January to July, 2006. Five-year-olds in the former Central ward - which includes areas such as Hall i'th' Wood - have 4.2 teeth damaged by decay.
And even in the best-performing ward of Bromley Cross, the average five-year-old has 1.08 missing teeth, fillings or tooth decay, which is above the Government target of just one per child. Across the borough, there is almost three times the acceptable level of dental problems among five-year-olds, a slight reduction compared to a study carried out 12 months earlier. Leading NHS dentist and member of the Bolton Dental Society Chris Brooks said: "This reflects the relationship between oral health and deprivation. "The dental health of five-year-olds in Bolton is worse now than it was in 1997." Health bosses admitted there were pleased there had been a slight improvement, but stressed they would be continuing to work with schools and Sure Start centres to build on the progress already made. Deborah Harkin, deputy director of public health, said: "We're pleased to see this improvement, but there is certainly no cause for complacency, particularly given the variations within Bolton. "We have seen fluctuations in the past where the numbers have gone down and then up again, and we are still a long way from where we want to be. Our oral health promotion team will be continuing its good work." This includes initiatives such as the NHS Brush Bus, which visits the borough's schools and nurseries to hand out tooth brushes to youngsters and give them advice on looking after their teeth. Dentists are now calling for fluoride to be added to the borough's water supply in a bid to improve the health of children's teeth.
Bolton Primary Care Trust bosses have already added their backing to the move and are planning to campaign for its introduction.
The consultation into adding fluoride to the water supply is continuing.
Mr Brooks said: "A good diet and regular teeth brushing in combination with adjusting the levels of fluoride in drinking water would be the best and most cost effective way of improving these disappointing figures."
But Bolton North-east MP David Crausby, is against adding fluoride to the borough's water.
He said: "I'm not opposed to improving the quality of children's teeth, but I think there's a better way, such as educating them to brush their teeth and eat fewer sweets.
"I strongly believe this is mass medication, and even though it might be good, each individual has the right to decide what they consume and they're entitled to pure water."
VOTE: Should fluoride be added to the water supply?
Vote in the Editor's Choice Column on the right of this page.

Misleading claims

Colgate warned over '80%' boast

Colgate's claim on posters was "misleading"
The maker of Colgate toothpaste has been warned not to repeat its famous advertising claim that "more than 80% of dentists recommend Colgate". The Advertising Standards Authority concluded the claim on Colgate posters as "misleading" after investigating the phone survey behind the boast. It found the dentists surveyed were allowed to name more than one brand. But the ASA said the advertising claim implied 80% of dentists recommended Colgate to the exclusion of its rivals.

In fact, the ASA's inquiry found another competitor's brand was recommended almost as much as Colgate was by those dentists who were surveyed.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Click to see article and news clip film.

All done to protect teeth - wouldn't it be better to stop the bad diet/habit that causes the problem

USA - Citizens of Skagit County asked to say no to fluoridation by fiat (An arbitrary order or decree)

Citizens of Skagit County asked to say no to fluoridation by fiat
By LEE TAYLOR
GUEST COLUMNIST
Is fluoridation effective against tooth decay? Should anyone have the authority to mandate fluoridation of public drinking water? How does it affect human health? Those questions have given rise to a growing social phenomenon -- a highly controversial debate concerning fluoridation and public health.
This is a confusing debate because most families grew up with fluoride. They followed their dentist's advice, believing public health agencies are protecting our health, using the latest scientific knowledge.
With the advent of cyberspace and the Internet, a tsunami of information has forced us from naïve complacency to more informed awareness. It has fueled a growing fluoride debate at the international, national, state, county and city levels of government, pitting an outraged and educated public against the richly financed special interest groups within the aluminum, phosphate fertilizer, steel, glass and nuclear weapons industries.
Not unlike the civil rights movement, not unlike the national upheaval that stopped the bleeding and corporate profiteering in Vietnam and not unlike the emergence of the environmental movement, informed citizens of Skagit County are now challenging the fluoride voice of "authority" within the federal government-military-industrial-public health complex. The propaganda, influence peddling, power-control politics and conspicuous lack of scientific evidence of fluoridation proponents are being called into account.
Skagit Clean Water (skagitcleanwater.org) is a volunteer organization coordinating opposition to the fluoridation of Skagit PUD water within the Judy Reservoir system in Mount Vernon, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley, Alger, Rockport, Cedargrove, Skagit View Village and Marblemount.
Born in opposition to the Skagit County Board of Commissioners' first summit meeting on water fluoridation in August 2005, Skagit Clean Water has become the primary force in community education on fluoride, coordinating citizen action and public awareness in the local media.
In September 2006, the Skagit County Board of Commissioners issued a resolution calling for an advisory vote on fluoridation in the Nov. 7 election. SCW responded with a public awareness campaign targeting the toxic effect of fluoride on public health and formed a political action committee.
In a David-Goliath confrontation -- with Washington Dental Services Foundation funding at $116,000 and SCW funding at $1,300 -- Skagit voters delivered a slim victory to Proposition 2 fluoridation proponents by a margin of 52 percent-48 percent, nowhere near the 60 percent required for mandated fluoridation in citizen-initiated resolutions.
On Jan. 2, despite a very close vote, the board of commissioners approved a resolution that set 11 a.m. today as the time for the final hearing on fluoridation in Skagit County; it will be held in the commissioners' hearing room, 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon.
At this public hearing, concerned voters, dentists and other professionals promise to challenge the accountability, priorities and patronizing disregard of informed citizens by the commission.
Will this lead to just another fluoridation by fiat? How will legal parameters influence the fluoridation debate and who will make the final decision?
The public is encouraged to review Skagit Clean Water Web site and the Fluoride Action Network at fluorideaction.net, noting scientific information from the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization.
Lee Taylor lives in Bellingham.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Australia - Let us make our choices

Let us make our choices
EVERY day there are more proposals touted to ban this, ban that and ban something else and all with the premise of someone else doing something which in their opinion is good for me. You see, opinions are just like backsides, everyone’s got one and when you come down to basics, all these banning proposals are just someone’s personal opinion being foisted on to someone else.
So what about respecting my position as a resident in a democratic country and let me make my own choices as to what I do or what happens to me. Whether it’s fluoride in water, caffeine in soft drinks, pies in schools or sugar for kids — don’t tell me what I can and can’t have or do. Educate and inform me, but don’t compel me. If I choose poorly then it is my faux pas, not yours. I’ll fix it, not you.
What I and my family chooses as appropriate for us is our choice and not yours. And the appropriate word here is choice. It’s what living in a democracy is all about.
— DENNIS KEITH,
Mt Beauty

USA - First dental visit by first birthday

First dental visit by first birthday
by Carol Harrison, 1/15/2007
Judging by the impression made by Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez at the Potawot Health Village, making prevention of tooth decay an integrated concern of all health care and social service providers might be the best hope for tackling an entirely preventable disease that affects more than two-thirds of the nation’s elementary school children. Tuesday, Ramos-Gomez lectured and trained United Indian Health Services health care professionals to recognize and prevent what Head Start has identified as its most prevalent health problem for children. UIHS had more than 50 participants exposed to a multidisciplinary approach that acknowledges prevention of tooth decay cannot be seen as the responsibility of only the overwhelmed dental community. With many dentists not taking patients until the age of 3, the burden of outreach about early childhood caries is falling on others. Those likeliest to make earlier and more regular contact with pregnant women, mothers and children through the age of 4 are the health care and social service providers who go into the homes, provide nutrition counseling or see to the immunizations and checkups that dominate the early years of life. “Early childhood caries isn’t just a dental problem,” said UIHS Executive Director Jerome Simone. Instead, it is an infectious disease that can be passed from caregiver to child. It is caused by two bacteria, mutans stereptococci and lactobacilli species. The bacteria stick to the film on teeth and feed on what each individual consumes. The sugar-loving bacteria produce acid that can break through the outer surface of the tooth, causing it to decay and rot.
Saliva can protect against the acid attacks, but it can’t overcome too many bacteria. Nor can it protect during the 20 to 30 minutes after eating or when saliva becomes more acidic and less alkaline. “The mouth is like a kitchen,” said Dr. Greg Jaso, director of the UIHS dental clinic. “If the kitchen’s cleaned up and taken care of, the mess that comes out of it won’t be quite so bleak.”
Ramos-Gomez lectured about the causes of early childhood caries and how to spot its telltale signs. He also spoke about the identification of at-risk children and strategies to prevent decay. Among those strategies: educating parents, making use of one of two economical tests to detect the decay-causing bacteria, use of sugar-free gum that lists xylitol as its first ingredient, drinking fluoridated water and application of fluoride varnish.
“We’re going to learn about (early childhood caries) and become actively involved in facing and communicating dental prevention,” Simone promised. The Potawot Village he’s led for more than 32 years is already a one-stop shop for Native American health care, making it easier to bridge what Simone sees as the biggest problem the campaign against tooth decay faces: fragmentation of care.
The Food and Drug Administration licensed fluoride varnish in 1994. According to the October 2006 edition of The Indian Health Service Primary Care Provider, is has been used for caries prevention in Europe for more than 40 years and has been reported to reduce caries 40-55 percent in selected populations.
Ramos-Gomez reported research showing decay in 8 percent of at-risk 1-year-olds and 67 percent of 4-year-olds. He also said the results of his own study showed conclusively that children who did not receive fluoride varnish were more than twice as likely to develop tooth decay as those that received it annually. Additionally, those who did not receive fluoride varnish were nearly four times as likely to develop tooth decay than those who received four treatments over two years. “We know it works. We’ve been doing it for three years,” said Dr. Wendy Ring of the mobile medical unit. Ramos-Gomez said Medi-Cal reimburses for fluoride varnish up to three times a year.
The chief barrier to fluoride varnish is not its cost, but its delivery to infants and preschool children before they develop tooth decay. “Access to dental care for preschool children is problematic nationwide and also within the Indian Health Service,” the October 2006 IHSPCP issue stated.
That is especially true in Humboldt County.
“We have rampant early childhood caries in this county,” said Laura McEwen, the county’s oral health coordinator. “We have a shortage of providers and an overabundance of decay.” “Dentists are overwhelmed treating the madness,” Ramos-Gomez said. “You have parents saying, ‘It’s only baby teeth, doctor. Who cares?’ But if they don’t have good teeth, they can’t chew. It affects their nourishment. It causes psychological damage and they’re in constant pain. They are not school ready and they cannot focus.”
Locally, the chances of getting early childhood care for at-risk newborns and preschoolers is not good. The Web site of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists lists three within a 100-mile radius of Eureka: Kerisa Elloway, Garrison Tucker and Wesley Wieman. Tucker has a two-year waiting list; the other two are taking new patients. None of the three accept Medi-Cal, which makes them no different than the overwhelming majority of dentists in the area.
Calls to four other area dentists found none taking children under the age of 3 despite the fact that the AAPD Web site recommends a visit when the first tooth comes in, usually between 6 to 12 months of age. “I talked to someone the other day who pays cash. She’s a nurse, the dad’s a physician. She said she still can’t get their child in to see a dentist because they just don’t see children before 3 years of age,” said UIHS dietitian Kari Gullingsrud, R.D. “Many dentists are terrified of screaming and crying babies,” Ramos-Gomez said. “So — get over it. Learn to differentiate between a good cry and a bad one.” Medical providers got over it long ago as they regularly give shots to screaming children. However, they tend to treat the mouth as the only orifice they won’t violate. Other than depressing a tongue, it’s treated as the domain of dentists.
That’s the main reason why funding from the California Endowment and the Humboldt Area Foundation enabled the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Branch of the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services to bring Ramos-Gomez north for a three-day swing through the county. MCAH reasons other health care professionals, caregivers, pediatric specialists and parents must take the lead on early prevention. That’s exactly what UIHS nurse Eric Gordon did when he examined a squealing volunteer’s mouth and applied fluoride varnish after Ramos-Go mez’ presentation.“Being a nurse on the medical side, I’ve never experienced having a small child in my lap and applying a dental varnish. This was my first time,” Gordon said.
He used the recommended knee-to-knee technique that allowed mom to function as a warm and familiar dental chair. With the child’s legs encircling her waist, mom lowers the child’s head to the lap of the provider. The mother provides the necessary restraint while the provider checks the teeth and applies the topical varnish. “I didn’t know it could go on so quickly,” said surprised UIHS physician Dennie Schultheis. “I was trying to paint a picket fence.” Ramos-Gomez said putting a drop in each quadrant and rubbing quickly would do the trick. “After four or five tries, you’ll have it down.” Making it easy is key to convincing all health care providers and outreach coordinators to participate in getting the early childhood caries epidemic under control.
Almost 70 percent of Native American children aged 2 through 4 suffer from tooth decay — a prevalence almost triple the rate of the Hispanic population and six times the rate of white children. “We see a community considered at-risk for just about everything,” Simone said. “The biggest value of this is the interdisciplinary approach to health care. The biggest problem we face now is the fragmentation. We’re trying to bring it together.”
Part of pulling it together is getting everyone on the same page, beginning with when children should make a first trip to the dentist. “Talking about getting a child into a dentist before the age of 3 is off the radar for most people. But a lot can be done for better health by dealing w ith bacteria before the first tooth comes in,” Gillingsrud said. “This was a beginning,” said Donna Troyer, the dental clinic manager for UIHS.
Troyer is excited and hopeful the integrated approach will check the tooth decay that led to surgeries for 20 young UIHS children in the past year.
“If we are all going out with the same information and people are hearing it in several places, that’s one of the most impactful things we can do,” said Gullingsrud. “Oral health is the forgotten component of health.” Not if Simone, Jaso, McEwen and Ramos-Gomez have anything to say about it.

One year old's getting fluoride who are bound to swallow the stuff apart from having it in the water as well. Can't get too much!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

USA - Hynix seeks to output more air pollutant

Hynix seeks to output more air pollutant
By Diane Dietz
The Register-Guard
Published: Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Hynix computer-chip plant in west Eugene is asking to nearly triple the annual amount of one hazardous air pollutant it emits.
The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, which regulates factory emissions in the county, has scheduled a Feb. 12 public review of the company's proposal to increase to 5 tons the hydrogen fluoride coming out of its stacks, up from the limit of 1.8 tons.
The company uses gases to clean and etch integrated circuitry onto silicon wafers. Air scrubbers take most of the waste pollutant out of the air before it emerges from company stacks.
.....The escaped hydrogen fluoride, a colorless gas, is absorbed by rain and taken into clouds and fog to form hydrofluoric acid, which will fall to the ground, according to the EPA. The gas is absorbed directly into the leaves of plants and can cause the leaf tips to burn and result in decreased reproduction, according to LRAPA.

We ought to decrease not increase the pollution

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Letter in Southampton Echo

USA - Poor oral hygiene and mouths full of rotted teeth that couldn’t be saved.

Take a bite out of tooth decay
Local dentists offer free care
Dr. Ashley Patnoe of Charleston consults with Jessica Bird of Hurricane about her dental health. Children who don’t have ready access to dentists can sign up for free examinations today.
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
When Dr. Ashley Patnoe worked as a pediatric dentist for two years in Michigan, she saw plenty of cavities.
But what she saw after returning to West Virginia to practice in 2003 was startling: young children with rampant decay, poor oral hygiene and mouths full of rotted teeth that couldn’t be saved.
“It was horrific,” Patnoe said. “I had children who I needed to pull out their teeth, and they’re only 4 or 5 years old.”
Today, Patnoe and two dozen fellow dentists will take steps to improve children’s oral health across the Kanawha Valley.

Does Charleston Water System water contain fluoride?
Yes. Charleston Water System adds one milligram per liter (mg/1) or one part per million (ppm) of fluoride to treated water. This is the amount recommended by the American Dental Association to provide maximum protection from tooth decay.

USA - Laconia rethink on fluoridation

Fluoridation may not be a problem
By JOHN KOZIOL
jkoziol@citizen.com
Voters authorized the fluoridation of the city's water supply more than 31 years ago and now, as questions are being asked about the wisdom of the decision, the only option for removing the additive is to hold another referendum.
On Nov. 4, 1975, according to City Clerk Ann Kaligian, the electors of Laconia went to the polls and cast 2,149 votes in favor and 1,255 votes against giving the Laconia Water Department permission to add fluoride.
The issue of fluoridation arose this week when City Councilor Armand Bolduc cited a letter he received from a resident who noted that recent reports have said fluoride is potentially harmful to humans.
Consumption of fluoridated water has been linked to certain bone cancers, increased incidences of bone fractures and arthritis.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Montreal joins debate over water flouridation

Wick is seeking 2007 grant funds to continue the community fluoridation initiative in Iron County.
Wick said she will soon release to the public the necessary information on fluoride --the water fluoridation process, the seriousness of tooth decay, safety of fluoridation, its effectiveness, cost factors, and how the community will benefit from fluoridation.

Nothing negative?

UK - All party against fluoridation

This is the homepage of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Fluoridation. Please feel free to look around the Reports and Archive sections, or if you are looking for questions regarding the fluoridation of water, the FAQ section is there to help any queries you may have.

Visit us at www.appgaf.org.uk for more news and report updates.

USA - Yarmouth Selectmen Vote to Back Fluoridation

Yarmouth Selectmen Vote to Back Fluoridation
By Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
Jan. 10--SOUTH YARMOUTH -- The selectmen last night threw their weight behind a recommendation by the Massachusetts Department of Health that towns fluoridate water supplies. The move comes on the heels of New Bedford's recent decision to fluoridate its water after a 26-year departure from the policy.
After a presentation by the former dental health director for the city of Boston and the interim director of the state's office of oral health, the Yarmouth selectmen voted unanimously to endorse the state's recommendation.
The vote lends support to the Yarmouth Board of Health should it choose to recommend fluoridation, an action board members will consider at an upcoming meeting, local board of health chairman Benjamin Gordon said.
Because of vocal opposition to fluoridation at two public hearings in 2005, the Yarmouth Board of Health chose not to take a position on adding fluoride to the town's water pending further public education.
Should the health board choose to recommend fluoridation the action must be advertised, followed by a 90-day waiting period, Gordon said.
If a petition is signed by 10 percent or more of the town's population during that time, a referendum must be held.

In New Bedford a referendum on the issue passed by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. Currently, 139 communities in Massachusetts fluoridate their water, but opposition continues. Opponents claim there are health risks to adding fluoride to drinking water.

You can leave a comment on article. One comment by NYSCOF

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Killer cocktails

Professor Philippe Grandjean, of Harvard School for Public Health, recently published in the Lancet an extensive list of chemicals, to which exposure in the womb or early in life can be very harmful to brains and can lead to learning disabilities and developmental problems. Five - lead, mercury, PCBs, toluene and arsenic - are already well documented. The others include pesticides, carbon monoxide, fluoride, manganese and common chemicals like acetone, benzyl alcohol and perchloroethylene, a chemical used in dry cleaning.

USA - Yarmouth moves forward with fluoridation

“The data is overwhelmingly in support of fluoridation,” said Allukian, who added that, while some opponents may have valid questions about fluoridation, much of the controversy stems from what he called “junk science.”

On both sides.

WHO - Usage of fluoride urged on international level

Usage of fluoride urged on international level
A panel of experts on fluoride urged government and other influential bodies during the Global Consultation on “Oral Health through Fluoride,” which took place Nov. 17-19 in Geneva, to develop effective legislation, necessary directives and programs to ensure access to fluoride for dental health in all countries.

In the declaration, the world experts expressed “their concern about growing disparities in dental health and the lack of progress in tackling the worldwide burden of tooth decay (dental caries), particularly in disadvantaged populations.” The 80 experts on fluoride from 30 countries emphatically made clear that “prevention by using fluoride is the only realistic way of reducing this burden in populations.”

“The benefits of fluoride for the prevention and control of dental caries have been known to the scientific and public health community for more than 60 years. While fluoride in various delivery systems is widely available in many developed countries, it is estimated that globally only 20 percent of the world’s population benefit from appropriate exposure to fluoride,” said Dr. Poul Erik Petersen, Chief of the Oral Health Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO). “Regrettably, particularly people living in developing countries and disadvantaged communities are deprived of fluoride for dental health.”

The consultation, jointly organized by the FDI World Dental Federation, the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), and the WHO, aimed to consider the actions needed to effectively reduce the global burden of dental caries. The FDI is the global unified voice of oral health professionals; the IADR advances research on oral health worldwide; and the WHO advises governmental bodies throughout the world. “The FDI fully supports the promotion of fluoride worldwide. Representing nearly one million dentists worldwide, the FDI will use the strong messages from the experts and translate them into tangible advice for all oral health professionals. There is an urgent need to take action in order to ensure that optimal fluoride is available and affordable for all,” said Dr. J.T. Barnard, executive director of the FDI.
The adopted declaration will guide the work of the alliance and various international groups that were established during the consultation. The full text of the declaration is available at www.fdiworldental.org/public_health/3_7fluoride.html.

World experts - that's alright then.

USA - Formula, fluoride mix may discolor infants' teeth

Infants fed formula mixed with fluoridated water could ingest more than the recommended amount of the tooth-toughening substance, which could lead to spotted or discolored teeth, a state health official said this week.
Spokesman Gregory P. Moore said the state Department of Health and Human Services is asking two federal agencies -- the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- for guidance on the matter. The request follows a statement in November from the American Dental Association, which raised concerns about infants fed formula reconstituted with fluoridated water.
"At this point, from our perspective we think it's important for the public to realize there is a potential for fluorosis with the continual use of fluoridated tap water in reconstituted baby formula," Moore said.

USA - Anthony Westbury: Feeling apples of discord over fluoridation

Imagine then how many more people there might be with rotten teeth if the current fluoridation hysteria on the Treasure Coast gains any more of a grip.
That's right, hysteria — because that's what I believe it is.
Fluoridation of municipal water supplies has been a public health given for at least four decades in this country. Apparently that's not good enough anymore.

Hysteria?

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

USA - St. Lucie West leaders want to halt fluoride

St. Lucie West leaders want to halt fluoride
Click-2-Listen
By Teresa Lane
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie West residents who've been drinking fluoridated water for a decade could find that additive missing in the coming weeks after elected supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to stop adding fluoride to tap water if they can get around a county law requiring it.
Charles Altwein, newly elected chairman of the St. Lucie West Services District, first raised the issue of fluoridation years ago but found few sympathetic listeners.
When he read about Jensen Beach engineer Pat Arena persuading Martin County to overturn its decision to fluoridate, Altwein decided the time was right to try again. In another reversal on the additive, Stuart city commissioners decided Monday to hold off on fluoridating the city's drinking water, as was approved by the commission four years ago, and instead will put the matter to voters in November.

"There's a warning on toothpaste that says if you ingest too much, you should contact a poison control center," Altwein said. "Maybe (fluoridation) was a good idea back in the 1940s, but when you have better information, it's time to make better decisions."

USA - Soothing tooth pain

The fluoridated water systems for this county are:

Gainesboro
Jackson County Utility District #1
Jackson County Utility District #2
Jackson County Utility District #3
Last year, about 650 kids statewide were hospitalized needing acute dental care last year, said Grant Christensen, staff dentist with the Wyoming Department of Health.

In kids up to 4 years old, tooth decay and cavities can occur. Not only does it cause pain for the child, it also is potentially deadly. Cavities left to fester breed bacteria that, if left untreated, can enter the bloodstream and become septic. Every year, kids die from this, Christensen said.

USA - With lines drawn in fluoride fight, factions set out to sway Martin voters

With lines drawn in fluoride fight, factions set out to sway Martin voters
By JEREMY ASHTON
jeremy.ashton@scripps.com
January 10, 2007
STUART — During a break in Monday's City Commission meeting, advocates and opponents of water fluoridation stood in the lobby of City Hall and exchanged contact information and notes with other members of their respective camps.
Commissioners had just decided to have a referendum on whether the city should use its already completed fluoridation system, leaving anti- fluoride activists and pro-fluoride dentists planning for the November general election.
On Tuesday, both groups began trying to figure out how best to educate the public on their points of view through the next 10 months on what each claims is a limited budget. Each side worries the other will scare Stuart residents into voting for or against the measure.
Fluoride opponents talked Tuesday about forming an organized group that could advertise, communicate with the media and take their argument that fluoride has potentially hazardous side effects directly to voters.

"If we're going to take the vote to the people, let's get both sides out there and let the people decide," said fluoride opponent George Fuller of Stuart.

Tea, but no milk, please

The researchers, on three separate occasions, gave a group of 16 healthy women either half a liter of freshly brewed black tea or black tea with milk, or boiled water as a control. Using ultrasound, they measured artery expansion and relaxation in the forearm before and after.
They found that, while drinking tea helped to increase the blood flow compared with drinking water, adding milk wiped out the biological effect.
Tea drinkers who customarily add milk may want to consider omitting it sometimes, the researchers said.

I wonder if they knew what was expected?

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

USA - Voters to decide fluoride issue

Voters to decide fluoride issue
By Rachel Simmonsen
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
STUART — City commissioners, uneasy about having to decide whether to fluoridate drinking water, agreed Monday night to leave it up to somebody else: city residents.
After listening to more than an hour and a half of public comment, commissioners voted 4-0 to put the matter to voters in the November election. In the meantime, the city will hold off on fluoridating drinking water, a measure that was approved four years ago by a previous commission.
Only two of the commissioners who took part in the original vote still sit on the board. Vice Mayor Jeffrey Krauskopf voted against fluoridation in 2003 and remains opposed. Michael Mortell, who favored fluoridation, still does. He was absent at Monday's meeting.The city has spent about $112,000 to design and build a system to deliver fluoride to drinking water, but recent public outcry prompted the commission to reconsider before turning on the valve.

In December, anti-fluoride activists convinced Martin County commissioners to overturn their decision to fluoridate. Many of the same opponents, including several people who live outside the city and Martin County, spoke Monday to the Stuart commission, saying fluoride increases the risks of bone cancer and can be poisonous to infants and people with thyroid conditions.