Fwd: New Zealand Report on US Fluoridation Issued

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" luckypig "

Sun, 17 Aug 2003 16:10:05 -0400

New Zealand Report on US Fluoridation Issued

 

The New Zealand Herald

<A

HREF= " http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3502563 & thesection=news\

& thesubsection=dialogue " >http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3502\

563 & thesection=news &

thesubsection=dialogue</A>

 

Barbara Sumner Burstyn: Maybe it has something to do with what is in the

water

 

19.05.2003

 

In a strange act of synchronicity, on the day New Zealand was announcing that

our children have some of the worst teeth in the Western world the United

States Environmental Protection Agency hosted a science forum on fluoridation.

It

was intended to confirm the effectiveness of fluoridation. But on the day,

despite an overflowing house and representatives from all the major

organisations in the fluoride debate, the agency's science advisory board was

unable to

find anyone - scientist or otherwise - willing to defend the practice of water

fluoridation in an open public debate.

 

After years of rubber-stamping scientific results from industry-funded

studies, the agency may now be taking a different position. At the forum its

spokesperson said that new evidence on fluoride's toxicity needed to be

examined.

 

While the US is slowly waking up to not only the potential dangers of

fluoride but also its lack of effectiveness in reducing cavities, New Zealand is

sticking to its guns. In a letter to anti-fluoride campaigner Silvia Cole in

February, the Minister of Health, Annette King, said that fluoridation of water

supplies remained the most effective and socially equitable means of achieving

community-wide exposure to the caries-preventive effects of fluoride.

 

However, when you realise that 58 per cent of our teenagers and 47 per cent

of 5-year-olds have serious dental decay, this statement sounds more like a

belief system than a conclusion based on science. Clearly something has gone

wrong.

 

According to the Dental Association executive director, David Crum, it's the

fault of parents. He says that they're failing nearly an entire generation of

children. Of course he's right. It is a parent's responsibility to ensure that

children learn the basics like teeth brushing. But you don't go from one of

the best dental health standards in the world to the present state on the backs

of slack parents. Especially when for years the Ministry of Health has been

claiming victory over cavities through the endorsement and administration of

fluoride.

 

Rather, the reason for our soaring cavity rates might just be the dismantling

of the school dental therapy system. In its heyday the service provided

comprehensive and regular care to all children regardless of their economic

situation. And the reason for its demise? Callum Durwood, the dental surgeon who

co-chairs the School and Community Dental Services Forum, was quoted as saying

that dental therapist numbers have been reduced because, with fluoride, the need

wasn't there.

 

Under this misguided notion we've lost hundreds of dental therapists and,

even though dental care is still free to children under 18, just finding a

dentist willing to work for the $24 flat fee the Government pays them is

difficult.

In some areas kids would be lucky if they saw a dentist's chair every two

years.

 

But what about the safety of fluoride? The Minister of Health's February

letter set out the Government's belief that fluoride is a harmless substance

with

minimal side-effects. Annette King took the opportunity to lambaste Dr Paul

Connett, a professor of chemistry at St Lawrence University in New York. Dr

Connett is known internationally for his research and collation of information

on

the effects of fluoride, but the minister declared this research to be not

supported by the evidence available in reputable scientific literature.

 

However, a perusal of just some of his sources, citations that appear to be

peer-reviewed, scientifically published but perhaps not industry-funded, shows

a different picture. He presents evidence on everything from the relationship

between fluoridated water and increased bone (particularly hip) fractures (19

separate studies for that one) to the true extent of fluorosis in children and

the possible association between fluoride and such things as reduced

fertility, the increased uptake of aluminium into the brain and increased uptake

of

lead into children's blood.

 

The minister also does us a disservice when she says in her letter that more

than 40 countries fluoridate their waters. What she fails to say is that only

seven countries artificially fluoridate most of their drinking water. The rest

have either stopped recently or fluoridate only one city.

 

Perhaps if the ministry had consented to send a representative to the 25th

conference of the International Society of Fluoride Research in January, it

might have gained more up-to-date information. The Dunedin conference hosted

numerous international fluoride experts. It's difficult to imagine any reason

for

the ministry's failure to take advantage of the latest research on their

doorstep, particularly given that a new fluoride promotion campaign is about to

start.

 

The ministry is, of course, likely to come back with a vigorous defence of

its endorsement of fluoride. But perhaps when you're reading their fulsome PR it

may be pertinent to consider that fluoride seems to have failed to prevent

caries. And that its promise of an all-inclusive dental Band-aid has gone hand

in hand with the virtual dismantling of the child dental health system.

 

Combine these with the Environmental Protection Agency's new concerns about

toxicity and the simple fact that mass medication via our water violates the

cornerstone of medical ethics - the right of the patient to informed consent -

and you begin to wonder if fluoridation will be this country's next failed

experiment.

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/letters/

 

 

New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

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HREF= " http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof " >http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof</A>

<A HREF= " http://tinyurl.com/ad9k " >http://tinyurl.com/ad9k</A>

 

Fluoride Action Network

<A HREF= " http://www.fluoridealert.org/ " >http://www.fluoridealert.org</A>