American Council on Science and Health, front group

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Original sender's name: Dr. Betty Martini,D.Hum. Original sender's address: bettym19

 

FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK < http://www.fluoridealert.org/> http://www.FluorideALERT.org FAN Bulletin 921: Plagiarism at the Toronto Star January 5, 2008 Dear James, In Yesterday's edition of the Toronto Star a story appeared entitled "Top Ten False Health Scares" by Libby Stevens < http://%20http//www.thestar.com/article/290788> http://www.thestar.com/article/290788 and one unfounded scare (#9) is described as "Adding fluoride to tap water can cause health problems." Now there are two problems with this: 1) the message is twisted to conceal the actual reality of events and 2) it is plagiarized. The whole piece (including #9) is taken almost verbatim from an article by Krystal Wilson written for the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) < http://www.acsh.org/news/newsID.1660/news_detail.asp> http://www.acsh.org/news/newsID.1660/news_detail.asp It is important to note that the ACSH is an industry-funded front group that defends virtually every chemical imaginable. As I have often quipped about its leader, Elizabeth Whelan, "she's never met a chemical she didn't like." In addition to downplaying the dangers of chemicals like dioxin, the group has a long record of advocating water fluoridation and its members include Michael Easley and Stephen Barrett. For the ACSH, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is its nemesis and it will attack EWG at every turn. The match up is clear: corporate interest versus public interest. 1. Here is 'unfounded scare #9' as it appears in the Star: 9. The (Unfounded) Scare: Adding fluoride to tap water can cause health problems like fluorosis, abnormal thyroid function, lower IQ and osteosarcoma. Origin of the Scare: The Environmental Working Group published an article in their August 2007 Bulletin claiming that "(e)ven the American Dental Association ... tells parents to avoid fluoridated water." The group also featured a study published in the Harvard journal Cancer Causes and Control, which linked fluoridated water to a rare bone cancer in boys. The Bottom Line: The Environmental Working Group, which is stridently anti-chemical, neglected to mention the Harvard research is part of a much bigger project and that it is an "exploratory analysis" that will require scientific confirmation. In addition, the principal investigator of the larger study says the full study will not suggest an overall association between fluoride and osteosarcoma. The group also misrepresented the ADA's recommendations about fluoride and infant formula. The ADA says infant formula prepared with fluoridated water presents no health risk but may slightly increase the risk of fluorosis (mottling the teeth), which affects only the way teeth look, not overall health. 2. Here is unfounded scare #2 as it appeared in the ACSH piece: 2. The (Unfounded) Scare: The addition of fluoride to tap water causes multiple health problems, including fluorosis, abnormal thyroid function, lower IQ and osteosarcoma. Origin of the Scare: The Environmental Working Group (EWG) published an article in their August 2007 Bulletin entitled "Fluoride in Your Water: Friend or Foe?"(6) The article claimed that "[e]ven the American Dental Association has changed its tune and tells parents to avoid fluoridated water." The EWG also featured a study done by researchers at Harvard, which was also published in the Harvard journal Cancer Causes and Control.(7) The study linked fluoridated water to a rare bone cancer in boys. Media Coverage: This story scared many cities about their public water supply and was picked up by hundreds of local newspapers. ABC in Fayetteville, North Carolina ran a story about fluoridated water entitled "Fluoridation fears." It quoted Dr. Michael Fleming, a member of the FDA dental advisory committee, saying, frighteningly, "Fluoride in the water is essentially a drug, it's an uncontrolled use of a drug."(8) The Bottom Line: The EWG is a strident anti-chemical group that took two claims about fluoride and ran with them, in a bad direction. The authors of the Harvard paper noted that their work is just a part of a much bigger project and that it is an "exploratory analysis" that will require scientific confirmation. In addition to this, the principal investigator of the larger study states that the full study will not suggest an overall association between fluoride and osteosarcoma.(9) Not only did EWG skew their reporting of the Harvard data, they also misrepresented the ADA's recommendations about fluoride and infant formula.(10) The ADA states that infant formula prepared with fluoridated water presents no health risk but may create a small increased risk of fluorosis, which only affects the way teeth look, not overall health as the EWG would like everyone to believe. They should be ashamed for telling a flat-out lie about the ADA. 3. Here is the email that Dr. Hardy Limeback wrote to the Star pointing out the plagiarism: Letter to the Editor, The Toronto Star Re Top 10 false health scares, Jan. 4 Libby Stephens list of top 10 health scares was taken almost word for word from the American Council on Science and Health -see http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.1650/pub_detail.asp The ACSH, as documented by the respected medical journal Lancet, has industrial ties and is hardly an unbiased source of medical information. Your paper says Libby Stephans 'regularly dissects health studies'. On this occasion, Ms. Stephans took the easy way out and copied the industry's position on the top 10 health 'scares' instead of researching whether the scares actually have some merit. Dr. Hardy Limeback PhD DDS Assoc. Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, (and member of the 2003-2006 US National Academies of Sciences Subcommittee on Fluoride in Drinking Water) 124 Edward St. Toronto Ont. M5G1G6 4. Here is the email that Carol Kopf sent into the Star correcting the biased interpretation of the events discussed: Fluoridation hazards are rooted in science and are NOT unfounded as the American Council on Science and Health 5. Following these two emails, the heading of the piece on the Star's web page was changed. Libby Stephens's name was removed and the story accredited to ACSH in this way: "Condensed from the American Council on Science and Health's list of medical stories that made us worry unnecessarily in 2007" And at the bottom of the article it is again attributed to the ACSH http://www.thestar.com/article/290788 6. The editor of the Toronto Star wrote the following to Dr. Limeback: Dear Dr. Limeback, Thank you for your email and your very valid concern. Through no fault of Libby Stephens's, there was not sufficient attribution in the text to the ACSH, which we will correct in tomorrow's newspaper. Ms. Stephens did verify their information, of course. Regards, Lesley Ciarula Taylor Living Editor The Toronto Star 416-869-4455 lctaylor www.thestar.com Conclusion: So the accreditation has been corrected (at least on the web site) but the ACSH bias remains. Does anyone really believe that "Ms. Stephens did verify their information" as the editor claims? The Toronto Star has done the "legal" thing, but the key question is whether they will they now do the "decent" thing and allow these distortions to be fully corrected either by printing Carol's letter or by offering Hardy Limeback an Op-ed piece? What is most important is that the people of Toronto are fully informed about the ineffectiveness and dangers posed by water fluoridation without interference from the self-serving spin of the ACSH. Paul Connett P.S. Hardy Limeback has written in to say that he could not find anything in the Saturday print paper correcting the mistake.