Tuesday, January 26, 2010
It's Time to Retire Fluoridation
New York - January 25 2010 -- Sixty-five years ago, sodium fluoride powder was slowly poured into Grand Rapids, Michigan's public water supply to see if drinking fluoridated water (fluoridation) really safely reduced children's tooth decay. Nearby Muskegon was left fluoridation-free, for only 5 years, as the experiment's control city for comparison purposes even though evaluations were made after 15 years. (1)
Before then, sodium fluoride was mainly used as a rat poison.
The study failed and was seriously flawed; but early over-zealous fluoridationists ignored this inconvenient
truth. Fluoridation was declared a success, anyway (2) and spread across the country and the world based on positive-spun PR but invalid science.
So what's happening today?
Grand Rapids children have high rates of tooth decay and fluoride overdose - dental fluorosis, white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel.(3)
According to the Grand Rapids Press, one pediatric dentist said in 2007 "...we see children under the age of 2 with active decay...Rather than just a few cavities, we're seeing a lot of cavities. It's not unusual to see a child with 8 to 10 cavities." (4)
Despite 65 years of water fluoridation reaching 70% of Americans on public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply and despite 55 years of fluoridated toothpaste, tooth decay has increased in our most fluoridated population - toddlers - and UNtreated tooth decay has risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (5) Incredibly, American children have died from the consequences of untreated tooth decay. (5a) with up to 48% of US school children now sporting dental fluorosis, according to the CDC.
Today sodium fluoride is purchased from China and something's wrong with it. Water engineers complain it's clogging up their systems (6)
Fluoridation opposition is scientific, respectable and growing.
Over 2,700 professionals urge the US Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted, citing scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. See statement http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html
Also, eleven Environmental Protection Agency employee unions representing over 7000 environmental and public health professionals called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people.
Approximately, 80 US communities rejected fluoridation in 2008 & 2009 (7).
References:
1) Grand Rapids fluoridation Study - Results Pertaining to the
Eleventh Year of Fluoridation, by Francis A Arnold ,American Journal of Public Health, May 1957 "In making comparisons on these data it should be remembered that Muskegon started fluoridation in July 1951" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1551218/pdf/amjphnation01088-0018.pdf
2) Fluoridation: Errors and Omissions in Experimental Trials [Chapters
19, 20 and 21. Philip Sutton. Originally published in 1960]
3) "Some babies get too much fluoride," The Grand Rapids Press, by Morgan Jarema October 09, 2007 http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3091.html
4) "Protecting kids' teeth includes trips to the dentist," The Grand Rapids Press, by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, June 19, 2007
5) "Tooth Decay In American Preschool Kids On The Rise"
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/oralhealth.htm
5a) "For Want of a Dentist Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain," Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html
and
http://www.pedidental.org/pdfs/PDI%20Holiday%20Newsletter.pdf
6) "Feds Note Fluoride Problem," January 25, 2010
http://www.newburyportnews.com/punews/local_story_024222057.html
7) http://www.FluorideAction.Net/communities.htm
New York - January 25 2010 -- Sixty-five years ago, sodium fluoride powder was slowly poured into Grand Rapids, Michigan's public water supply to see if drinking fluoridated water (fluoridation) really safely reduced children's tooth decay. Nearby Muskegon was left fluoridation-free, for only 5 years, as the experiment's control city for comparison purposes even though evaluations were made after 15 years. (1)
Before then, sodium fluoride was mainly used as a rat poison.
The study failed and was seriously flawed; but early over-zealous fluoridationists ignored this inconvenient
truth. Fluoridation was declared a success, anyway (2) and spread across the country and the world based on positive-spun PR but invalid science.
So what's happening today?
Grand Rapids children have high rates of tooth decay and fluoride overdose - dental fluorosis, white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel.(3)
According to the Grand Rapids Press, one pediatric dentist said in 2007 "...we see children under the age of 2 with active decay...Rather than just a few cavities, we're seeing a lot of cavities. It's not unusual to see a child with 8 to 10 cavities." (4)
Despite 65 years of water fluoridation reaching 70% of Americans on public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply and despite 55 years of fluoridated toothpaste, tooth decay has increased in our most fluoridated population - toddlers - and UNtreated tooth decay has risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (5) Incredibly, American children have died from the consequences of untreated tooth decay. (5a) with up to 48% of US school children now sporting dental fluorosis, according to the CDC.
Today sodium fluoride is purchased from China and something's wrong with it. Water engineers complain it's clogging up their systems (6)
Fluoridation opposition is scientific, respectable and growing.
Over 2,700 professionals urge the US Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted, citing scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. See statement http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html
Also, eleven Environmental Protection Agency employee unions representing over 7000 environmental and public health professionals called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people.
Approximately, 80 US communities rejected fluoridation in 2008 & 2009 (7).
References:
1) Grand Rapids fluoridation Study - Results Pertaining to the
Eleventh Year of Fluoridation, by Francis A Arnold ,American Journal of Public Health, May 1957 "In making comparisons on these data it should be remembered that Muskegon started fluoridation in July 1951" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1551218/pdf/amjphnation01088-0018.pdf
2) Fluoridation: Errors and Omissions in Experimental Trials [Chapters
19, 20 and 21. Philip Sutton. Originally published in 1960]
3) "Some babies get too much fluoride," The Grand Rapids Press, by Morgan Jarema October 09, 2007 http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3091.html
4) "Protecting kids' teeth includes trips to the dentist," The Grand Rapids Press, by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, June 19, 2007
5) "Tooth Decay In American Preschool Kids On The Rise"
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/07newsreleases/oralhealth.htm
5a) "For Want of a Dentist Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain," Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022702116.html
and
http://www.pedidental.org/pdfs/PDI%20Holiday%20Newsletter.pdf
6) "Feds Note Fluoride Problem," January 25, 2010
http://www.newburyportnews.com/punews/local_story_024222057.html
7) http://www.FluorideAction.Net/communities.htm
Labels: caries, cavities, china, dental, dentistry, environment, fluoridation, fluoride, kids health, oral health, sodium fluoride, tooth decay, water, water pollution
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Fluoridation Doing More Harm Than Good, Studies Show
New York – May 2007 – Contrary to belief, fluoridation is damaging teeth with little cavity reduction, according to a review of recent studies reported in Clinical Oral Investigations.(1)
Pizzo and colleagues reviewed English-language fluoridation studies published from January 2001 to June 2006 and write, “Several epidemiological studies conducted in fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities suggest that [fluoridation] may be unnecessary for caries prevention…”
They also report that fluoride-damaged teeth spiked upwards to 51% from the 10-12% found over 60 years ago in “optimally” fluoridated communities. Dental fluorosis is white-spotted, yellow, brown-stained and/or pitted teeth.
Fluoridation began in 1945 when dentists thought that ingested fluoride incorporated into children’s developing tooth enamel to prevent cavities. However, Pizzo’s group reports that fluoride ingestion confers little, if any, benefit and fails to reduce oral health disparities in low-income Americans.
Also, any difference in fluoride tooth enamel surface concentration between fluoridated and low-fluoridated areas is minimal. And the relationship between higher enamel fluoride levels to less tooth decay was not found.
“Some risk of increasing fluorosis may be attributed to the ingestion of powdered infant formula reconstituted with fluoridated water… [and] foods and beverages processed in fluoridated areas… Furthermore, the use of dietary fluoride supplements during the first 6 years of life is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing fluorosis,” they write.
Lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation says, “Recent news reports claiming fluoride-free bottled water caused the cavity increase trends in toddlers are implausible because rising fluorosis rates clearly indicate that children are over-fluoridated, not under-fluoridated.”
“There’s no dispute that too much fluoride damages teeth, actually making them more decay-prone. Research is indicated to see if fluoride is causing the cavity escalation,” says Beeber.
Some studies Pizzo reviewed focused on communities that stopped water fluoridation. “…after the cessation, caries prevalence did not rise, remained almost the same or even decreased further,” writes Pizzo’s group.
“In most European countries, where [water fluoridation] has never been adopted, a substantial decline [75%] in caries prevalence has been reported in the last decades,” they report.
To avoid dental fluorosis, the American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control advise against mixing concentrated infant formulas with fluoridated water.
“Fluoride is bone- and health-damaging as well,” says Beeber. (2)
In 1999, researchers found that children in Connersville, Indiana, consumed over recommended levels of fluoride even though their water supply wasn’t fluoridated. (3) Organized dentistry still successfully instigated fluoridation and the American Dental Association bragged about it, carelessly putting more Connersville children at risk of developing dental fluorosis. (4)
Reference:
1) "Community Water Fluoridation and Caries Prevention: A Critical Review," Clinical Oral Investigations, by Giuseppe Pizzo & Maria R. Piscopo & Ignazio Pizzo &
Giovanna Giuliana 2007 Feb 27; [Epub ahead of print]
Giovanna Giuliana 2007 Feb 27; [Epub ahead of print]
4) http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/us_fluoridation.pdf
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
Fluoride Action Network
Fluoridation News Releases
http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu
Tooth Decay Crises in Fluoridated Areas
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com/
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com/
Labels: dentistry, fluoridation, oral health, tooth decay
