Apologize for Fluoridation; Don't Celebrate It, Say Experts
by Fluoride Action Network

www.fluoridealert.org
May 9, 2005

Fluoridation fails America's children. But that won't stop Michigan dentists from rejoicing with a special fluoridation celebration on May 12, 2005 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, home to the first municipality that enrolled its residents, 60 years ago, in a cavity-prevention human experiment, without their informed consent. (1)

In 1945, fluoride was added to Grand Rapids’ drinking water to see what would happen to children's teeth. But the methodologies used would embarrass any self-respecting statistician or epidemiologist today, according to a review in the journal Nature (2).

Also in 1945, Newburgh, New York, was the first city to use the entire city's population to study fluoride's bad side effects to the rest of the body. And the results were dismal.

After ten years, bone defects, and earlier female menstruation occurred more often in Newburgh's children dosed with sodium fluoride-laced drinking water when compared to the control city of Kingston, NY. (3)

According to Professor Paul Connett, PhD, who teaches environmental chemistry and toxicology at St. Lawrence University in NY, "These results were ignored at the time, but are now being seen as valuable clues to far more serious problems, like accumulation of fluoride in the human pineal gland with a possible lowering of melatonin levels (Luke, 1997, 2001); increased bone fractures in children (Alarcon-Herrera et al., 2001) and possibly increased osteosarcoma (a bone cancer which is frequently fatal) rates in young men (NAS, 1977; NTP, 1990; Hoover, 1991; Cohn 1992; and Mihashi 1996).”

Meanwhile, after over 50 years of water fluoridation, many children in Newburgh, New York have more cavities and more fluoride-caused discolored teeth (dental fluorosis) than children in never-fluoridated Kingston, New York, according to a NYS Department of Health study published in the NYS Dental Journal (February 1998, Figure 1, Page 41)

The hype expected at the May 12 "60 year fluoridation celebration" is in sharp contrast to a more sober assessment of fluoridation's lack of impact on dental caries made at a May 2, 2005 meeting of dental specialists. Dr. Dushanka Kleinman, the chief dental health officer for the U.S. Public Health Service, told about 600 people at the National Oral Health Conference in Pittsburgh, "When U.S. Army reserves get called to duty in Iraq, the most common reason they don't ship out right away is poor oral health - and it's been that way since World War II."

Kleinman summed it up this way: "the nation's oral health hasn't gotten worse in the last 60 years or so. But it's also not getting better, unlike many other medical conditions" reported the Associated Press (4).

“Caries experience may be associated with income," reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Recently-released statistics posted on the CDC's website shows low income, not fluoridation deficiency, predicts more cavities (5).

"I don't blame the average dentist for going along with fluoridation, I blame organized dentistry for not being honest about the benefits which they have exaggerated and the serious health problems which they ignore," says Connett, who is also Executive Director of the Fluoride Action Network.

"The latest study from Australia, shows no benefit to the permanent teeth from fluoridation (Armfield & Spencer, 2004)," Connett says.

“Other studies indicate an increase in hip fracture, an increase in bone cancer, and damage to the brain at levels approximating what many Americans now receive,” says Connett.

"If fluoridation proponents could scientifically explain their dismissal of these studies, they would be willing to publicly debate the issue with scientists opposed to fluoridation. But they would not debate even when invited to do so by the US Environmental Protection Agency," Connett says.

"I would like to be an invited speaker at dentistry's next fluoridation celebration July 13 -16, 2005, in Chicago; but I'm afraid fluoridation supporters don't welcome any dissenting opinion," says Connett.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Paul Connett, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network, www.fluoridealert.org paul@fluoridealert.org
Or
carol@fluoridealert.org Media Relations Director, Fluoride Action Network


References:

(1) Michigan Dental Association Press Release 5/6/05 “60th Anniversary of Water Fluoridation to Be Celebrated During Michigan Dental Association Meeting in Grand Rapids” http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050506/def024.html?.v=2

(2) “The Mystery of Declining Tooth Decay,” by Mark Diesendorf, Nature July 10, 1986 (Volume 322; Pages 125-129) http://www.fluorideaction.org/health/teeth/caries/diesendorf.html

(3) Schlesinger, E.R., et al (1956) "Newburgh-Kingston Caries-Fluorine Study XIII. Pediatric Findings After Ten Years" Journal of the American Dental Association

(4) “Nation's oral health not improving, dental group says,” Associated Press Posted on May 03, 2005 http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/11554694.htm

(5) "Fluoridation No Aid to Poor," News Release by NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation http://snipurl.com/eq9l