USA - Letter

Don't make formula with fluoridated water Elected health officials may want to contact citizens who receive fluoridated water and warn them not to use their tap water to make baby formula. In an announcement that should spell trouble for fluoridation, the American Dental Association has advised not to make up milk formula with fluoridated water. Their actual words (ADA e-gram - Nov 9, 2006) referring to baby formula were: "If using a product that needs to be reconstituted, parents and caregivers should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride." One of the reasons that Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson gave for opposing fluoridation in Sweden in the 1970s was his concern with what such excessive levels would do to the baby's developing brain. The baby's blood brain barrier is not fully developed at birth. Studies have shown (NRC 2006) that a baby bottle fed with formula made up with fluoridated tap water (at 1 part per million) will get 250 times more fluoride than a breast fed baby. Why did the ADA wait 30-plus years to warn parents against using fluoridated water to make formula? Will the ADA commit time, effort and resources to educate the public, the media and local officials to make sure that a large majority of parents (if not all) get this information? Giving this information only to dentists is not sufficient. My gut feeling is that the ADA won't reach out to the masses of people who need to hear and heed this warning; that it will simply limit its effort to statements like this. After all, the last thing any promoter of fluoridation wants to do is to warn parents about any dangers "small or large" accruing from their "perfectly safe" practice. Better to hide the warnings in very small print. This ADA warning is most likely an early liability defense against future class action lawsuits.
KATHLEEN FONTAINE Plainville