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UK Against Fluoridation

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Fluoridating water saves money in the long run

Fluoridating water saves money in the long run
Updated 21 hours ago
It was sad to see the headline "Region kills fluoridated water plan" in Monday's Review. Since the beginning of water fluoridation, there have been those who claim it to be the cause of every known health problem.

They seem to have won the day, in spite of the fact the world's top scientists have consistently found these claims to be false. When used at the recommended level, it is 100 per cent safe and its use is steadily expanding in the United States, where two thirds of the population already enjoys its benefits with more cities adding it every year.

In 2003, the community of Dorval, Que., stopped fluoridating its water to save costs. This resulted in a more than fourfold increase in cavities, to 11.8 per cent from 2.5 per cent of children in just 4 years.

Here in Niagara, it would cost only $600,000 per year in operating costs, (or $1.38 for each of the region's 435,000 residents), plus $3 million in capital investment, to get region-wide distribution of fluoride, whereas it would cost up to $17 million dollars to fluoridate a few of the region's communities piecemeal. As taxpayers, we would be saving $14 million and benefitting all of our citizens, young and old. Why should Niagara's people be left in a backwater of health neglect by the very representatives who should be looking after our best interests?

Both health-wise and cost-wise, the region-wide fluoridation of water is a win-win situation. Let us hope the councillors will give it a second look. They owe it to our children, and for that matter, themselves.

Dr. John Ainslie

Niagara Falls

100% safe? 100% affective? And too good to be true.

Canada - Group opposes Gatineau's plan to add fluoride to water

Group opposes Gatineau's plan to add fluoride to water
DAVE ROGERSDAVE ROGERS, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The City of Gatineau is planning a campaign in March to convince residents that fluoride should be added to drinking water, but at least one group is already opposed to the proposal.
Council will decide in April whether Gatineau will add fluoride to its water to reduce tooth decay in children, which is 40 per cent higher in Gatineau than in Ottawa. Ottawa has fluoridated its water since 1964.
But despite the benefits, Nicole Desroches, president of the Conseil régional de l'environnement et de développement durable de l'Outaouais, said there are not enough studies on the cumulative effects of the chemical to prove that it's safe for humans and the environment.
We don't agree with fluoridation because it is aimed at a small proportion of the population. It is usually for underprivileged children under the age of nine," Ms. Desroches said.
"It is putting something in the water that adults don't need and we don't know what the impact on the environment will be. You could always give fluoride to these children directly instead of adding it to the water."
But Lucie Lemieux, head of the Outaouais public health department, said there are no scientific studies that prove a link between fluoridation and any disease.
Dr. Lemieux says the Quebec public health program calls for increasing the proportion of the population with access to fluoridated water to 50 per cent from seven per cent by 2012.
"We know that two Quebec children out of five have at least one cavity when they enter kindergarten and, by the time they are in the second year of primary school, more than half the children have at least one decayed tooth."
Pierre Philion, president of the city's health commission, said many North American cities have fluoridated water, but it is uncommon in many parts of Quebec because people still worry it could cause health problems. Gatineau doesn't have it because the Outaouais regional government - which existed before the amalgamation of Gatineau in 2001 - rejected it in 1987, after a citizens group convinced people the additive could cause health problems and environmental damage.
Mr. Philion said adding fluoride to Gatineau's water would cost the city nothing because the provincial government would pay.
"That is better than in Ottawa where it costs city taxpayers $300,000 a year," Mr. Philion said. "They have had fluoridation for 40 years in Trois Rivières and the province has paid all the costs."

Canadian Natives' Perspective

Canadian Perspective: Research suggests fluoride is being used in used as a mind-control agent to dumb-down the masses
by Thahoketoteh of Kanekota, First Nations columnist
The end of the reign of the serpents that native elders have sought to warn humanity about, is upon us now. Their secret agenda of world domination through neo-fascist inspired eugenics has been made apparent. Indeed, Adolf Hilter had also advocated eugenics.
The poisoning of the people through fluoridation in the water is still continuing although the criminality is now being exposed. Check "Flouride Alert" for the facts about fluoride poisoning. LINK The people in charge of municipal water supplies throughout Turtle Island, should be getting their lawyers on retainer now for the potential lawsuits that will surely accompany this exposure. The apparent 13 families that have been running North America into the ground since they arrived here, are also running the rest of the global financial markets into the ground right now.

Fluoride has been shown to reduce IQ, cause kidney failure, bone degeneration and many more horrible problems. It has always been a goal of these serpents to dummy-down the masses so their minds can be more easily controlled. So when you hear your children talk about the misinformation they are being fed through the schooling system, you cant blame the teachers, as they have probably been ingesting toxic amounts of fluoride for most of their lives.

The minds of new generations have been infected, by design. The scientific evidence is overwhelming about this slow poison. People should be asking their municipal politicians, why are we still being poisoned, and when will it stop?

The time has come for the people to accept their responsibility and use their minds properly. The mind is the key to our evolutionary path, as a species. Let us put our minds together as one and realize the power of the collective conscious.

As aboriginal peoples, we know the end is near for these serpents. More and more people are appreciating these elites for the serpents that they represent.

Through a spiritual awakening of empathy, wisdom and peace mind control technology can be off-set that operates through institutions.

The human mind will reach it's potential and we will achieve Peace on Earth.

Unity, Strength, Peace.

USA - Geoff Oldfather: Should I get the BMW or the Benz with my fluoride payola?

News Columns Geoff Oldfather: Should I get the BMW or the Benz with my fluoride payola?
By Geoff Oldfather (Contact)Thursday, January 31, 2008 Robert Yamin, a Stuart resident opposed to fluoride, compares fluoridation of the water to Auschwitz concentration camp and calls one commissioner psychotic and then says fluoride supporters will "go to hell," during a city of Stuart commission meeting prior to Tuesday's referendum. PDF: FUSS workshop schedule for parents and teens at Jensen Beach High School. More News Columns Anthony Westbury: Sand mine holds ancient fossils Russ Lemmon: 'Sons' photos, '63 Piper ad are traces of history Laurence Reisman: Tax break, rebate welcome, but consequences troubling Share and Enjoy [?]''Yup, I'm taking bribes — just ask the name-callers
''"I realize these people for what they are — yellers and screamers," says one victim of anti-fluoride assault
Help me decide.
Should I get the BMW or the 'Benz?
The Beemer Z3 is one cool ride, but the Mercedes-Benz I'm looking at comes in my favorite color, a beautiful shade of sky blue.
I've got to buy something with all the payola I've received for advocating in favor of fluoride in drinking water.
That's one of the accusations the anti-fluoride extremists leveled at me and everyone else who disagreed with them.
I'm part of a dark and well-paid conspiracy.
It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
Thankfully, in the city of Stuart fluoride vote, common sense won over fear mongering.
Legitimate science grounded in more than five decades of studies won over quackery.
And moderate, reasoned debate — a give and take where both sides present their points of view and people decide based on facts — won over hysterics and hyperbole.
Every column I wrote and every story we published quoted people on both sides.
Additionally, we told people about anti-fluoride Web sites like www.fluoridealert.org as well as Web sites supported by the American Dental Association and other proponents. We published excerpts from studies that claim fluoride is dangerous and excerpts from studies showing it's safe.
That wasn't good enough. And because the extremists knew they were losing the debate, they resorted to name-calling and character assassination.
"I was called a liar. I was accused of taking payoffs. I was accused of being part of a conspiracy with (Stuart city commissioner Mike) Mortel and taking trillions of dollars," said Dr. David Boden, a local dentist with the Healthy Smiles Project who argued in favor of fluoridation.
"My skin's certainly gotten a little thicker, and I don't really care any more what they call me. I realize these people for what they are — yellers and screamers. And they don't typically get their way in the long run," Boden said.
Mortel fared no better. Of course not. He was part of the conspiracy.
"Boden and I were accused of being co-conspirators who had a lot of money to gain, trillions of dollars. One of the opponents who spoke against fluoride at one of our meetings called me seven or eight derogatory names," Mortel said.
I can tell you one thing: Not once did I see or hear a supporter of fluoride resort to name-calling to get their point across.
"People who sink to that level have no credibility at all," Mortel said.
"That's an act of last resort when someone isn't using or doesn't have the facts on their side to resolve a dispute," Mortel said.
I couldn't have said it better.
Meantime, I've decided.
I'm getting the 'Beemer. And I've a suggestion for those who accused me of payola and worse because they had nothing better in their ammo can.
A new ride of their own.
How about a hot air balloon to the land of Oz?


Link to sound track

Australian Government To Pass Fluoride Bill

USA - One-third of children in early grades had cavities

Report: One-third of children in early grades had cavities
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -
A new report says about one out of every three Maryland public school children in grades K through 3 had untreated cavities in recent years.
The report was released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Secretary John Colmers says the findings are in line with the conclusions of a special committee he convened last year after a 12-year-old Prince George's County boy died from a dental infection.
The report also found that less than 30 percent of the children received dental sealants to protect their teeth from decay.
The report evaluated about 2,300 children.
Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed budget includes an additional $16 million to increase payments to dentists to improve children's access to dental care.

Maryland is 94% fluoridated:NYSCOF

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Australia - Eurobodalla council considers fluoride

Eurobodalla council considers fluoride
Debate will get underway soon on whether the Eurobodalla Shire Council should introduce fluoride to local water supplies.
Public forums are planned across the area, in south-east New South Wales, over the next three months to gauge people's reaction to the controversial measure.
Mayor Neil Mumme says the council has to weigh up the benefits of dental health against those people who are concerned that fluoride represents a potential health hazard.
He says the council wants a decision before the new water treatment plants are built.
"It is all academic until we have our water treatment plants come online," he said.
"It is a process we are going through now is looking at when we'll bring our treatment plant online and that's why we are addressing the fluoridation issue because it all goes hand-in-hand.
"We are in the design concept stage of our treatment plants now, so that's why we are addressing this issue of fluoridation to see if we make allowances as we go forward."

USA - Stuart voters smile approval for fluoride

Stuart voters smile approval for fluoride
By James Kirley (Contact)Wednesday, January 30, 2008

STUART — City voters came out in favor of adding fluoride to their municipal water Tuesday, with 52 percent of them telling the City Commission to adopt an ordinance requiring it.
"Stuart has given itself and its children a gift for a lifetime," said dentist David Bowden of Stuart, with the pro-fluoride Healthy Smiles Project committee. "Over time it will pay off for them. They will have fewer cavities."
Stuart mayor Jeff Krauskopf said the results of Tuesday's ordinance are binding — and would have been binding no matter which way the vote went. He said the results will be drafted into an ordinance and the City Commission must approve it.
Meanwhile, Pat Arena of Jensen Beach, one of the leaders of the anti-fluoride forces, was skeptical of the final 3,910 ballot count given by Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis. It gave his side 48 percent of the votes.
Arena pointed to another part of the elections Web site that showed 4,588 ballots had been cast — 678 more than the total of 3,910 votes for and against the measure posted on the same page.
Davis said the 4,588 number was incorrect and would be changed.
"If it was voted in, there's a whole lot of problems the city is going to have to address," Arena said Tuesday night.
He said these will include health issues and Martin County residents on the city water system who couldn't vote and are now saddled with the results of Tuesday's decision.
Dr. Harry Davis, dental director of the Florida Department of Health, noted the state has long supported fluoridation of community water systems.
"We applaud the people of Stuart for recognizing the benefits of fluoride in their water system," Davis said in a prepared statement. "Currently, nearly 13 million people are benefiting from fluoridation in Florida."
Stuart's water system has almost $112,000 invested in fluoride equipment that has been sitting idle awaiting Tuesday's decision. Part of that is a $59,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health.
The success of Tuesday's referendum will not immediately result in Stuart water customers receiving fluoride. It will take between 90 and 120 days after the City Commission directs fluoridation to begin before it is added to tap water, said Dave Peters, city assistant public works director.
"There's a lot of testing that needs to be done," Peters said.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2298016565177652654&q=fluoridation&total=865&start=0&num=10&so=1&type=search&plindex=2

UK - Stop the rot - let's discuss fluoride in our water supply

Stop the rot - let's discuss fluoride in our water supply
What links your toothpaste to the atomic bomb and the world's most corrosive acid? Fluoride has been added to Bedfordshire's water with little or no public debate.
GARRICK ALDER reports on one campaigner who refuses to go with the flow.Cynthia Bagchi is shocked but not surprised.Another health study showing the negative effects of fluoridated tap water has just been published.

Cynthia Bagchi is concerned about the amount of flouride in the county's water.In County Donegal, Northern Ireland, tapwater is fluoridated.A series of tests by an American university has shown that the inhabitants of the county are being exposed to fluoride levels way above UK Food Standards Agency guidelines.Quoted in the press, the university's professor Paul Connett said: "Many thousands of people in Ireland are at risk of skeletal fluorosis." Cynthia Bagchi - wife of former mayor Apu - has been worried about fluoridation for five years, ever since she stumbled onto the issue while running an allergy support group.Mrs Bagchi told Bedfordshire on Sunday: "Tens of thousands of people in the UK, including babies, are probably being exposed to seriously unsafe amounts of fluoride." But why? And how? And what is 'skeletal fluorosis'? In order to answer those questions, we need to explain what fluoride actually is and why it is in our water at all.Fluorine, a gas, is the lightest member of a family of chemical elements called the halogens, the most reactive elements in the universe.Chlorine in water produces hydrochloric acid, and is therefore used in minute amounts to disinfect swimming pools.Fluorine is the most reactive halogen - a gentle jet of it will make even asbestos glow red hot.One of fluorine's compounds is hexafluorosilicic acid (HFSA), one of the most corrosive acids in the world.HFSA is so active that it can't be stored in glass bottles or in unlined metal containers - the liquid will simply eat its way out.HFSA is also the fluoride in 'fluoridated' water.At a concentration of one part in a million, it is unable to dissolve anything.The principle is that fluoride in water will help prevent dental cavities by strengthening teeth.But because water is freely available, anyone using tapwater is exposed to an uncontrolled dose of fluoride while drinking tea, having a bath, brushing their teeth, or any number of other household activities.And this is where the problems arise because fluoride is known to poison the central nervous system in large doses.The effects include lowered intelligence and reduced memory.In 1992, large amounts of fluoride were accidentally released into the drinking water for an Alaskan village where 219 people were poisoned and one died.Fluoride's reactivity means it gets absorbed into bones, displacing calcium.Long-term fluoride overexposure creates something called skeletal fluoridosis, giving a variety of bone problems.

Joshua the poodle has a flouride intolerance and will only drink bottled water Ironically enough, the main warning sign of fluoridosis is mottled cracked teeth.Yet the main evidence for the fluoridation movement - which arose in America after the Second World War - was that children seemed to have fewer cavities in some areas with naturallyfluoridated water.One claim about the fluoridation movement is that it received a major boost when the USA's atomic weapons programme discovered it had accidentally manufactured thousands of tonnes of HSFA that it couldn't get rid of safely.Key documents are missing, which deepens the suspicions of some researchers.Quite apart from the shadowy origins of fluoridation, there is an ethical aspect.Did you ever agree to be treated for a medical condition (fragile teeth) with an experimental medicine in an uncontrolled dose? In medical terms, you did not and so fluoridation is unethical and possibly illegal.In political terms, the Blair government steamrollered fluoridation into UK law in the Health Act (2003).Cynthia Bagchi said: "Fluoride is not an essential mineral of the body as has been taught."When fluoridation began in the 1950s there was no strict regulation in place."Evidence that fluoride can damage the brain has increased significantly, lowering IQ and altering behaviour."There have been 30 animal studies to show this effect already."The British Dental Association has warned mothers not to make up baby milk powder with fluoridated water, as this would be 250 times more fluoride than nature intended."I am saddened by how we have been so easily misled by those we trusted." An Anglian Water spokesman said: "Fluoridation increases the naturally occurring level of fluoride present in water."We do not supply medical expertise regarding fluoridation and dental health, but do provide health authorities with technical advice in relation to the operation of the water supply system, since our expertise lies in engineering and water treatment."The addition of fluoride to the water supply is a public health issue, not a water quality issue, and fluoridation is carried out in agreement with health authorities, at their request." CAF Bedford's website is: www.fluorideinbeds.com

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Niagara Region - kills fluoridated water plan

Region kills fluoridated water plan
Posted By MAGGIE RIOPELLE
Posted 21 hours ago
Late last week, Niagara Region brushed away a motion to have fluoride regionwide.
At the committee of the whole meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m. with 13 presentations from individuals and associations either for or against fluoride, council decided after nearly five hours not to go ahead with the controversial move.
However, there is still a possibility that Welland and those areas serviced by the local water treatment facility will once again be fluoridated if regional Coun. George Marshall can get the support of council at the next committee of the whole meeting.
Council was told that, to get the regionwide distribution of fluoride, it would cost $3 million in capital and some $600,000 in annual operating costs.
While supporters of fluoride felt the health benefits would far outweigh the initial costs, some like Mayor Damian Goulbourne said he couldn't justify taxpayers' dollars being used for the program.
He said plans for a separate system for Welland at a cost of $10 to $17 million had "no value" and that he was "struggling" with the second option of regionwide fluoride at $600,000 annual operating costs.
"In no way can I argue the science," said Goulbourne, who said the annual operating costs would be better spent on targeted programs and public health. "I understand the passion ... but I'm here focused on the best way to spend these tax dollars."
Goulbourne used Welland's own innovative program as an example of how collaboration can ensure children are getting the care they need.
There is a partnership between the United Way, Niagara College's dental hygienist program and students of Empire School, Mathews School and Princess Elizabeth, where last year some 40 children received free care at the college. The city provided the transportation.
"It was one of the most emotional days these Niagara College students had ... these kids had never seen a dentist," said Goulbourne, who added the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council recently put together packages for 800 local students which included toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Medical officer of health Dr. Robin Williams said while Welland's program helped 40 children, there are 100,000 to reach. Fluoride in the water distribution system is a better way to reach the masses, including adults and seniors.
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As well, public health has seen a lack of participation in alternative dental programs.
Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn said he was willing to support public health in the move to get fluoride into the water distribution system because it is a cost-effective way to reach so many people. It's a move Pelham's Regional Coun. Brian Baty also supported.
"When you play sports, they say to keep your eye on the ball," said Augustyn, who said in this case, preventing tooth decay is the ball and he supports regionwide fluoride because the alternatives just don't cut it.
For Welland Regional Coun. Cindy Forster, there was no doubt in her mind whether to support fluoridated water.
"I've lived in Welland my whole life," said Forster, adding that for most of her life she has consumed fluoridated water. "I'm alive, well and lived to tell the story. Not once have I come across anyone who expressed a negative effect from fluoridation." "I understand the passion ... but I'm here focused on the best way to spend these tax dollars."
Welland Mayor Damian Goulbourne

Bills to Ban Aspartame Progress in Hawaii

Bills to Ban Aspartame Progress in Hawaii
by Stephen Fox, Managing Editor, Santa Fe Sun News and Founder, New Millennium
http://www.opednews.com
Greetings from New Mexico!
I am very grateful for the broad Hawaiian support thus far for the bill to ban aspartame, the neurotoxic artificial sweetener, from human consumption or sale, which I hope will be heard soon and strongly support in the Senate Health Committee and in the House Health, and Consumer Protection and Commerce Committees. I was the main force behind this massive effort in the NM legislature in 2006 and 2007, and I can share with readers a few insights on the pitfalls and stumbling blocks that will be thrown at this legislation by corporate lobbyists representing some very evil doing corporations in the USA and in Japan which manufacture and use this poison to save a few bucks on adding real sugar as a sweetener.
I have been discussing this at length with Dr. Adrian Chang of Honolulu, the nuclear engineer and force behind the very brilliant and ultimately successful effort to stop fluoride being added to municipal water supplies, thanks to the Oahu County government's decision to not add fluoride...............................

USA - Like pulling teeth

Like pulling teeth
By David Jacobs (Contact)
Monday, December 17, 2007
Nelson Daly has been a practicing dentist in Baton Rouge since 1994, and business is booming. But he doesn’t accept patients who rely on Medicaid, the government program that covers certain kinds of medical expenses for the poor.
And it’s not because he’s greedy; he’s one of the founders of the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a “virtual clinic” by which providers offer free care to the working poor in their own offices.
“I’d love to help out more people,” he says. But Medicaid in Louisiana pays less than 60% of the average fee that a dentist would charge for most services. At that rate, most dentists, who generally own their own practices, can’t even cover their overhead.
“If I don’t run it like a business, I’m going to lose it,” Daly says. With the community clinic, he can decide ahead of time how many people he will treat and work them into his schedule. But if he opened the floodgates to Medicaid patients, he wouldn’t have that kind of control. And even Medicaid generally only covers dental care for pregnant women and people under the age of 21; other needy people rely either on a hodgepodge of private efforts and government clinics, or do without.
“There’s definitely a real problem,” Daly says. “Unfortunately, you cannot take care of everybody. There are so many people out there, you can’t come up with a plan to cover all of them.”
Medicaid is funded by the federal government and the state at a 70/30 ratio, and administered by the state. Last year, the program cost about $62.3 million. The state has raised the reimbursement rates each of the last five years, cheering dental health advocates.
“Louisiana is going in the right direction, but we still have a significant way to go,” says Ward Blackwell, executive director of the Louisiana Dental Association. He says if reimbursement rates could be brought up to about 70% of a dentist’s typical fee, most would be able to at least cover their expenses.
Just over half of the state’s 1,950 dentists are signed up for Medicaid, although only 663 actually saw even a single Medicaid patient in fiscal year 2006-07. The administrative burden the system imposes, along with what dentists say is a tendency by Medicaid patients to miss appointments, help discourage dentists from serving that population, says Dionne Richardson, director of the state’s Oral Health Program. But finding a dentist also is a problem in many rural areas; Richardson says 73% of Louisiana’s 64 parishes are officially designated as “dental health professional shortage” areas.
Richardson says when the Office of Public Health provides dental sealants to children in central Louisiana schools, they often recruit providers from other areas. And of roughly 30,000 pregnant women eligible for Medicaid dental services, only 4,129 participated in fiscal year 2006-07, which represents a three-fold increase from the year before, she says.
One way to increase access, used in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and about 40 other nations but implemented in this country only in Alaska, is the use of dental therapists, who provide primary dental care to children and adults in poor, rural areas.
The Alaskan therapists receive two years of training in the state, explains Peter Milgrom, the director of the Northwest/Alaska Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities and a professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Dental Public Health Sciences. Therapists can pull teeth, drill and fill and, perhaps more important, promote preventive care among an Alaskan population where most children have significant tooth decay by their second birthday, he says.
Milgrom argues that such a system, staunchly opposed by the American Dental Association, could do a lot of good in the lower 48 where he says only about a third of the population gets regular dental care and nearly two-thirds of children on Medicaid don’t have a dental visit in any given year.
Blackwell, the head of the LDA, calls the use of dental therapists a “scary prospect.” How can therapists with limited training stand in for dentists with four-year college degrees and four years of dental school?
“There’s no way you can begin to equate the quality of care,” Blackwell says. “I think that’s not a very good solution. Why should you have a second tier of care for the poor?”
“There is already a two-tiered system and always has been,” Milgrom says. “The goal is to actually provide something other than expensive emergency care.” He stresses that therapists are not independent practitioners; rather, they are considered primary caregivers at the remote sites where they operate, and consult with and make referrals to a regional dentist supervisor.
Blackwell does say that better education about the importance of primary dental care is needed. And many dental professionals say fluoridated water can make a huge difference. Blackwell says less than half of the state’s population has fluoridated tap water, and says that for every dollar spent on fluoridation, perhaps $40 can be saved in Medicaid costs.
But as Robert Barsley, director of the Dental Health Resources Program at the LSU School of Dentistry, points out, fluoridation can be very expensive on the front end. Hays Owen, senior vice president and chief administrative officer of the Baton Rouge Water Company, says the company has never estimated how much it would cost to add fluoride at each of its 80 wells parish wide, but says it would be cost-prohibitive.
And there is care out there for the less fortunate. Most metropolitan areas, including Baton Rouge, do have clinics that charge on a sliding scale, although fully staffing those clinics can be a problem. There are specific programs to provide donated services to the handicapped and elderly. The Baton Rouge Clinic program caters to those that are employed but uninsured, and make up to twice the federal poverty rate; the program has a waiting list of three to six months, executive director Pat Alford says.
But people still seem to fall through the cracks. Blair Gremillion is a Prairieville dentist who volunteers on the “Dental Bus” that belongs to Healing Place Church of Baton Rouge. The bus visits the church’s satellite campuses in Donaldsonville, St. Francisville and Gonzales three Saturdays a month. Gremillion and two other dentist volunteers take turns doing tooth extractions, which he says is the biggest need.
“I think we all could do a little more,” he says, stressing that he had nothing bad to say about his profession. “There’s definitely a problem, and there’s not an easy answer. This is what God put in my heart, and it’s one way I can help. We’re not trying to solve the health care crisis by ourselves.”

Comments
Posted by nyscof (anonymous) on January 28, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Poor diets create poor teeth. Fluoridation is not a factor in it at all. Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth.
No Louisiana resident is , or ever was, fluoride deficient. In fact, they may be fluoride overdosed as the Centers for Disease Control show that up to 41% of US school children have dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted enamel.
Dentists must be mandated to treat children on Medicaid. They didn't get rich on their own. The government subsidized their education and their unions, such as the American Dental Association, garner them perks through their influence in creating legislation favoring dentists.
The Dental Health Aide Therapists are a wonderful idea but the ADA is fighting it because they don't want anyone infringing on their lucrative monopoly - even if low-income Americans have to suffer so dentists can stay rich.

USA - Bill would require dental checkupsKentucky.com

Bill would require dental checkupsKentucky.com
January 28, 2008
Original Kentucky.com article: Bill would require dental checkups Read all 4 comments » Wendy Humphrey has seen 2-year-olds with 20 teeth and 20 cavities. She's seen 5-year-olds with cavities so far gone, the tooth -- sometimes multiple teeth -- had to be removed.
The tragedy, says Humphrey, director of the dental clinic at the Family Care Center in Lexington, is that the problems are preventable: The children and their parents need to learn about good oral health.
Proponents say that a bill before the House Health and Welfare Committee would be a first step toward that education. House Bill 186 would require all children entering public school to have their teeth checked.
'By getting this check-up they can actually get in the mold of going to the dentist on a regular basis,' said Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville, the bill's sponsor.
It could also improve school attendance rates.
'Dental disease, dental pain is one of the number one reasons kids are missing school,' said Mike Porter, executive director of the Kentucky Dental Association, which is lobbying on behalf of the bill.
Kentucky has some of the worst oral health in the nation. The state ranks number two in the nation for toothlessness among adults, and number one in toothlessness among adults of working age.
The teeth of Kentucky's children are not much healthier. Approximately 42 percent of kids ages 2 to 4 have active cavities. At any given point, some 4,500 3-year-olds, or 8 percent of the population, have a tooth ache, said Julie McKee, the state dental director.
And the health of their teeth affects children's ability to learn.
'The healthier their mouths, the readier they are to learn all there is to learn,' McKee said.
But Wayne Young, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, says the bill could have the unintended effect of preventing kids from going to school.
The children who aren't already accessing dental services are typically poor, Young said. Schools already have difficulty getting those kids immunized, another requirement for enrollment.
'These are children who don't get a lot of services to begin with,' Young said. 'They don't go to the dentist. They don't go to the doctors. They go to the emergency room every once in a while.'
In addition, it can be hard for children with Medicaid or the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program to find a dentist.
Only about 25 percent of practicing dentists regularly accept Medicaid or KCHIP patients, according to McKee. The state recently increased reimbursement rates for dentists, which may improve the situation.
At Family Care Center, which only sees children with Medicaid or KCHIP, it takes 4 to 8 weeks to get an appointment. Such delays may help explain why less than half of eligible children use dental services.
In 2006, Medicaid spent $40.5 million on dental services, reaching 39 percent of the children enrolled in the program, according to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. KCHIP spent $7.7 million, reaching 47 percent of those enrolled in the program.
Porter, executive director of the state dental association, predicts that dentists would see more Medicaid and KCHIP patients if a bill was passed.
Burch, the bill's sponsor, says the check-up could be done in schools or by dental technicians, making it easier for parents.
It is unclear how much support the bill has. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear is still reviewing the legislation and declined to comment, through a spokesperson. Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, did not respond to phone calls about the bill.
Burch expects the bill to go before the House Health and Welfare Committee, which he chairs, in early February.
If the measure becomes law, proponents hope more children will follow the example of five-year-old Alexus Wilkinson. She had a check-up a few months ago that found several cavities. Now she's getting them treated.
On Friday, Alexus giggled in the dental chair at the Family Care Center. Bright green sunglasses covered the girl's eyes and a white device, which delivered laughing gas, covered her nose.
'We've got to put your teeth to sleep,' Dentist Dustin Hall told her as he prepared to crown two teeth.
'You might even hear them snoring,' said Santiana Turner, a dental hygienist, as Alexus giggled again.

Fluoridation is state-mandated in Kentucky - 99.6% are fluoridated:NYSCOF

Monday, January 28, 2008

Fluorosis causing bone, joint pain

To The Editor: Both fluoridation sides agree on two facts:
About half of ingested fluoride remains in the body, primarily in bone (more in children).
The average fluoridated American is now ingesting 3 to 6-plus milligrams of fluoride a day from water, food, toothpaste, mouthwash, pesticides.
If we take 4 milligrams a day as an average, two milligrams stay in the body so 365 days times 2 milligrams times 10.5 years equals 7,665 milligrams (or ppm) accumulated within the 10.5 years Hendersonville has been fluoridated.
The Review of Fluoride Benefits and Risks (USDHHS publication, 1991, page 46) states:
"Crippling Skeletal Fluorosis with a bone ash concentration of 6,000 to 7,000 ppm fluoride is described by the U.S. Public Health Service as sporadic pain and stiffness of joints. Above 7,500 ppm the symptoms are 'chronic joint pain; arthritic symptoms; slight calcification of ligaments; increased osteosclerosis/ cancellous bones; with/without osteoporosis of long bones.' With more than 8,400 ppm in bone ash the symptoms are described as 'limitation of joint movement; calcification of ligaments/neck, vert. column; crippling deformities/spine & major joints; muscle wasting; neurological defects/ compression of spinal cord.'" (emphasis mine)

Got pain? Arthritis? Osteoporosis?

Think crippling skeletal fluorosis!

Janet Pettit

Saluda

Wales - Is water fluoridation a clear help in fighting tooth decay – or a poison?

Is water fluoridation a clear help in fighting tooth decay – or a poison?
Jan 28 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail
Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths has called for the National Assembly to debate whether fluoride should be added to the Welsh water supply. But will such a form of mass medication improve our dental health?
THE BMA has for many years been in favour of the fluoridation of mains water supplies. We support this policy on the grounds of effectiveness, safety and equity.
Section 58 of the Water Act 2003 makes it mandatory on water companies to fluoridate supplies wherever this is formally requested by health bodies, following full and proper consultation with local communities.
This will give local populations the right to choose to have their water fluoridated.
Fluoridation of water is an effective public health strategy for reducing tooth decay in the population.
The evidence accumulated over many years shows fluoride is highly protective to the teeth of children, and is very safe. Water fluoridation is one of the most effective ways of reducing tooth decay in the community.
Not only does water fluoridation reduce tooth decay and consequently the number of extractions needed, but it also brings the added and welcome benefit of a reduction in the number of general anaesthetics administered to children.
The BMA believes there is no convincing evidence of any adverse risk to human health by the introduction of water fluoridation.
Evidence through scientific studies shows that fluoride in water, at or around one part per million, does not have any effect on the health of the body other than reducing decay in teeth.
This view is supported by the World Health Organisation, the Royal College of Physicians, and the British Dental Association, among others.
There is more than 40 years of experience in England of artificial fluoridation and we are not aware of evidence of harm demonstrated in those areas, other than dental fluorosis in a small number of children.
Neither the York review nor the MRC working group could find convincing evidence of musculoskeletal disease, kidney disease, infertility, central nervous system damage or damage in the thyroid gland.
Tooth decay is a significant problem in the UK, particularly in socially deprived areas. Dental health inequalities are widening and severe tooth decay is associated with child poverty.
Children from less well-off backgrounds may have five times more tooth decay than those in the highest social classes.
Studies have shown that children in non-fluoridated under-privileged areas of the UK are more likely to have teeth extracted due to tooth decay than those in either affluent, or similar, but fluoridated areas.
For example, five-year-olds in non-fluoridated Manchester suffer almost two-and-a-half times more tooth decay than those in fluoridated Birmingham and almost three times more than their peers in affluent West Surrey.
A few miles from Birmingham is Sandwell – one of the most socially-deprived districts in the country. Thanks to water fluoridation, the dental health of young children in Sandwell is excellent.
Many more children and adults in this country would have deficiencies in various basic nutrients but for food fortification regulations.
We have no concerns about the mandatory addition of vitamins A and D to margarine, and calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin to most types of flour, or the voluntary fortification of common types of food such as breakfast cereals and baby foods. Water fluoridation is simply the fortification of fluoride- deficient water supplies, and should be treated no differently.

Hot press straight from the British Fluoride Society?

Sunday, January 27, 2008

USA - Region's fluoride decision justified

Region's fluoride decision justified
Posted 19 hours ago
The decision on Thursday night of regional council's Committee of the Whole in Niagara to vote down a motion to fluoridate all of Niagara's municipal water was a good one for the community.
As the Region of Niagara has 12 communities and only one full community which has received water fluoridation for over 40 years, its uniqueness to assess the impact of fluoridation was more obvious than in most communities.
Dr. Klooz, Associate Commissioner of Health for the region, presented data at a public meeting in July which revealed Welland children have higher tooth decay rates, at many different ages, after years of exposure to fluoridation in Welland's water supply.
At the committee meeting, local dentists made claims about the benefits of water fluoridation and ignored the local data. On average, compared to other regional children, tooth decay rates are up 27 per cent in Welland.
Many councillors voiced their concerns over possible negative health effects and the inability to control the dose of fluoride from one individual to another, considering there are many more sources of fluoride in our diets and the environment than years ago. They were also concerned about the fact the Public Works Department confirmed the chemical used for water fluoridation is not a pure product and does contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic and other contaminants which they do not have a process to remove, only dilute.
The issue of water fluoridation should not be surrounded by emotion and fear mongering about the possible outbreak of rampant tooth decay, but simply about new science that has evolved.
Modern medical science has brought forward new studies and awareness about adding synthetic toxins to our diets and the environment.
We need to educate the public about dental hygiene, good nutrition and to fight poverty, not throw more fluoride at the problem.
Cindy Mayor
Waterdown

Sensible

Australia - Government steps in as protesters prepare

By Hannah Davies January 27, 2008 12:00am
PEOPLE would have to drink a bathtub of fluoridated water in a day to be poisoned, the State Government said yesterday.
As it prepares to start adding the anti-tooth-decay compound to Queensland's water at the end of the year, the Government is taking steps to reassure the public that it is safe.
Health Minister Stephen Robertson said the Government had to gain public confidence in fluoride, although he acknowledged some people would never be convinced of the benefits.
"There is strong support, but we do not want to take that for granted," he said.
Mr Robertson said legislation would be introduced next month outlining the framework for the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
He said there would be legal guidelines setting the standard for water quality and an appropriate water-testing regime would be put in place.
"We want it so people can see that fluoridation plants are operating within proper guidelines," he said.
Premier Anna Bligh announced in December that the Government would fluoridate water, but could not act until it had taken responsibility from councils for bulk water supply. It means southeast Queensland will start drinking fluoridated water at the end of the year, as well as areas of Cairns, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton and Toowoomba.
By 2012, about 90 per cent of the state will have fluoridated water.
"Together with oral hygiene and good nutrition, fluoridation has been proven to reduce tooth decay by up to 40 per cent, and a 'Smart State' cannot ignore the extensive scientific evidence that shows fluoridation is the missing link in Queensland's oral health system," Ms Bligh said.
Members of lobby group Queenslanders Against Water Fluoridation said they were planning legal action against Ms Bligh, as well as protesting outside Parliament next month.
QAWF's Jeanie Ryan, a Brisbane dietitian, said the Government needed to be stopped.
"Fluoride is a poison and it is unacceptable to be medicating the water with this and forcing everyone to drink it," she said.
"Our main concern is that babies under six months aren't supposed to have any fluoride.
"What we will see as a result, is children growing up with an IQ of less than 100, who are struggling to keep a job."

USA - Geoff Oldfather: To fluoride or not to fluoride?

Geoff Oldfather: To fluoride or not to fluoride?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I'm surprised the anti-fluoride extremists aren't citing Nostradamus or consulting the Mayan calendar.
They've done just about everything else in their attempts to malign and vilify one of the safest preventive health measures on the planet.
For months a small and often vitriolic group has been plying me with misinformation while accusing fluoride proponents of using the same tactic.
Far from conceding fluoride in drinking water can prevent tooth decay and strengthen bones, they claim it will lead to everything from brain damage to bone cancer, and for all I know, a spiraling national debt.
One of their favorite targets and tactics is the American Dental Association and taking ADA data, studies and statements out of context.
For example:
Fluoride opponents say the American Dental Association itself has come out against fluoride.
They cite an article from an August 2007 bulletin by the "Environmental Working Group that says in part "(e)ven the American Dental Association ... tells parents to avoid fluoridated water," and they point to what the ADA says about baby formula and fluoridated water.
But the anti's are misrepresenting what the ADA actually says, which is that infant formula prepared with fluoridated water — over time and at levels above the recommended optimum — can slightly, and the key word is "slightly," increase the risk of discolored teeth.
It's a cautionary note just like thousands of warnings associated with any product. After all, aspirin can help prevent heart attacks, but if you take a handful all at once they might kill you. It doesn't mean we're going to outlaw aspirin.
The ADA still recommends fluoridated water even for youngsters as the best way to prevent tooth decay.
Through all the hyperbole leading up to the city of Stuart referendum on whether to add fluoride to the water supply, I've been talking with Dr. David Boden, a local dentist who's been the target of some of the meanest bile from the anti-fluoride faction I've ever seen.
He's a voice of reason who wants civil public discussion on the issue, but he's so put off by the target painted on his back he'll probably never again take on a public campaign even if it is for the public good. And that's too bad.
"What they're saying are falsehoods or extraordinary distortions of the facts," Boden said.
Here are the first two statements in the ADA executive summary of its paper titled simply, "Fluoridation Facts."
"Fluoridation of community water supplies is the single most effective public health measure to prevent dental decay."
And, "Throughout more than 60 years of research and practical experience the overwhelming weight of credible scientific evidence has consistently indicated that fluoridation of community water supplies is safe."
The material in the executive summary draws on more than 350 peer-reviewed scientific studies that cover everything from the alleged links between fluoride and cancer to the proven health benefits.
And, in 1999, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention included water fluoridation in its list of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.
Don't take my word for it or that of the anti-fluoride faction. I've included a link to the ADA's executive summary as well as a link to one of the anti-fluoride Web sites with the online version of this column. Look at the material that's out there.
And you decide. Use logic and reason, and I know:
You'll vote in favor.
Martin County columnist Geoff Oldfather can be reached at (772) 221-4217 or geoff.oldfather@scripps.com. Catch Geoff Sunday mornings live from 8 to 9 a.m. on The Coast, 101.3 FM, for the Coast Forum. The Coast Live Line is (772) 344-1999.•For a list of organizations that support adding fluoride and pro-fluoride information see www.healthysmilesproject.org. For the ADA's "Fluoride Facts" go to www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/fluoridation_facts.pdf.

•The anti-fluoride campaign often cites a National Academies study released in March 2006. That study, which addressed the maximum level of fluoride in water but not the practice of fluoridation, can be found at www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/. Enter "fluoride" in the Web site search engine. There is more anti-fluoride information at www.fluoridealert.org.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPPORTS FLUORIDE
The Florida Department of Health sent a release Friday signed by State Surgeon General Dr. Ana M. Viamonte Ros supporting and recommending adding fluoride to drinking water supplies. To see the release, visit TCPalm.com.


Comments(3)
#1 Posted by truth_seeker on January 27, 2008 at 2:13 a.m.
Wow, wow, wow!
Ok, lets put the proponents claims to the test!
Are those entities able to back up their one-sided claims with personal responsibility & liability, when it comes to the crush?
Well if not, that speaks of volumes!!
It is well known that this toxin dulls the mind, causes arthritis, various cancers later on + destroys enzymes etc. etc.
You really get healthy teeth via a healthy responsible diet + good dental hygiene, not via some toxic diluted industrial waste!
If the so-called health experts, are not able to backup their wild claims, then it remains pure fiction!
Merely repeating age old, worn out endorsements, does NOT constitute scientific proof, which never existed from its start in the very first place, not genuinely anyway...
Obviously the proponents are bursting, to get the masses medicated!!
We'll hear them roar, soon enough, after this message!

#2 Posted by truth_seeker on January 27, 2008 at 2:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, and not one word from Oldfather, that they're seeking to pollute the drinking water, with toxic garbage, not one word, typical, just typical!
As long as there are greedy self serving entities out there, they'll likely keep getting the upper hand on this, unless there's a long awaited, overdue, Congressional hearing into this!!

#3 Posted by truth_seeker on January 27, 2008 at 2:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Big deal, the State Surgeon General recommended dumping junk, into the drinking water supply!
They have to endorse this!
Who do you think, pays them to do this?

Cure for water woes may rival the disease

Cure for water woes may rival the disease
By Lorraine AhearnStaff Writer Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008 3:00 am
Read On Cure for water woes may rival the disease
Don't drink the water, warned the automated message last weekend from their community well water provider, unless you boil it first. And though Roy and Mary Cannap have for years lived in the wooded, 500-home neighborhood topped by a sky-blue water tower in the shape of a golf ball on a tee, they never got the message.
So Roy went on drinking the tap water for the next five days, noticing he kept getting headaches — rare, for him — and stomachaches. Was it the flu, he wondered?
That's when his wife spotted a story about a "boil" advisory in their neighborhood because of possible bacteria in the community well.
"I think calling people was a good thing," Mary Cannap said, "but we got a new phone number two years ago, and they couldn't reach us."
By Friday, a week after well water company Carolina Water Service found the possible contamination, the advisory had been lifted, the water was back on, and Roy Cannap was feeling fine.
The only problem was, the tap water now smelled like chlorine — lots of chlorine — after a shock treatment to make sure the bacteria was gone. And there you have the paradox, which applies to all of us city water drinkers, as well. In order to purify water enough that it won't make us sick, how many chemicals do we meanwhile ingest?
And not just any chemicals, but the same ones that, when you put them in your swimming pool, have a skull and crossbones on the label?
"The environment has gotten so bad that nature can't clean itself anymore," Cannap said. "You've got to put enough chlorine in there to kill anything. Enough to kill a hog, if one fell in."
If that's what it takes to supply 500 homes, how tricky a task is it to purify water for a city the size of Greensboro? Consider the monthly water quality reports the city publishes, taking three dozen readings, from arsenic to zinc, on the raw water drawn from lakes Townsend and Brandt, and the finished product.
The treatment is adjusted by season as well as lake levels. Right now, intakes where water is drawn from the lakes are 8 feet lower than usual, that much closer to mud and silt.
"The deeper the lake, anything that's heavy has more of an opportunity to settle out," said Marie Shander, lab supervisor at the Mitchell Water Treatment plant at Benjamin Parkway and Battleground Avenue. "When the concentrations of contaminants are higher, we have to throw more chemicals at it, and it costs more."
How much is allowed — of chlorine, for instance, or the alternative chlorine-ammonia disinfectant "chloramine" — is regulated by the EPA.
What's less clear is the long-term effects of the complicated cocktail of chemicals in city water, including anticorrosives, fluoride, floculants and substances such as soda ash, sometimes used to adjust pH levels.
That's mouthful enough to explain what SoftRain dealer Michelle Heavener was drinking Friday at her office, a few miles from the Abington subdivision. It was a plastic bottle with her own label: Triad Water Treatment Co.
"That's the house brand," said husband Dan Heavener, "and when we travel, we drink Dasani or Le Bleu. We're not doctors. Let's just say it tastes better and it's better on your plumbing."
A plumber and second-generation filtration installer, he said that 20 years ago customers looked perplexed when he asked them the question that begins each service call:
How much bottled water do you buy?
"The answer would be, 'Why would I buy water? I'm already paying for it,' " Heavener said. "Today, everybody drinks bottled water."
Equally telling is that almost half the customers who now invest in water filtering systems, which remove chlorine as well as "free floaters" including heavy metals, are already hooked up to municipal water.
Even the most devoted public health ambassadors, whose mission is to protect the good of the many, recognize the paradox.
"What do I do at home?" mused Alyson Best, one of the environmental health managers for the Guilford County Health Department."I put a Brita (water filter) on the counter, and that's what we drink. It removes any lead, and I don't smell the chlorine. It tastes better, too."

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com

Alex Jones Blasts Bilderbergs warning graphic photos!



Bit extreme.

USA - A cavity in children's health

A cavity in children's health
Email|Print| Text size – + January 26, 2008
TOOTH DECAY and other dental woes hit low-income and minority children hard, according to a study released this week. It's a public check-up that should push Massachusetts to act.
more stories like thisChildren across the country suffer from toothaches and decay, and many go without basic care. In one horrifying case last year, 12-year-old Deamonte Driver of Maryland died because an untreated dental abscess apparently led to a brain infection. His family was poor and frequently homeless.
While most cases aren't this tragic, thousands of disadvantaged children in Massachusetts do suffer from dental pain that hinders eating, learning, and sleeping.
Problems start early. In Massachusetts, 19,000 kindergarteners (28 percent) have tooth decay. And of this number, 10,000 aren't getting treatment, according to estimates in the new report from the Catalyst Institute, a nonprofit that's funded in part by the Delta Dental insurance company. Black children are 1.7 times more likely than white children to be in this group. Hispanic children are 1.8 times more likely. And poor children are almost twice as likely to be in this group as wealthier peers.
There is no one magic cure, but there are ways to weave a stronger dental safety net.
Connecticut sets a good example. It has a statewide oral health plan, which calls for doubling the number of dentists who take Medicaid - by raising reimbursement rates and cutting down on paperwork - and increasing the number of people who get annual dental care. Massachusetts doesn't have such a plan, but it is wisely seeking federal funds to create one. And in the last year, the state has added 200 dental providers who accept Medicaid patients.
Massachusetts already has an Office of Oral Health that's putting up a good fight. The office manages school-based fluoride rinse programs in communities where the water isn't fluoridated. It also promotes the use of dental sealants, a coating to protect against cavities, on children's teeth.
But there's more to do. The state should seek to increase the number of cities and towns that have fluoridated water systems. Currently 139 cities and towns do, including Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge. But most - including Springfield - do not.
Other steps could prove useful. More minority dental students should be recruited to increase diversity and break down some patients' distrust of dentists. And more dental services could be put in schools, public housing, and other alternative settings.
While this state and the nation as a whole have made strides in extending health coverage to poor children, efforts to make sure children have dental care have lagged behind. Massachusetts needs a broad strategy to deal with these needs.

© Copyright 2008 Globe

Saturday, January 26, 2008

geelong citizens protesting fluoridation without consent!



Quite as good turn out to oppose fluoridation in Australia.

USA - Erie voters will consider putting fluoride in water

Erie voters will consider putting fluoride in water
By Luke Morin Longmont Times-Call
ERIE — In a perfect world, Diane Brunson would have the fluoride flowing freely through every Colorado tap.
To Brunson, who heads the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Oral Health Unit, it’s an easy call. Statistics show sharp reductions in tooth decay in communities that fluoridate their water.
Studies show the costs — about $1 per person per year for a community the size of Erie, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are far outweighed by the savings in community dental bills. The CDC ranks fluoridation with immunization and heart health on its short list of public health achievements in the 20th century.
“We have (had) fluoridated water since 1945 in this country and seen no adverse health defects,” Brunson said. “It’s beneficial to everyone.”
Still, public outcry kept Erie trustees from fluoridating the water in 2001. On April 1, the trustees will let residents of the growing town decide whether they want fluoride in the town’s tap water.
“The board felt that it was time to let the people decide for themselves,” Erie Mayor Andrew Moore said.
Despite the urging of the state and the fact that 75 percent of Colorado communities fluoridate, detractors say the additive is at best unnecessary, at worst toxic.
While it’s widely accepted that fluoride protects tooth enamel, critics say fluoride in toothpaste makes it unnecessary to fluoridate water. Critics also point to studies that show that long-term fluoride consumption can leave teeth discolored and even pose health risks — high concentrations of fluoride were once used as rat poison.
“It’s bad for the kids,” said Pam Buckley, an Erie resident and 39-year-old mother of three. “They can take all of the impurities out they want, but I don’t care to have it in the water.”
Erie remains one of the last — and one of the largest — communities in Colorado to keep the local water supply fluoride-free. Locally, water customers in Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Dacono, Firestone, Frederick and the Left Hand Water District all receive fluoridated water.
“We were shocked (Erie) didn’t have fluoride in the water,” said Susan MacLeod, a former Evergreen resident who recently moved to Erie and plans to support the initiative on the April 1 ballot. “I’ve never even heard anything bad about it.”
The concerns have been raised in other Front Range communities. Boulder voters narrowly defeated a resolution to remove fluoride from their water in 2006. Fort Collins voters rejected a similar measure in 2005.

USA - Region brushes aside fluoride

Region brushes aside fluoride
Posted By By MAGGIE RIOPELLE
Posted 11 hours ago
Tribune Staff
THOROLD
Late last night Niagara Region brushed away a motion to have fluoride regionwide.
At the committee of the whole meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m. with 13 presentations from individuals and associations either for or against fluoride, council decided after nearly five hours not to go ahead with the controversial move.
However, there is still a possibility that Welland and those areas serviced by the local water treatment facility will once again be fluoridated if regional Coun. George Marshall can get the support of council at the next committee of the whole meeting.
Last night, council was told that, to get the regionwide distribution of fluoride, it would cost $3 million in capital and some $600,000 in annual operating costs.
While supporters of fluoride felt the health benefits would far outweigh the initial costs, some like Mayor Damian Goulbourne said he couldn’t justify taxpayers’ dollars being used for the program.
He said plans for a separate system for Welland at anywhere from $10 to $17 million had “no value” and that he was “struggling” with the second option of regionwide fluoride at $600,000 annual operating costs.
“In no way can I argue the science,” said Goulbourne, but he did feel the annual operating costs would be better spent on targeted programs and public health. “I understand the passion ... but I’m here focused on the best way to spend these tax dollars.”
Goulbourne used Welland’s own innovative program as an example of how collaboration can ensure children are getting the care they need.
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There is a partnership between the United Way, Niagara College’s dental hygienist program and students of Empire School, Mathews School and Princess Elizabeth, where last year some 40 children received free care at the college. The city provided the transportation.
“It was one of the most emotional days these Niagara College students had ... these kids had never seen a dentist,” said Goulbourne, who added the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council recently put together packages for 800 local students which included toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Medical officer of health Dr. Robin Williams said while Welland’s program helped 40 children, there are 100,000 to reach. Fluoride in the water distribution system is a better way to reach the masses, including adults and seniors.
As well, public health has seen a lack of participation in alternative dental programs.
Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn said he was willing to support public health in the move to get fluoride into the water distribution system because it is a cost-effective way to reach so many people. It’s a move Pelham’s Regional Coun. Brian Baty also supported.
“When you play sports, they say to keep your eye on the ball,” said Augustyn, who said in this case, preventing tooth decay is the ball and he supports regionwide fluoride because the alternatives just don’t cut it.
For Welland Regional Coun. Cindy Forster, there was no doubt in her mind whether to support fluoridated water.
“I’ve lived in Welland my whole life,” said Forster, adding that for most of her life she has consumed fluoridated water. “I’m alive, well and lived to tell the story. Not once have I come across anyone who expressed a negative effect from fluoridation.”
Forster said she was unwilling to rely on charitable donations, like the program the mayor referred to, in order to tackle the problem. “And $600,000 doesn’t go very far when you’re using it to go to the dentist,” said Forster.
Historically, Welland did have fluoride in its water system, then Pelham and one part of Thorold were added to services from the local plant. However, the fluoridation was discontinued and the cities weren’t notified until 2006, years after the service had stopped.
It’s for that reason Marshall plans to continue to fight for fluoride in Welland. He intends to bring his motion forward at the next meeting to have Welland’s water treatment facility repaired for fluoridation. Marshall said it was “regrettable” that councillors didn’t see the benefit in favouring fluoride for the region.
The regional public works department has concerns with providing fluoridation to communities serviced by the Welland facility because it will put a wrench in plans to connect the major water lines between communities. The Region expects to connect Welland to Niagara Falls within three to five years.
Marshall’s notice to have Welland back online with fluoridation will be on the next committee of the whole agenda.
mriopelle@wellandtribune.ca

Friday, January 25, 2008

From NYSCOF

New York – January 25 -- Sixty-three years ago, January 25, 1945, sodium fluoride was slowly poured into Grand Rapids, Michigan’s public water supply to prove that fluoridation reduces children’s tooth decay. Nearby Muskegon was left fluoridation-free as the experiment’s control city for comparison purposes.
The study failed; but early fluoridationists ignored this inconvenient truth.
Named a “demonstration project” so as not to alarm residents about what was actually occurring, the experiment was meant to last 15 years. After only five years, cavities went down in both Grand Rapids and Muskegon. So officials fluoridated Muskegon which scientifically nullified the study.(1)
Today Americans are fluoride overdosed, suffer from fluoride’s toxic effects while cavity rates rise.
"Grand Rapids has a moral obligation to stop fluoridation instead of glorifying it so as to protect all Americans," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. "Grand Rapids current Mayor, who is also an ordained minister, should begin that process." says Beeber.
There are many errors in the Grand Rapids experiment. (2) When a firm of professional statisticians was employed to study the data published from the trial, they concluded: "the lack of sophistication shown in selecting the sample leads to complete bewilderment as to the precise effects or the extent of the effect of fluoridation" (De Stefano 1954).

The Grand Rapids experiment never proved fluoridation was effective and didn’t even look for adverse health effects. But that hasn’t stopped public officials and organized dentistry from saying it did. In fact, two monuments have been built in fluoridation’s honor in Grand Rapids. The first one crumbled and fell apart just as over-fluoridated children’s teeth tend to do.
So what’s happening today?
Grand Rapids children are showing 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)
The state of Michigan is now 86% fluoridated and Detroit is 100% fluoridated.
A study shows that, although fluoridated tap water is the most consumed item, 83% of low-income Detroit African-American adults, 14-years-old and over, have severe tooth decay.(5) Almost all Detroit’s African-American 5-year-olds have cavities, most of them go unfilled.(6)
The Michigan Department of Community Health reports: (7)
Cavity rates in six to eight-year-olds are:
-- 75% for American Indian/Alaska Natives
-- 72% of Hispanics,
-- 57% of White non-Hispanic
-- 57% of Black non-Hispanic
-- 50% of Asians
“One in four (25%) Michigan third grade children have untreated dental decay.” Low income children have significantly higher rates of untreated dental decay.
Uninsured or low-income children were six times more likely to have immediate dental needs with signs or symptoms of pain, swelling, or infection than privately insured or higher income children.
“Obviously fluoridation has not reduced or leveled out tooth decay rates between poor and non-poor Michigan children,” says Beeber. “Instead Michigan children are unnecessarily being exposed to fluoride which is linked to bone, thyroid, kidney and tooth damage,” he says.

Today 2/3 of U.S. public water supplies and virtually 100% of the food supply are fluoridated. Fluoridated dental products have become a multi-billion dollar international market run by powerful corporations who fund organized dentistry through convention sponsorship, grants, journal advertising, etc.
“Fluoridation campaigns provide a unique opportunity for dentistry to help reduce the incidence of dental disease while establishing political viability...,” according to the Journal of the American Dental Association, “Fluoridation Election Victory: A Case Study for Dentistry in Effective Political Action,” April 1981.
The American Dental Association has a very powerful and influential political action committee.(8)
The National Institutes of Dental Research was founded and built upon fluoridation and uses the fluoride crystal as its website logo.
Government agencies have distributed probably billions of dollars over the decades for fluoride research, some of which indicates that fluoridation is ineffective at reducing tooth decay, harmful to health and a waste of taxpayer funds - as the Grand Rapids experiment was the first to show.
How did this happen?
In the early 1900’s, brown and yellow discolored, but decay resistant, teeth were prevalent in healthier, wealthier U.S. populations drinking and irrigating their crops with water containing fluoride as well as calcium and other minerals.
Researchers discovered fluoride was the tooth discoloring culprit and mistakenly thought fluoride was also the cavity-fighting hero – unaware that calcium was required to grow sound dentition. And also unaware of Dentist Weston Price’s extensive research published in 1939 showing that without fluoride, healthier populations had healthier teeth because of good diets.
Public health officials, so sure that sodium fluoride safely benefited children’s teeth, had no misgivings about carrying out this very unusual experiment without first doing animal studies, without informed consent and without thought or interest about how sodium fluoride could affect adults.

Mistakenly assuming all fluorides are the same, in 1945, sodium fluoride, waste products from industries such as Alcoa Aluminum Company, was added to Grand Rapids water supply.

Recently, researchers made a huge new discovery – something that works better than fluoride - calcium.(9)

"We’re not surprised," says Beeber.

Australia - Authority \'powerless\' on fluoride Return to sender

Authority \'powerless\' on fluoride Return to sender
ANTI-fluoride protesters delivered their message to the wrong address when they marched on Barwon Water this week, according to chairman Roger Lowrey.
Barwon Association for Freedom from Fluoridation supporters rallied outside the authority’s Ryrie Street headquarters before delivering about 600 letters expressing non-consent to fluoridation to Mr Lowrey and managing director Michael Malouf.
About 100 people participated in the rally, some marching from Johnstone Park to deliver the letters claiming fluoridation required residents’ informed consent under a Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
The rally took to the steps of Barwon Water where BAFF president Keith Oakley called for a stop to “mass medication”.
Naturopath Phillip Robertson said the authority needed a “tough guy” like former Gee-long and District Water Board member Norman Boyce to stand up for residents against fluoride.
The rally was named in honour of Mr Boyce, who was on the board in the 1980s.
But Mr Lowrey said the protestors’ should have sent their letters to Department of Human Services, which was responsible for fluoridation.
“Barwon Water is not responsible for introducing fluoride. It would only fluoridate supplies if directed by the department secretary,” Mr Lowrey said.
Barwon Water also had no power to block fluoridation.
“Under the Health (Fluorid-ation) Act 1973 it is an offence not to comply with a directive from the Department of Human Services,” Mr Lowrey said.
The Department would bear the cost of fluoridating Geelong.
Mr Malouf said the Barwon Water board had given in-principle support to fluoridation because of the department’s “compelling evidence” of dental health benefits.
Meanwhile, a split in the anti-fluoride lobby has created two protest groups.
Former BAFF secretary Peter Linaker, who resigned last year, is organising a separate march on February 21 to call for a referendum on fluoridation in Geelong.

Letter: Parents should realize fluoride not safe for everyone

Letter: Parents should realize fluoride not safe for everyone
I am very concerned with the recent ad in your newspaper stating fluoride is “safe for all.” I read an article from the American Dental Association’s Web site, “ADA offers interim guidance on infant formula and fluoride,” by Stacie Crozier, quoting Dr. Daniel M. Meyer, associate executive director of ADA’s Division of Science, and submit the frollowing:
“We want to ensure that infants receive an optimal amount of fluoride. In some cases, infants may be getting a greater than optimal amount of fluoride through liquid or powder baby formula mixed with water containing fluoride.” Dr. Meyer added that fluoride intake above recommended levels creates a risk for enamel fluorosis in teeth during their development before eruption through the gums.
Additional information in the article states, “unless advised to do so by a dentist or other health professional, parents should not use fluoride toothpaste for children less than 2 years old.”
Again, this information is from the ADA Web site. Parents should understand fluoride is not safe for everyone. 
Bea Brennan
Stuart
#1 Posted by truth_seeker on January 25, 2008 at 2:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

FACT:
Fluoridation is an unproven drug process forced onto people by scientific corruption, a case of undemocratic, intellectually dishonest pharmacology, and a political draconian, totalitarian, anti-constitutional procedure of Government.
The truth of fluoridation science, together with the inalienable rights of each person and our Constitution, are openly despotically sold for “28 pieces of silver” to fertilizer factories to rid themselves of the world’s most potent toxic fluoride industrial waste by-product of manufacturing super- phosphate fertilizer.Sodium silicofluoride and other fluoride chemicals are so toxic they are prohibited from exhausting freely into the atmosphere, prohibited from dumping anywhere except into drinking water supplies.The scientific corruption is so openly simple to understand and yet the general public fall for the fluoridation scientific hoax. There are no great complicated scientific factors beyond commonsense and Logic to understand.
Fluoridation Logic cannot be denigrated by anyone irrespective of so alled “position and title”.Science today is a target for money crunchers where dollars override the health of a population and science in general.

USA - Pro fluoride letter

Letter: Fluoride safely, effectively prevents dental disease
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Florida Dental Association supports the implementation of fluoride in drinking water and encourages all local residents to be an active part of tooth-decay prevention by voting “yes” in favor of fluoridation.
Brushing twice a day, flossing at least once a day and visiting a dentist regularly are excellent ways to prevent tooth decay, but sometimes it is not enough. Fluoridation is a safe, easy, effective and economical way to prevent dental diseases.
A natural substance, fluoride works to prevent tooth decay by strengthening the outer layer of the tooth, decreasing the risk of dental caries. By adding just one part of fluoride to 1 million parts of water, tooth decay can be reduced by 40 percent to 50 percent in adults and 50 percent to 70 percent in children.
Fluoridation efforts began more than 60 years ago, and currently more than 170 million people drink fluoridated water in the United States. You have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the prevention of tooth decay in more than 18,000 Stuart residents. Vote “yes” to fluoridation Jan. 29. 
Nolan W. Allen
President, Florida Dental Association
Clearwater

I Don't call what they use to fluoridate a natural substance.

USA - Study finds financial, racial disparities in dental care

Study finds financial, racial disparities in dental care
But says more children seen
Globe Staff / January 24, 2008
Although more Massachusetts children are getting needed dental care than in the past, low-income and nonwhite children lag behind their peers, according to a report released today by Delta Dental of Massachusetts, an insurance company.
more stories like thisNearly two-thirds of third-graders from low-income families suffer from tooth decay, roughly twice the rate of children from higher-income families. Children from low-income families are less likely to receive treatment than those from higher-income families. The 67-page report, titled "The Oral Health of Massachusetts' Children" also found significant racial disparities in dental disease and treatment.
"More needs to be done," said Dr. Alex White, a dentist and the director of analytics for the Catalyst Institute, which compiled the data from statistical sampling and the examination last year of about 6,000 children by dentists and hygienists at the Boston University School of Dental Medicine. "We know we can make a difference; we're just not doing it for everyone," White said.
Among the causes of persistent dental disease, he said, are the lack of universal dental insurance for children, a diet with too much sugar, and no addition of fluoride to the water in some parts of the state.
The report found that more than 1 in 4 children in the state start school with dental disease, including a disproportionate number of children from minority groups. Some 24 percent of Hispanics and 23 percent of black kindergartners had untreated cavities, about twice the rate of whites.
Still, dental hygiene has improved since the last oral health survey in 2003. The proportion of third-grade children with dental disease declined from 48 percent to 41 percent over the past four years. The proportion of children surveyed with untreated decay declined from 26 percent to 17 percent.
The highest incidence of dental disease occurred in Hampden and Suffolk counties. In Hampden County - where only Holyoke, Longmeadow, and Westfield add fluoride to their water - 58 percent of third-graders had cavities, 17 percent above the state average. In Suffolk, 57 percent of third-graders had cavities.
"This report provides compelling evidence that dental disease remains a serious problem for our children and especially among minority children and children from low-income families, even though dental disease is almost entirely preventable," Fay Donohue, president and chief executive officer of Delta Dental, said in a written statement.
Man Wai Ng, chief of the department of dentistry at Children's Hospital Boston, said that in recent years dentists there have encouraged pediatricians to look for dental disease in their patients. As a result, she said, the hospital has seen a 50 percent rise in the number of children referred to dental clinics.
"We're now able to identify at-risk children at an earlier age and provide care that is less risky and less costly," Ng said.
She suggested that parents brush their children's teeth twice a day, with toothpaste that contains fluoride, as soon as teeth appear. She also encourages parents to bring their children to a dentist twice a year, not to let them take a bottle to bed, and to limit their intake of sugary drinks, such as juice.

Boston is fluoridated: NYSCOF

Thursday, January 24, 2008

USA - Fluoride Is Poison Says Dartmouth Doctor

Fluoride Is Poison Says Dartmouth Doctor
New evidence seems to confirm that by fluoridating our water, we are poisoning our children with lead.
Studies show there may be grave implications for Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism and reduced IQ in children.
Millions of Chinese toys were pulled from the shelves because lead was found in the paint. Lead was removed from gasoline. School rooms across the nation had their walls scraped down to remove the lead paint and then repainted . And yet, nothing is being done about ending the water fluoridation scam that is poisoning our population.
More than two years ago, magazine Spotlight wrote about George Glasser, a citizen researcher who blew the whistle on the use of highly-toxic fluorosilicic acid from rock fertilizer processing as the primary source of community water fluoridation.
Now, a massive study of young children who have been subjected to fluorosilicic acid, used for fluoridation in their New York communities, shows that the water additive does not improve kids’ teeth and could even be poisoning them.
Until that time, most people were under the impression that water fluoridation used sodium fluoride, rat poison, a by-product of aluminum manufacturing.
Glasser, however, pointed out that more than 75 percent of the U.S. water fluoridation communities have been using the even more toxic fluorosilicic acid since the late 1970s.
Glasser was the first to stress the excessive toxicity inherent in using the hydrofluorosilicic acid residue that is removed from the industrial pollution control “scrubbers” in the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers.
The chemists refer to this material as silicofluorides and have now conclusively shown that the fluoridation material is linked to other heavy metal toxins that are found in drinking water—lead, arsenic, aluminum and cadmium for example.
In the March 2001 issue of the journal Neuro Toxicology, a team of researchers led by Dr. Roger Masters of Dartmouth College reported evidence that public drinking water fluoridated with fluorosilicic acid is linked to higher levels of lead in children.

After pointing out that since 1992 only about 10 percent of America’s fluoridated communities use sodium fluoride and 90 percent use fluorosilicic acid, the researchers stated that about 140 million Americans have this chemical placed in their water.
They also pointed out that sodium fluoride was tested on animals and approved for human consumption, but fluorosilicic acid had not been so tested and approved.
The research team studied the blood-lead levels in more than 400,000 children in three different samplings. In each case they found a significant link between fluorosilicic acid-treated water and elevated blood levels of lead.
In the latest study, the blood levels of about 150,000 children ranging in ages from infant to 6 were analyzed.
The samples were collected by the New York State Department of Children’s Health from 1994 through 1998.
Researchers concluded that the fluorosilicic acid-treated water was equal to or worse a contributor of blood-lead levels as old house paint.
Dr. Masters said these preliminary findings correlate the fluorosilicic acid water treatment and behavior problems that are due to known effects of lead on brain chemistry.
Additionally, a study in Germany showed the fluorosilicic acid water (SiFs) may inhibit the enzyme cholinesterase which plays a key role in regulating neurotransmitters.
“If SiFs are cholinesterase inhibitors, this means that SiFs have effects like the chemical agents linked to Gulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and other puzzling conditions that plague millions of Americans,” Masters said. “We need a better understanding of how SiFs behave chemically and physiologically.”
Last March, Dr. Masters testified before New Hampshire legislators in favor of the Fluoride Product Quality Control Act. The bill would put the SiFs to a series of tests, and perhaps further research on neurotoxicity and behavior.
“If further research confirms our findings,” Masters said, “this may well be the worst environmental poison since leaded gasoline.”
The EPA admits it has no data on the health and behavioral effects of SiFs.
Dr. Masters asked: “Shouldn’t we stop intentionally exposing 140 million Americans to an untested chemical until the risks are extensively and objectively evaluated by independent researchers?”
And, the final insult: There is no conclusive evidence that fluoridation of drinking water significantly improves the teeth of children at all. ™

Australia - Passion bubbled at an anti-fluoride rally

Fluoride protest hits city's streets
Daniel Breen
24Jan08
FLUORIDE ROW: Passion bubbled at an anti-fluoride rally yesterday outside Barwon Water's Geelong office. Photo: TONY KERRIGAN
The placard waving ensemble marched in unison to the authority's Ryrie St office to voice their opposition to plans for fluoride to be added to the region's water supply.
Barwon Association for Freedom from Fluoridation organised the rally in honour of former Barwon Water board member Norman Boyce.
Mr Boyce was a passionate anti-fluoride campaigner in the 1980s, who believed that moves to add the chemical to the water supply was compulsory mass medication.
BAFF spokesman Keith Oakley said the group would fight water fluoridation until either a referendum on the issue was organised or the State Government removed legislation that allowed the practice.
``They have no moral or constitutional right to medically treat us, or poison us without our individual informed consent,'' Mr Oakley said.
``It's an appalling abuse of we water consumers.''
Members delivered a package of non-consent to fluoridation notices to the water authority as part of the rally.
Barwon Water chairman Roger Lowrey said the opposition to fluoride was ill advised and that there was ``compelling evidence'' for its medical benefits.
``After fully considering all the views on this important issue, the Board accepts that fluoride is a beneficial community-wide health measure. It does so after taking on board all the relevant facts and data, including the success of fluoride in Melbourne,'' Mr Lowrey said.

USA - Letter: Let residents make fluoride decision for themselves

Letter: Let residents make fluoride decision for themselves
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I do not own a newspaper and I am not in medical school, but I have 80 years of life experiences and an abundance of common sense. The disingenuous remarks by the
News’ “Our View: Cast ‘yes’ vote with confidence” (Jan. 29) and the guest column by medical student Marjorie Warner (“Clearing up ‘misinformation’ spread by foes of fluoridation,” Dec. 7), have forced me to respond.
We who are against the ingestion of fluoride have been accused, erroneously, of making “outlandish remarks” and “misinformation.” The fact is that we have done enough unbiased research to know it is harmful to ingest the poisonous byproduct of the fertilizer industry.
The cumulative effect of fluoride is impossible to monitor since it is in just about every commercial dental product, in addition to fluoridated tap water.
Mottled teeth, called a “cosmetic annoyance” by Warner, are the result of excessive fluoride. At the same time, our society holds a beautiful smile with sparkling white teeth in high esteem.
Let those who are willing to take their chances with fluoride — ingested or topically — get it. Let the rest of us make that decision for ourselves and not be forced to have fluoride in our tap water. 

Marjorie Horne

USA - Letter: Pro-fluoride position scientifically indefensible

Letter: Pro-fluoride position scientifically indefensible
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Michael Easley, who travels the country promoting fluoridation, prefers to ignore the scientific evidence of harm found in the landmark 2006 National Research Council report on the toxicity of fluoride in water. Instead, he throws out irrelevant nonsense such as how many bathtubs full of water it would supposedly take to kill a person.
Easley’s tactics are designed to distract people from understanding that fluoride accumulates insidiously in the body like lead and inflicts its damage over long periods of time. Water fluoridation at one part per million has resulted in one third of American children now suffering with dental fluorosis. This permanent, abnormal and often disfiguring discoloration of the teeth is visible proof of fluoride overdose.
Even the American Dental Association now recommends no fluoridated water for babies during the first year of life.
Fluoridation is known to be especially risky for diabetics, those with kidney or thyroid problems, as well as athletes and outdoor workers who drink unusually large amounts of water. Accumulation of fluoride in bone over time also leads to increased risk of fractures. Technicians can generally control the concentration of fluoride in water, but they cannot control the dose, as widely varying amounts are always consumed in any given population. This is why Nobel Laureate Dr. Arvid Carlsson says, “fluoridation violates all modern pharmacological principles ... it is obsolete.”
The only thing that keeps fluoridation going is endless, mind-numbing endorsements from promoting agencies that have locked themselves into a position that is scientifically indefensible. Almost all medically advanced countries have rejected or banned fluoridation. Stuart residents should protect themselves and vote a resounding “no” on fluoridation on Tuesday.

For more information, see: www.fluorideAction.org

USA - Customers ringing South Blount’s phones over fluoridation call

Customers ringing South Blount’s phones over fluoridation call
By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff
South Blount County Utility District has been receiving some criticism for its recent decision to begin fluoridating the water treated at its plant.
The utility’s board of directors, at the request of Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham, voted Jan. 2 to begin fluoridation of the district’s water system as soon as possible.
“(District Manager Henry Durant has) been getting a lot of phone calls from people that are upset,” said utility spokeswoman Stacie Keller. “We don’t usually get phone calls (about issues). When I talked with the secretary (Tuesday), they had gotten 10 to 20 calls from customers who were upset and said, ‘You should have done a survey and asked our input.’
“Certainly with some people, it seems to be a feeling that their health is diminished by the presence of fluoride.”
The addition of fluoride to the water supply, a procedure to reduce dental cavities that is in widespread use around the country, has been the subject of local controversy since the SBCUD board voted not to fluoridate the water when the district opened its new plant in July 2004.
Keller issued the following statement on behalf of SBCUD:
“As we have stated in the past, the benefits of fluoridation in public water is a very inconclusive issue, with valid research and arguments to support both sides. SBCUD wants to remain focused on moving forward and does not want to allow the issue of fluoridation to diminish our district’s progress nor hinder us from achieving our future goals.
“Our utility is working hard to provide superior customer service and the best water quality with the most advanced water treatment technology available today. Over the next several years we will be implementing a strategic plan that will prepare for our growing community’s needs. This will include much-needed infrastructure improvement projects that will ensure a reliable water supply to our customers for years to come as well as provide access to healthy public water for all Blount County residents, a right we believe every resident should have. Engaging the time and efforts of our staff to ‘battle’ the fluoride issue once again would inhibit us from doing our job to the best of our ability.”

USA - Letter: There are multiple benefits to fluoridating city water

Letter: There are multiple benefits to fluoridating city water
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Fluoridation of water supplies is considered one of the top 10 public health accomplishments of the 20th century by the Centers for Disease Control. Fluoridation of the public water, using current guidelines, is safe, cost effective, has no reported adverse health effects and is equitable (available to all). It does not require an adult to remember to administer the drops and is beneficial to adult preventive dental care as well.

I am a Ph.D. candidate in public health, an epidemiologist for the Florida Department of Health, and a Florida licensed physician’s assistant. I am a 23-year resident of Stuart. I have carefully reviewed the evidence on both sides of the fluoridation issue. I have concluded now, as I did 20 years ago when my daughter was an infant, that fluoridation of the water supply is safe and will significantly improve the dental health of the community.

It is time for Stuart residents to review the factual evidence and vote “yes” for fluoridation.

I wish I had a Ph.D then I too would be convinced fluoride was wonderful.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

water fluoridation (some fact about fluoride)



Australian video to encourage people to join a march in Queensland against Fluoridation 9am Tuesday 12th February 2008

1945 Human Experiment Predicts Current Fluoride Ill Effects

1945 Human Experiment Predicts Current Fluoride Ill Effects
http://www.opednews.com
In 1945 dentists set out to prove that adding fluoride chemicals into public water supplies safely prevented children’s tooth decay. The studies failed; but early fluoridationists ignored this inconvenient truth and forged ahead. Now with 2/3 of public water supplies fluoridated, Americans are fluoride overdosed and suffer from fluoride’s toxic effects as cavity rates climb.
In 1955, ten years into the experiment, researchers reported more bone defects, anemia and earlier female menstruation in children purposely dosed with sodium fluoride-laced drinking water (1956 Journal of the American Dental Association). This is the first, and only, fluoridation human health experiment which was carried out on the entire population in the city of Newburgh NY.
How did this happen?
n the early 1900’s, brown and yellow discolored, but decay resistant, teeth were prevalent in healthier, wealthier U.S. populations drinking and irrigating their crops with naturally calcium-fluoridated water.
Researchers discovered fluoride was the tooth discoloring culprit and mistakenly thought fluoride was also the cavity-fighting hero – unaware that calcium was required to grow sound dentition. And also unaware of Dentist Weston Price’s extensive research published in 1939 showing that without fluoride, healthier populations had healthier teeth because of good diets.
Public health officials, so sure sodium fluoride safely benefited children’s teeth, had no misgivings about carrying out this very unusual experiment without first doing animal studies, without informed consent and without thought or interest about how sodium fluoride could afflict adults.
Mistakenly assuming all fluorides are the same, in 1945, sodium fluoride, waste products from industries such as Alcoa Aluminum Company (not natural calcium-fluoride), was added to Newburgh NY’s water supply at about one milligram fluoride per liter of water. Kingston NY, the control city for comparison purposes, was left fluoride-free.
Kingston and Newburgh are thirty-five miles apart on the Hudson River in New York State and in 1940 had populations of 31,956 and 28,817, respectively. In Newburgh, 500 children were examined after ten years and 405 in Kingston. Adults were never tested.
Although planned to last ten years, due to political pressure, the Newburgh/Kingston study was declared a success after five years which caused many U.S. cities to start fluoridation prematurely.
Newburgh's children were given complete physicals and x-rays, over the course of the study, from birth to age nine in the first year and up to age eighteen in the final year.
“(R)outine laboratory studies were omitted in the control group during most of the study, they were included in the final examination,” according to Schlesinger and colleagues, in “Newburgh-Kingston caries-fluorine study XIII. Pediatric findings after ten years.”
The researchers report after ten years of fluoridation in Newburgh New York:

-- “The average age at the menarche was 12 years among the girls studied in Newburgh and 12 years 5 months among the girls in Kingston.”

--Hemoglobin (iron-containing part of a red blood cell): “a few more children in the range below 12.9 grams per hundred milliliters in Newburgh”

--“…a slightly higher proportion of children in Newburgh were found to have a total erythrocyte (red blood cell) count below 4,400,000 per milliliter”

--Knee X-rays of Newburgh children reveals more cortical bone defects, and irregular mineralization of the thigh bone.

Only twenty-five Newburgh children had eye and ear exams. Two had hearing loss; eight had abnormal vision. Even though researchers discovered more adult cataracts in surveys conducted before 1944 in communities with naturally high water fluoride concentrations Newburgh and Kingston adults were never checked for this defect.

Only two groups of twelve-year-old boys were tested for fluoride’s toxic kidney effects. In a statewide survey conducted in 1954, J. A. Forst, M.D a New York public health official reported observing one-third more dental defects, including malposition of teeth, in fluoridated Newburgh, New York, than in the non-fluoridated control city of Kingston.
The 2004 book "The Fluoride Deception," by Christopher Bryson, reveals that in addition to NYS Dep't of Health examinations “the University of Rochester conducted its own studies, measuring how much fluoride Newburgh citizens retained in their blood and tissues. Health Department personnel cooperated, shipping blood and placenta samples to the Rochester scientists,” writes Bryson. Three times as much fluoride was found in the placentas and blood samples gathered from Newburgh as from non-fluoridated Rochester, reports Bryson.
Following back the scientific references in all current fluoridation safety literature will invariably lead back to the Newburgh/Kingston study which actually failed to prove fluoridation is safe for all who drink it although public health officials and dentists tell a different story..
On January 25, 1945, Grand Rapids Michigan was actually the first U.S. city to fluoridate; without health effects measured. Even that study is scientifically dishonest. After five years tooth decay declined equally in Grand Rapids and its control city Muskegon Michigan so Muskegon’s water was fluoridated which actually invalidated this experiment.
So it’s not surprising that a toxicological review of current fluoride science by the prestigious National Academies shows that fluoride jeopardizes health - even at lowlevels deliberately added to public water supplies.
Fluoride poses risks to the thyroid gland, diabetics, kidney patients, high water drinkers and others and can severely damage children's teeth. Further studies linking fluoride to cancer and lowered IQ are plausible, they report