NZ Dental Association Pedals Fluoridation Misinformation

Press Release: Fluoride Free New Zealand

The non-profit health advocacy group Fluoride Free New Zealand is concerned about misinformation and ongoing scaremongering perpetrated by the New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA) regarding water fluoridation. The NZDA have shown pictures of children with mouths full of rotting teeth, and even use these to lobby councils to maintain the out-of-date crumbling policy of water fluoridation.

Children with this level of decay require general anaesthetic surgery, and these photos are shocking and traumatic to all concerned. Information received by Fluoride Free NZ under the Official Information Act, shows there is no relationship between general anaesthetics in children and the presence of fluoridation. The primary cause of this type of decay that requires surgery is early childhood caries. This is a result of a baby being left to suck on a baby bottle or having a sugary drink in the bottle, and the NZDA knows this.

The NZDA is a profit-making organisation that receives funding streams from corporate interests such as Colgate. The NZDA has a paid representative to defend water fluoridation. If his response on http://fluoridefree.org.nz/reply-jim-mora-show-27-feb-2015/ Radio NZ on the significant study that was just published in one the Bristish Medical journals is anything to go by, it looks as though he will defend fluoridation come hell or high water.

Last year The Lancet published a study classifying fluoride as a neurotoxin. Last month two important peer reviewed studies showing a link between fluoridation and harm were published. The first, published inEpidemiology and Community Health, one of the main British medicals journals, looked at thyroid disease patient numbers from 99% of GP practices in the UK. It found that women living in fluroidated areas have a 60% increased chance of suffering from underactive thyroid. The second was published in the US inEnvironmental Health and shows that there is a strong correlation between an increase in ADHD in children and increased prevalence of fluoridation. This is on top of the 43 out of 50 human studies that link fluoride to lowered IQ and the 31 out of 33 animal studies that have found fluoride exposure impairs the learning and/or memory capacity of animals.