Fluoride Alert

Moving from the Politics of “No” to the Politics of “Yes”

If science held the magic bullet for ending the practice of water fluoridation it would have ended years ago – in fact, it would never have been started.
There are many reasons why the science of fluoridation’s ineffectiveness and dangers are being ignored or denied:

1)   Certain special interests benefit from the practice continuing (especially the sugar lobby).

2)   The mainstream media (except Newsweek) is not doing its job of reporting on the ineffectiveness and risks of fluoridation.

3)   The bureaucrats in health agencies  are trained to promote policy not question it. As I said in my presentation before the Denver Water Commission, “When policy is king, science becomes a slave”.

4)   Dental and medical professionals were only taught one side of this story and most are not prepared to do a U-turn and give up when they have been taught to believe.

In this bulletin I would like to try to understand and ultimately recruit dental and health professionals for a larger battle for good.
I think that most dentists and doctors who promote fluoridation believe that they are promoting a good and essential policy. They believe that they are helping fight tooth decay especially among children from families of low income. They believe that the best science supports their claims that the practice is both safe and effective and that those who say otherwise are cranks who rely on junk science.
Many of us will doggedly continue to challenge these “beliefs” by citing the science that says otherwise. But it is very difficult to change a belief system. After 20 years of trying to do so using every ounce of my scientific training I can assure readers that it is both exhausting and soul-destroying. This is what I call the politics of “no.”
A different approach is the politics of “yes.” This would say to the dental and public health communities,

You are correct when you assert that tooth decay is concentrated in families of low income. You are correct when you say these children need our help. We want to find ways to help you achieve these noble goals.  But not only do we want to find better ways to fight tooth decay in low-income families, we want to do more. We want to find better ways to fight tooth decay but also to find ways to provide a better diet, better health, better living conditions and better economic prospects for families of low-income. We would like to see all this put into the context of community development and community empowerment. Will you help us achieve these goals together?

We made a start on such a positive plan in FAN’s September 25, 2015 submission to the Intergovernmental Agency on Environmental Justice (IGA EJ) (see section22, reproduced below).  I have been accused by some of my friends that I am being too ambitious. My response is that you should always aim for the best, even if you don’t achieve all you want. Moreover, when people come together it is amazing what you can achieve. 
So I would like to reach out to both our colleagues and opponents alike.  Can we shoot for a better way together? I believe that this approach will not only be better for those we are trying to help but also better for ourselves. Let’s say “yes” together and save our battles for “no” for other things like war.

Paul Connett, PhD