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Fluoridation fails
America's children. But that won't stop Michigan dentists
from rejoicing with a special fluoridation celebration on
May 12, 2005 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, home to the first
municipality that enrolled its residents, 60 years ago, in
a cavity-prevention human experiment, without their
informed consent. (1)
In 1945, fluoride was added
to Grand Rapids’ drinking water to see what would happen
to children's teeth. But the methodologies used would
embarrass any self-respecting statistician or
epidemiologist today, according to a review in the journal
Nature. (2)
Also in 1945, Newburgh,
New York, was the first city to use the entire city's
population to study fluoride's bad side effects to the
rest of the body. And the results were dismal.
After ten years, bone
defects, and earlier female menstruation occurred more
often in Newburgh's children dosed with sodium
fluoride-laced drinking water when compared to the control
city of Kingston, NY. (3)
According to Professor
Paul Connett, PhD, who teaches environmental chemistry and
toxicology at St. Lawrence University in NY, "These
results were ignored at the time, but are now being seen
as valuable clues to far more serious problems, like
accumulation of fluoride in the human pineal gland with a
possible lowering of melatonin levels (Luke, 1997, 2001);
increased bone fractures in children (Alarcon-Herrera et
al., 2001) and possibly increased osteosarcoma (a bone
cancer which is frequently fatal) rates in young men (NAS,
1977; NTP, 1990; Hoover, 1991; Cohn 1992; and Mihashi
1996).”
Meanwhile, after over 50
years of water fluoridation, many children in Newburgh,
New York have more cavities and more fluoride-caused
discolored teeth (dental fluorosis) than children in
never-fluoridated Kingston, New York, according to a NYS
Department of Health study published in the NYS Dental
Journal (February 1998, Figure 1, Page 41)
The hype expected at the
May 12 "60 year fluoridation celebration" is in sharp
contrast to a more sober assessment of fluoridation's lack
of impact on dental caries made at a May 2, 2005 meeting
of dental specialists. Dr. Dushanka Kleinman, the chief
dental health officer for the U.S. Public Health Service,
told about 600 people at the National Oral Health
Conference in Pittsburgh, "When U.S. Army reserves get
called to duty in Iraq, the most common reason they don't
ship out right away is poor oral health - and it's been
that way since World War II."
Kleinman summed it up
this way: "the nation's oral health hasn't gotten worse in
the last 60 years or so. But it's also not getting better,
unlike many other medical conditions" reported the
Associated Press. (4)
“Caries experience may be
associated with income," reports the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control (CDC). Recently-released statistics posted
on the CDC's website shows low income, not fluoridation
deficiency, predicts more cavities. (5)
"I don't blame the
average dentist for going along with fluoridation. I blame
organized dentistry for not being honest about the
benefits which they have exaggerated and the serious
health problems which they ignore," says Connett, who is
also Executive Director of the Fluoride Action Network.
"The latest study from
Australia, shows no benefit to the permanent teeth from
fluoridation (Armfield & Spencer, 2004)," Connett says.
“Other studies indicate
an increase in hip fracture, an increase in bone cancer,
and damage to the brain at levels approximating what many
Americans now receive,” says Connett.
"If fluoridation
proponents could scientifically explain their dismissal of
these studies, they would be willing to publicly debate
the issue with scientists opposed to fluoridation. But
they would not debate even when invited to do so by the US
Environmental Protection Agency," Connett says.
"I would like to be an
invited speaker at dentistry's next fluoridation
celebration July 13 -16, 2005, in Chicago; but I'm afraid
fluoridation supporters don't welcome any dissenting
opinion," says Connett.
References:
(1) Michigan Dental Association Press Release 5/6/05 “60th
Anniversary of Water Fluoridation to Be Celebrated During
Michigan Dental Association Meeting in Grand Rapids”
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050506/def024.html?.v=2
(2) “The Mystery of Declining Tooth Decay,” by Mark
Diesendorf, Nature July 10, 1986 (Volume 322; Pages
125-129)
http://www.fluorideaction.org/health/teeth/caries/diesendorf.html
(3) Schlesinger, E.R., et al (1956) "Newburgh-Kingston
Caries-Fluorine Study XIII. Pediatric Findings After Ten
Years" Journal of the American Dental Association
(4) “Nation's oral health not improving, dental group
says,” Associated Press Posted on May 03, 2005
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/11554694.htm
(5) "Fluoridation No Aid to Poor," News Release by NYS
Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
http://snipurl.com/eq9l
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