Flouride

Fluoride:

We have been led to believe that fluoride is beneficial for our children's teeth. On the contrary, our current Pathways issue and this article give parents a perspective on its hazards and misrepresentation well worth looking into. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_97433.asp

 

Flouridated Water Banned from NY Community

Reported in the Environmental News, this article gives us an abjective look into flouridation of drinking water.

Village trustees voted, on February 18, 2003, to halt fluoridation in Canton, New York. One hundred and thirty faculty and staff members of Canton's St. Lawrence University and 300 students successfully petitioned the village trustees to ban fluoride from its water supply

Canadian Dental Association Advises Against Flouride Treatment

There is "...weak scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of fluoride supplements." This was reported at a Canadian Consensus Conference on the Appropriate Use of Fluoride Supplements.

"Half of all ingested fluoride remains in the skeletal system and accumulates with age," says Limeback. "Studies have linked fluoridation to hip fractures and high levels of naturally-occurring water fluoride to crippling skeletal fluorosis, a bone deforming arthritic-type disease endemic to India," says Limeback.

A study by Limeback shows that residents of fluoridated Toronto have twice as much fluoride in their hip bones as residents of non- fluoridated Montreal. "Worse, we discovered that fluoride is actually altering the basic architecture of human bones," says Limeback. Ironically, "Here in Toronto we've been fluoridating for 36 years. Yet Vancouver, which has never fluoridated, has a cavity rate lower than Toronto's," says Limeback.

Canton, New York, Stops Fluoridation - Spurred by College Faculty, Staff & Students

Village trustees voted, on February 18, 2003, to halt fluoridation in Canton, New York. One hundred and thirty faculty and staff members of Canton's St. Lawrence University and 300 students petitioned the village trustees to ban fluoride from its water supply.

Paul Connett, PhD, who led the campaign to rid fluoride from Canton's tap water said, "An independent review of the literature finds that fluoridation is:

  • unethical (medication without patient's informed consent)

  • unnecessary (kids get too much fluoride from many sources)

  • ineffective (at best, fluoridation saves less than one tooth surface out of 128 in a child's mouth)

  • unsafe (fluoride accumulation can make bones brittle and joints painful)

  • inequitable (the poor cannot afford to avoid it, if desired)

  • unscientifically defended (proponents cannot defend the practice in debate)

  • wasteful, literally pouring taxpayer money down the drain."

Dr. Connett, Chemistry Professor, St. Lawrence University is also co-founder, Fluoride Action Network, an International Coalition to End Water Fluoridation.

Biochemist and fluoride expert, Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, Head of Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto, drove four hours by car, at his own expense, to give testimony. Once an avid fluoridation promoter, Limeback turned fluoridation opponent when he discovered the:

a) incidence of children's dental fluorosis (fluoride discolored teeth) has risen sharply,
b) benefits of fluoridation are topical, not systemic (swallowed fluoride does not prevent tooth decay),
c) chemical most used in fluoridation schemes is not pharmaceutical grade, but an industrial waste-product, hexafluorosilicic acid, which the US Environmental Protection Agency admits has never been safety tested.

"People, who had been previously pro-fluoridation, spoke out against it. At a public hearing, two months before the vote, a young local dentist, when asked about the issue, was lukewarm about fluoridation's benefits. He said words to the effect, 'If you don't continue, I don't think we will have a dental crisis; and, if we continue, I don't think we will see an end to tooth decay,'" says Connett.

"New York City has temporarily halted fluoridation. We hope City residents take the lead from the people of Canton, New York, and demand their water remain fluoride-free," says Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.

 

Visit Additional Sites on Flouride

http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

http://makeashorterlink.com/?D18721943

http://www.fluoridealert.org