Fluoride and Old Lace
The UK government is pushing to lace drinking water with fluorideThe way is being prepared by a law which will exempt water companies from legal responsibility for adding an industrial poison to communal water supplies. The International Fluoride Information Network, in its latest bulletin, says that "unfortunately, it is too late to influence the House of Lords who incredibly voted to modify the water bill to allow water companies (which fluoridate) to be exempt from litigation."
But there is also some good news. "... the latest issue of The Ecologist has printed two hard hitting articles on the dangers of fluoridation, so at least some people will be warned."
I find it incredible that at a time where most countries have abandoned fluoridation of drinking water with the industrial toxic-waste form of fluoride, the UK is pushing to re-introduce a "public health" measure that is extremely controversial and that was first used in Nazi Germany to "soften the brain" - make people more malleable.
One would think we could learn from history - if not from science.
INTERNATIONAL FLUORIDE INFORMATION NETWORK
IFIN BULLETIN: IFIN # 815: News from the UK.
July 30, 2003
Dear All,
The news from the UK keeps flooding in as the Blair government attempts to foist fluoridation on an unsuspecting British public. The two local news reports printed below fall into a familar propaganda pattern (and the Blair government is good at propaganda). Local dentists or dental groups use largely unpublished small studies of dental decay (with little or no control for economic level which is a more critical predicter of tooth decay than lack of fluoride) to hype the magic bullet of water fluoridation. They nearly always work in percentages which completely obscures the minimal (if any) saving in tooth surfaces involved, even if such savings were actually statistically significant, which they often are not. For example the famous Brunelle and Carlos study from 1990 (the largest ever carried out in the US looking at 39,000 children in 84 communities) found a saving of 18% of the tooth surfaces (average for 5-17 year olds) living all their lives in fluoridated as opposed to non-fluoridated communities. This was championed by the authors as demonstrating the benefits of fluoridation. However, hold the applause, not only did they not report a statistical significance (if any) of these results but the 18% saving amounted to only 0.6 of one tooth surface out of 128 tooth surfaces in a child's mouth - in other words an absolute saving of less than 0.5% of their tooth surfaces!
And what are the risks? None according to the expert quoted in one of these articles, "Dr Garnett said she had no evidence to suggest fluoride had any adverse health effects." Which is another way of saying that she hasn't read the literature.
Fortunately, the latest issue of The Ecologist has printed two hard hitting articles on the dangers of fluoridation, so at least some people will be warned. Unfortunately, it is too late to influence the House of Lords who incredibly voted to modify the water bill to allow water companies (which fluoridate) to be exempt from litigation. Peer pressure?
This issue of The Ecologist also contains an excellent article by Sally Fallon on the important work of Dr. Weston Price who showed among things that so called "primitive peoples" had excellent teeth and health prior to the imposition of Western sugary diets.
There is also a short book review (printed below) of what looks like a very interesting book containing a chapter on fluoridation. The book is called," Abuse your illusions: The Disinformation guide to media mirages and establishment lies."
Paul Connett.
1) Leyland Today, July 30, 2003
Health chiefs call for fluoride boostHEALTH bosses are calling for fluoride in water supplies across Chorley and South Ribble to be boosted to stop childrens' teeth rotting.
Dental experts say the area has only seen a three per cent improvement in the number of missing, decayed and filled teeth, compared to a national improvement of 11 per cent.
And they are worried the districts won't be able to meet the 2003 national target of an average of no more than one decayed, missing or filled tooth per 12 year old.
Now they want to increase the levels of fluoride in water supplies.
In a report to the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust, public health director Shelagh Garnett and consultant in dental public health Gary Whittle, recommended the board support fluoridation.
They say in seven wards in Chorley and six in South Ribble, each child would have an average of at least one and a half fewer teeth affected by decay if the water was fluoridated.
Fluoride is partially absorbed into the enamel of the teeth, helping it resist acid from sugary food.
The experts say this would reduce the number of children suffering from pain and swelling and cut down on the 400 general anaesthetics administered yearly for tooth extractions.
Prompt
The trust board will now work with local authority officials to gauge public opinion on the matter.
But a move to fluoridate the water would prompt a protest from the National Pure Water Association and the North West Council Against Fluoridation. They claim fluoride is the toxic waste of the phosphate industry and a part two poison.
But Dr Garnett said she had no evidence to suggest fluoride had any adverse health effects.
She said: "Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral. We are not suggesting putting something in that isn't there. We are suggesting raising the level of a natural substance.
"Fluoride alone won't have any effect - it must go hand in hand with a better diet and better oral hygiene."
__________________________________________________2) The Sentinel, July 29 2003.
ROTTEN DENTAL RECORD OF OUR INFANTS' TEETH
12:00 - 29 July 2003
Five year-olds in North Staffordshire are plagued by nearly three times higher levels of tooth decay than their peers in other parts of the region.
The findings come from a damning survey carried out by the Dental Health Promotion Group exploring youngsters' dental health problems.
They show North Staffordshire is among the bottom three districts in the West Midlands for poor teeth among five-year-olds.
But the figures are even more worrying for children living in the north of Stoke-on-Trent - the area covered by North Stoke Primary Care Trust - where 54 per cent have tooth decay.
In Newcastle and South Stoke the statistics look a little better, with 57 per cent and 60 per cent of children respectively being free from tooth decay.
The Staffordshire Moorlands has the best record for the north of the county with only 32 per cent of five-year-olds having decayed teeth.
But compared to other parts of the region - particularly Cannock Chase and East Staffordshire where just 21 per cent of children have tooth decay - the numbers are still a concern.
Burslem South councillor Terry Crowe said: "This report is very concerning and I think more needs to be done to educate parents about how they can help their children look after their teeth.
"There just doesn't seem to be enough leaflets and information available. The majority of parents probably do all they can and may not realise that they could be doing more. I believe education is the key to improving these figures in the future."
Now the study has prompted renewed calls for fluoridation of the area' s water supplies.
On average, a group of 100 five-year-olds in North Staffordshire will have 152 teeth which are decayed, extracted as a result of decay or filled compared to just 61 teeth in a similar group in the south of the county.
Around two-thirds of people living in South Staffordshire have either wholly or partly fluoridated water, but there is no fluoridation scheme operating in the north.
Kate Taylor, North Staffordshire consultant in dental public health, said: "This latest study confirms yet again the benefits to dental health which come from fluoridated water.
"Staffordshire is a perfect example of the difference in levels of tooth decay between a fluoridated and non-fluoridated area."
Children in North Stoke again have the worst record for the number of decayed teeth, with a group of 100 children having 213 teeth decayed, missing or filled.
Figures for Newcastle and South Stoke are not much better with a similar group of five-year-olds having 147 decayed teeth in both areas. This compares dramatically to just 52 teeth per 100 children in Cannock Chase.
Burslem North councillor John Lamingman said he was surprised by the poor figures for North Stoke.
He said: "It is worrying, but I put it down to three factors, a lack of fluoride in the water, a lack of education for parents and poverty."
______________________________________________3) THE ECOLOGIST, July, 2003.
Two weeks ago it emerged that Mr Blair is backing secret moves to force water companies to fluoridate drinking water, whether the industry likes it or not. In other words, he is proposing to mass medicate the people of this country. This is not - as you might imagine - to prevent some terrible, crushing health risk like smallpox, but to improve the quality of our teeth.
Tooth decay is a nuisance, but it's hardly the stuff of nightmares. Fluoride, on the other hand, may well be; and, according to countless studies around the world, it doesn't even work. In the US, where 65 per cent of the population are routinely subjected to the chemical, the worst tooth decay occurs in poor neighbourhoods of the largest cities - the vast majority of which have been fluoridated for decades. And when fluoridation was stopped in parts of Finland, East Germany, Cuba and Canada tooth decay actually decreased.
But even if it did work, drinking fluoride to prevent cavities is like swallowing bandages to cure a broken arm. To solve tooth decay the government has opted not for a campaign against the undisputed culprits - like fast food and sugar - but for mass medication with a useless medicine.
Fluoride is not just a useless medicine. It is also highly toxic; so toxic, in fact, that in 1984 Procter and Gamble admitted that a small tube of its Colgate toothpaste 'theoretically. . . contains enough fluoride to kill a small child'. Given the fact that a third of US children living in fluoridated areas have white specks (or, in more serious cases, dark stripes) across their teeth - a sure sign of fluoride over-dose -, the implications are alarming.
Last year the director of the University of Toronto's Preventative Dentistry department, Dr Hardy Limeback, announced that he had profoundly corrected his profluoride position after reviewing the available literature. It must have taken him some time.
Fluoride has been linked to cot death, eczema and Alzheimer's. It has been shown, at low doses, to cause genetic damage. It has even been blamed by doctors from the US's National Cancer Institute and National Health Federation for 35,000 cancer deaths every year.
And because fluoride disintegrates collagen, an essential structural component in skin, muscle, ligaments and bone, big question marks are being raised over its possible contribution to arthritis - a problem that now affects a staggering 70 million Americans.
Other reports are appearing with increasing regularity that link fluoride consumption to increased hip fractures among the elderly.
Still further studies have linked fluoride use to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid glands), which is one of the most widespread medical problems in the US - affecting more than 20 million people - and leads to fatigue, weight gain, depression and heart disease. The suggestion of such a link is hardly radical; fluoride used to be prescribed by European doctors to depress the activities of an overactive thyroid.
But what is shocking is that fluoride was ever considered for mass medication. It has always been a source of contention. Indeed the first ever lawsuits against the US government's nuclear bomb programme (the so-called Manhattan Project) concerned fluoride, not radiation. What is more, the first health tests for fluoride, conducted by a Dr Dean, were designed to establish how much of the substance industry could afford to release into the environment without damaging human health.
In the summer of 1943 a group of New Jersey farmers reported that something was 'burning up' their peach trees, maiming their horses and cattle and killing their chickens. The source of their ills was a nearby DuPont factory that was producing millions of pounds of fluoride for use in the Manhattan Project. Immediately following the war the farmers filed a suit against DuPont and, without realising it, triggered alarm bells throughout the government. At the time, the Manhattan Project's chief of fluoride toxicology studies, professor Harold C Hodge, asked his superiors if there 'would be any use in making attempts to counteract the local fear of fluoride through lectures on fluoride toxicology and the usefulness of fluoride in tooth health?' As we now know, that is exactly what happened - with the effect that fluoride was magically transformed from a killer to a panacea.
Some years later Dr Phyllis Mullenix, formerly the head of toxicology at Forsyth Dental Center in Boston, conducted animal studies that showed fluoride was a powerful central nervous system toxin - even at low doses. Her results were published, and Mullenix was startled when the US National Institute of Health rejected her conclusions out of hand and terminated her grant.
Mullenix's research was not as original as she thought, however. Similar studies had been carried out by dentists involved in the Manhattan Project; the results had demonstrated a 'marked central nervous system effect' from fluoride. A version of the study was published in 1948, but, according to the investigative journalists who uncovered the original, it was 'censored to the point of tragicomedy'. While the published version reported that the factory workers studied exhibited fewer cavities, the original reported that most of them no longer exhibited any teeth at all.
Since then, the most widely known study into the benefits of water fluoridation was conducted in New Zealand between 1954 and 1970. The so-called 'Hastings experiment' is still quoted by fluoridation advocates today. But it failed to meet the most basic criteria for scientific objectivity; not least because the decline in tooth decay that the community in the study experienced was also seen in non-fluoridated communities in the region. The then mayor of Auckland, Sir Dove Myer Robinson, described the Hastings experiment as a 'swindle'.
Tragically the people the British government ostensibly wants to help most - ie, the poor - are the very people who will be worst hit by fluoride contamination. Studies by the American Dental Association in 1957 and the Canadian National Research Council in 1977 showed that 'people with inadequate dietary intakes are likely to be more "at risk" as a consequence of long-term low-dose fluoride ingestion'.
The British government's public health and water ministers, respectively Hazel Blears and Elliot Morley, recently issued a letter in which they suggested with breathtaking arrogance that 'those who remain adamantly opposed would be able to use water filters that remove fluoride or buy bottled drinking water'. But why should we have to? If people want to subject their children to a highly suspect industrial poison, they are free to do so, on their own terms. That is the position of virtually every country in Europe.
Even if it did work, drinking fluoride to prevent cavities is like swallowing bandages to cure a broken arm
Copyright Ecosystems Limited Jul/Aug 2003
____________________________________________WATER FLUORIDATION The government is planning to fluoridate the UK water supply in the belief that it will reduce tooth decay. Such a move would represent the compulsory medication of a toxin.
By Layla Dayani
Drug on tap
Cabinet papers leaked to The Sunday Times early in May revealed government plans to fluoridate drinking water in England and Wales. The reason given for this move is that it would reduce tooth decay among children in 'deprived' areas.
Until now it has been up to the water companies to decide whether to add fluoride to the water supply. Not wanting to face possible litigation, the industry has been reluctant to do so. Now, a proposed amendment to the Water Bill would shift that responsibility to health authorities.
Anticipating opposition to what amounts to compulsory medication, water minister Eliot Morley and public health minister Hazel Blears said: 'Those adamantly opposed [to water fluoridation] would be able to use water filters that remove fluoride or buy bottled drinking water.'
WHAT IS FLUORIDATION?
Fluoridation is the addition to drinking water of chemicals based on the element fluoride, purportedly to protect growing teeth in children. The chemicals used to fluoridate drinking water, silicofluorides, are a toxic waste product from the phosphate fertiliser industry. They are unprocessed hazardous waste containing a whole host of toxic substances - including arsenic, mercury and lead - not found in pharmaceutical grade fluoride.
FLUORIDE IN NUMBERS
1 teaspoon of fluoride is enough to kill a human being
11 percent of the UK's population currently receive fluoridated water
30 to 50 per cent of children suffer from dental fluorosis (excessive fluoridation) in optimally fluoridated communities
85 per cent of the tooth decay suffered by children would be unaffected by fluoridation
98 per cent of countries in western Europe have rejected fluoridation
100 times more fluoride in fluoridated tap water than breast milk
7:1 the ratio of the incidence of bone cancer in fluoridated to non-fluoridated areas
REASONS NOT TO FLUORIDATE WATER:
1 Fluoride is a toxic substance
* It is the active ingredient in most pesticides. Just over two grams (roughly a teaspoon) is enough to kill an adult; 300 milligrams is enough to kill a child.
* In the US people have died and many have been hospitalised suffering from fluoride poisoning, when faulty fluoridation equipment has pumped excess fluoride into the water.
2 Fluoridation is unnecessary
* Western Europe, which is 98 per cent unfluoridated, has experienced a similar decline in cavities as the heavily fluoridated US and today enjoys the same low level of tooth decay.
* Fluoridation is largely ineffective at preventing 'pit and fissure' decay, which accounts for more than 85 per cent of all dental decay.
* Most people receive the 'optimal' one milligram per day of fluoride without ever drinking a glass of fluoridated water.
3 Fluoride causes infertility
* Fluoride wreaks havoc on the reproductive system. It renders sperm non-functional and increases rates of infertility. A recent study conducted in the US found increased rates of infertility among women living in areas with three or more parts per million fluoride in the water.
4 Fluoride is a cumulative poison
* Nearly half the fluoride we ingest each day accumulates in our bodies primarily in the bones, but also in soft tissues. High levels cause a crippling bone disease known as skeletal fluorosis.
* Fluoride stimulates abnormal bone development. Clinical trials report that high-dose fluoride treatment increases bone mass, but that the newly formed bone is 'structurally unsound'.
5 Fluoride depresses thyroid function
* Up until the 1950s, European doctors prescribed fluoride to reduce the activity of the thyroid gland for people suffering from overactive thyroid. Hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid) is currently one of the most common medical problems in the US.
6 Fluoride is a neurotoxin
* A December 2000 study found fluoridated water was associated with elevated levels of lead in children's blood, which is in turn linked to a variety of neurological problems - including aggression, hyperactivity and reduced intelligence.
* Studies from China have found an association between elevated fluoride exposure and decreased IQs in children.
7 Fluoridation is unethical
* It contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, which sets out the criteria for medical intervention. Water fluoridation denies the right of the individual to refuse or give consent to any medication involving their person.
8 Fluoridation is illegal
* The compulsory provision of medical treatment contravenes the 1998 Human Rights Act. It violates the individual's right to informed consent to medication.
EUROPE ON FLUORIDE
France: 'Fluoride chemicals are not included in the list [of chemicals for drinking water treatment]. This is due to ethical as well as medical considerations.' Louis Sanchez, head of environmental standards for the city of Paris, August 2000
Belgium: This water treatment has never been of use in Belgium and will never be (we hope) in the future.'
Christian Legros, director, Belgaqua, Brussels, February 2000
Norway: 'In Norway we had a rather intense discussion on this subject some 20 years ago, and the conclusion was that drinking water should not be fluoridated.'
The National Institute of Public Health, Oslo, March 2000
Austria: 'Toxic fluorides have never been added to public water supplies in Austria.' Manfred Eisenhut, head of water at Gass Wasser, Vienna, February 2000
Czech Republic: 'Since 1993 drinking water has not been treated with fluoride in public water supplies throughout the Czech Republic. Although fluoridation of drinking water has not actually been proscribed it is not under consideration because this form of supplementation is considered:
* uneconomical - only 0.54 per cent of water suitable for drinking is used as such; furthermore, an increasing amount of consumers (particularly children) are using bottled water for drinking;
* unecological;
* unethical [because of lack of consumer choice]; and
* toxilogically and physiologically debatable; fluoridation represents an untargeted form of supplementation that disregards actual individual intake and requirements and may lead to excessive health-threatening intake in certain population groups.'
Dr B Havlik, minister of health, the Czech Republic October 1999
Copyright Ecosystems Limited Jul/Aug 2003
___________________________________________
Abuse your illusions: The Disinformation guide to media mirages and establishment lies
Source: "Ecologist, The"
Publication date: 2003-07-01
Arrival time: 2003-07-29Abuse your illusions: the Disinformation guide to media mirages and establishment lies. Edited by Russ Kick Disinformation 2003, L17.99 ISBN 0971394245 Abuse your Illusions is a compilation of essays debunking several of the myths of modern society. With sections on the truth about fluoridation, the horrors of the diamond trade and secret nuclear tests on humans, this book will shake many of your beliefs to the core. With contributors including William Blum, Greg Palast and Howard Zinn, Abuse Your Illusions reminds us how irrelevant most of the mainstream media really is.
Here some recent news just received:1 August 2003
In the UK, despite an Amendment to the new Water Bill seeking to make fluoridation compulsory, which will be voted on in the House of Commons on 8 September, in recent weeks the following Councils have stated their official positions on water fluoridation. This should send a warning to Parliament that their actions are being closely watched.
Liverpool City Council - re-affirmed their opposition to fluoridation.
Bradford City Council - re-affirmed their opposition to fluoridation.
Lancaster City Council - re-affirmed their opposition to fluoridation.
Brighton City Council - affirmed their opposition to fluoridation.
Calderdale Council - re-affirmed their opposition to fluoridation.Best to all - read some terrific News just received from
INTERNATIONAL FLUORIDE INFORMATION NETWORKIFIN BULLETIN: IFIN #818:
FOUR VICTORIES and more from South Korea.
August 1, 2003
Some very exciting news from Korea just in from the Korean National Coalition Against Fluoridation. Not only have four city councils (Chongju (pop. 500,000), Pohang (pop. 500,000), Gwacheon (pop. 70,000) and Uiwang) stopped fluoridating their water but also the KOREAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION as well as the KOREAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION have withdrawn their support for this practice.This news, coming a few months after Basel, Switzerland halted fluoridation after 41 years of the practice, is further evidence that this practice is losing what little international support it ever had. The English speaking countries are getting more and more isolated in their obstinate pursuit of this obsolete form of medicine.
Related articles
Behavioral Effects of Fluorides
Toxic fluoride soon unnecessary
Prominent researcher apologizes
Hidden Sources of Fluoride: Pesticides
How we got fluoridated - an interesting time line!
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Thursday July 31 2003
updated on Wednesday December 15 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/07/31/fluoride_and_old_lace.htm
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