Flouridation
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