Teething Trouble: Why the Fluoride Debate is Set to Rage Again.

[Guest guest]

http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/220704/CTM%20-%20Irish%20fluoride.htm

 

Teething Trouble

Why the Fluoride Debate is Set to Rage Again.

by Catherine Murphy

 

A new book claims water fluoridation is a con-job and

is more harmful and less effective than governments

will ever admit. Catherine Murphy reports Dr Andrew

Rynne wants the State to answer his case. The GP

claims that fluoridation of public water supplies -- a

measure introduced 40 years ago to halt dental decay

-- negates his personal rights and choices.

 

Dr Rynne, from Clane, Co Kildare, is pursuing a High

Court action against the Government and is awaiting a

defence response from his regional health board. If

successful in his action, Dr Rynne could spark a class

action, a wave of similar cases against the Government

that might leave army deafness claims in the shade. If

unsuccessful, his case will at least re-ignite public

awareness of the contentious issue of fluoridation. He

also awaits the implementation of recommendations made

in the 2002 Forum on Fluoridation report, none of

which have yet been instigated.

 

Navan-based dentist Don McAuley took a different form

of action against fluoridation. Four years ago, after

setting up his own practice, he spoke to the Irish

Independent about how he had received threats and lost

jobs as a result of opposing water fluoridation in

this country. He now heads up Irish Dentists Opposing

Fluoridation, a group representing about 3% of Irish

dentists.

 

For every Andrew Rynne or Don McAuley opposing water

fluoridation, there are an equal number of proponents

-- Dr Seamus O'Hickey, former chief dental officer

with the Department of Health and now lecturing in

public dental health, and Professor John Clarkson from

the Dublin Dental Hospital, to name just two. Both are

involved in the Expert Body on Water Fluoridation in

Ireland, set up following the report of the Forum on

Fluoridation and already lashed by critics as a

`whitewash'. In addition, bodies such as the Royal

College of Physicians in Ireland do not oppose

fluoridation.

 

Now the publication of a new book, The Fluoride

Deception, seems certain to reopen the battle lines.

It argues that water fluoridation is a con-job, a

1950s measure peddled by a US nanny state as harmless

and beneficial, a means of " mass medication by thirst "

which treats a non-water-borne condition (dental

decay) with water and is more harmful and less

effective than governments will ever let on.

 

The most obvious side-effect of fluoridation is dental

fluorosis, which damages tooth enamel and can range

from mild to severe. However, fluoridation has also

been linked to far more serious conditions --

everything from irritable bowel syndrome and Attention

Deficit Disorder to skeletal fluorosis, congenital

defects, cancer and neurological disorders. While none

of these links has yet been scientifically proven,

some experts say the risk is too great to continue

with fluoridation.

 

A toxic by-product of phosphate fertilisers, fluoride

contains trace elements of lead, mercury and arsenic

and is used in rat poison and nerve gas. A cumulative

toxin, it's said to head straight for our hard tissues

-- teeth and bones -- and is linked to hip fractures

and brittle bones. Given the right dose, it can be

fatal, and is said to have contributed to the deaths

of American aluminium factory workers exposed to high

levels.

 

Critical experts argue that fluoride isn't a nutrient,

that no illness or disease is linked to fluoride

deficiency and any dental benefits work by applying it

to the teeth rather than swallowing it. Many other

fluoride products are sold only on prescription yet,

the critics argue, you have no control over the

presence or dosage of fluoride in your water supply.

 

" One of the problems is that you haven't a clue how

much fluoride is going into your water, " says Ronnie

Russell, professor of environmental studies at Trinity

College. " I don't trust the authorities enough to

administer a consistent dose of sufficient purity to

be satisfied. People have to resort to using water

filters as the only means of exercising choice and

safety. Also, we now get fluoride from many sources

that didn't exist in the 1960s. "

 

Water first became fluoridated in Ireland in the

mid-1960s on the wave of a High Court case to

determine its suitability as a public health measure.

Forty years later proponents say it's still of benefit

to public health, a necessity in the face of growing

obesity and unhealthy snacking habits that threaten

dental health. Critics say it's damaging to our

health, unethical, undemocratic, unsafe and

ineffective, a dated public health mistake which has

somehow outlived asbestos, leaded petrol and the

advent of fluoride toothpaste.

 

About 73% of Irish water is fluoridated, compared to

10% in the UK, 60% in America and 3% in Spain. An

estimated 98% of European countries do not fluoridate

their water and in the US some individual states are

revoking it. In Basel, Switzerland, the process has

been dropped while in France salt fluoridation and

fluoridation applications by dentists are more common.

 

In Ireland we continue to fluoridate water supplies

despite the fact that we also get it from toothpaste,

mouth washes, processed foods and beverages, pesticide

residues and air pollution. Fluoride fans say it's a

good way of protecting poorer communities from dental

decay; critics say less nourished people from

disadvantaged communities are more sensitive to

fluoride poisoning because of other dietary

deficiencies.

 

For every argument in favour of fluoridation, there is

an argument against. The Fluoride Deception points to

the suppression of medical information, the sacking of

experts who found damaging evidence of potentially

nasty side-effects that governments didn't want to

hear and a powerful political lobby that grasped

fluoridation as a cheap means of mass medication to

avoid adequate dental cover and dietary education. The

contentiousness of the issue hit home in the UK when

the British government took moves to indemnify water

companies from civil or criminal cases taken by

members of the public.

 

The jury is also out on fluorosis rates and the level

of dental decay in fluoridated areas as opposed to

non-fluoridated areas. Mr McAuley says 50pc of the

children and teenagers he sees have some form of

fluorosis, the most obvious sign of fluoride

poisoning.

 

Professor John Clarkson, a proponent of fluoridation,

argues that the increase in fluorosis cases is small

and no proof has been found linking fluoride to any

serious disease.

 

What should worry us most in Ireland is the fact that

two years after the publication of the Forum on

Fluoridation report, not one of its recommendations

has been implemented, a fact recently raised in the

Dail with Health Minister Micheal Martin by John

Gormley of the Green Party. While an Expert Body has

been established with Dr Seamus O'Hickey as chairman,

it has only had one meeting so far.

 

Along with quality assurance measures and plant

monitoring, the Forum report recommended a reduction

from the current level of 0.8 to 1.0 part per million

to 0.6 to 0.8 part per million, with a target level of

0.7ppm. The Forum recommended this decrease on the

evidence of increased levels of dental fluorosis and

the fact that we're getting fluoride from many other

sources on a daily basis. Opponents such as Voice, the

voice of Irish concern for the environment, rubbished

the forum report, as did Dr Rynne.

 

" The Government knows that if it withdraws

fluoridation suddenly, it could face a rash of

compensation cases. Instead, it will turn the levels

down slowly over the years. But the Forum's

recommended decrease is the stuff of scientific

nonsense, which reduces the dose to a level that is

known to be of no significant benefit, " says Dr Rynne.

 

According to Mr McAuley, 50 scientific reasons why

fluoridation should not be used were presented to the

Forum by Professor Paul Connett but none of these

reasons has been examined or responded to. " Water

fluoridation is a political issue and the expert body

is simply a delaying tactic, " he says. " After 40 years

of this process, we're seeing increased levels of

fluorosis -- who knows what effects we'll be seeing in

another 20 years? "

Irish Independent 22nd June, 2004

 

The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson is

published in the US by Seven Stories Press.

 

THE FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK is at

www.fluoridealert.org

 

Further Resources

Need more information on fluoride?

 

Health Wars by Phillip Day