So what’s the deal with fluoride?
If you
go online and research the topic, you are bombarded with facts, fears, studies
and fluoride filter sales pitches. Fluoride is a naturally occurring
mineral.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
says that the amount of fluoride added to our water supplies is safe. In fact,
the CDC has proclaimed it as one of the 10 great public health accomplishments
of the 20th century.
Like
many communities throughout the country, fluoride was first added to our water
supply in the early 1970s to prevent tooth decay. The Memphis City Council
mandated the addition when it passed a local ordinance in 1969. In 1971, Memphis
voters backed the council’s action and passed a referendum to continue the
practice.
Since
that time, MLGW has followed state and federal recommendations on fluoride.
We can continue to add it in or take it out depending on the will and vote of
the people.
In
late April this year for the first time in a half-century, the federal
government lowered the recommended level of fluoride for water systems in the
U.S.
The change resulted in fluoride levels not to exceed 0.7
milligrams per liter. That amount is equivalent to less than four drops in a
55-gallon barrel of water. (Previously, the “old” level was 1.2 milligrams per
liter.)
The Department of Health and Human Services made the new
recommendations in part because of our changing lifestyle toward better oral
health care.
Fluoride is now in toothpaste, mouthwash and other
topical dental treatments. Roughly 200 million people have fluoride added to
their water in the U.S. Even if MLGW didn’t add fluoride, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the state of Tennessee has noted that most water supplies
have some naturally occurring fluoride.
Regulators wanted to find a delicate balance between
preventing tooth decay and also reducing the risk of tooth discoloration.
Tooth decay in children and adults has declined
significantly in the U.S. since fluoride was added to water supplies. Studies by
the American Dental Association and others have demonstrated that people living
in communities with fluoridated water have between 20 to 40 percent fewer
cavities than those in communities without fluoridated water. For some people, too much fluoride can cause visible
discoloration and weaken teeth.
Regulators believe the new amount provides the proper
balance. So does the American Dental Association. “The ADA unreservedly endorses
the fluoridation of community water supplies as safe, effective and necessary in
preventing tooth decay. This support has been the Association's position since
policy was first adopted in 1950.”
2 comments:
"Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral." Yeah, so are lead, arsenic, and mercury, geniuses.
I have asked many forced-fluoridation fanatics to tell me how much accumulated fluoride in the body they think is safe. So far not a single one of them has been able to answer the question.
http://forcedfluoridationfreedomfighters.com/a-preliminary-investigation-into-fluoride-accumulation-in-bone/
The trusted UK-based Cochrane Group is yet another respected scientific research body to find that fluoridation’s benefits are built upon a house of cards (June 2015). Cochrane reports that studies purporting to show fluoridation’s ability to reduce tooth decay are out-dated, biased and were conducted before the widespread use of fluoridated dental products, in other words - scientifically invalid.
Unlike the US Centers for Disease Control and the American Dental Association which work very closely together promoting fluoridation and which get funding from fluoride-selling corporations, Cochrane does not accept commercial or conflicted funding which Cochrane says “is vital for us to generate authoritative and reliable information, produced by people who can work freely, unconstrained by commercial and financial interests.”
Fluoridation “benefit” studies also rarely factor in individual fluoride intake, diet, income, access to dental care or any other proven or possible cavity-preventatives such as vitamin D.
Fluoridation is newly framed as a boon to poor kids. But, Cochrane reports, “There is insufficient evidence to determine whether water fluoridation results in a change in disparities in caries [cavities] levels across SES [socio-economic-status or income]."
Other untrue arguments fluoridationists present to too-trusting governing bodies aren’t supported by valid science either e.g. fluoridation benefits adults and tooth decay rates go up when fluoridation is stopped. Cochrane could find no proof that this is true.
As is often the case, new information doesn’t stop organized dentistry from spinning the results to protect and promote fluoridation.
The Cochrane’s fluoridation review was conducted using a precise scientific method over a necessary period of time. It took the British Dental Association (BDA) less than one day to spin Cochrane’s results via a news release, cherry-picking data to report favorably - that fluoridation reduces cavities by up to 35%.
But, this figure is based on the poor and biased science, revealed by Cochrane, which shows a child’s fluoridation “benefit” of under two primary teeth or one permanent tooth over their lifetime. Even if this “benefit” was based on sound-science, this small decay reduction doesn’t justify the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into fluoridation schemes, lobbyists, hand-outs, strategy meetings, spokesperson training and fluoridation consultants and PR agents hired by the CDC and many states and organizations to protect and promote fluoridation. The costs to remedy fluoride's health-damaging effects add to the country's financial burden.
After the BDA's news release, an unnamed author wrote an article on an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) fluoridation-promoting website, also criticizing Cochrane in an all-too-familiar knee-jerk non-scientific fashion.
Fluoridationists will always pick apart any study or review that’s critical of fluoride or fluoridation; but never look in their own backyard – even when objective researchers point it their flaws.
References http://www.FluorideDangers.Blogspot.com
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