After 72 years of Fluoridation, Uncertainty Persists

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While pushing through a country-wide fluoridation mandate last year, Israel's policy-makers and public health officials ignored or denied valid evidence, produced by experts in their fields and respected science groups, showing that fluoridation science has not been settled according to researchers in the Journal of Risk Research, August 2016. The same is true of US fluoridationists, reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. (NYSCOF)

January 25, 2017, is the 72^nd anniversary of water fluoridation - the addition of fluoride chemicals into public water supplies intending to reduce tooth decay.

The Israel researchers, Anat Gesser-Edelsburg, PhD, Head of Health Promotion Department, School of Public Health, University of Haifa, and Dr. Yaffa Shir-Raz report that "In this study, we argue that the policy makers themselves …[carry] out what they accuse others [fluoridation opposers] of doing. They share only partial, biased information in order to support their case, and convey information in terms that misrepresent the actual situation."

From the beginning, respected US scientists and physicians criticized fluoridation but were ignored (i.e., Waldbott). Voices of opposition were suppressed since the early days, according to Chemical and Engineering News.

Criticism persists today, i.e. Legal Scholar Rita Barnett-Rose; Historian Catherine Carstairs, Phd; Social Scientist Brian Martin PhD; investigative reporters in Scientific American, Chemical & Engineering News, Newsweek and ABC-TV.  In fact, US public health bureaucrats ignore their own published evidence of fluoride's potential harm i.e. New York State Department of Health and Virginia Department of Health.

Gesser-Edelsburg and Shir-Raz explain that some studies, including recent ones, show no benefit from fluoridation; some even report adverse effects and that those studies were ignored by officials.

For example, three expert committees (NRC, SCHER, YORK) revealed "that there is uncertainty surrounding both the safety and the efficacy of fluoridation," they report.

They add,  "A Cochrane systematic review (2015) "concluded that there is very little updated and high-quality evidence indicating that fluoridation reduces dental caries, while there is significant association between fluoride levels and dental fluorosis [discolored teeth]."

Lawyer Paul Beeber, NYSCOF President says, "The truth is that fluoridation is a dark blot on scientific integrity.  We should be eulogizing fluoridation not honoring it."

Today's PR gurus coach fluoridationists to avoid mentioning risks because then "opponents are likely to win."  (slide 18) 

Contact:  Paul Beeber, JD, 516-433-8882, [email protected] 
http://www.FluorideAction.Net

SOURCE New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.