Why is the Media Finally Paying Attention to Fluoridation?

Why is the Media Finally Paying Attention to Fluoridation?

CANTON, NEW YORK – Although water fluoridation has often been considered to be one of the great marvels of the 20th Century, media reports have increasingly been calling into question the safety and efficacy of the practice.

Below are some of the recent reports in the press, both in the US and elsewhere, along with some brief excerpts.

ABCNews.com – What Evidence Is There That Water Fluoridation Prevents Cavities?" - Feb. 15, 2001 - http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/SecondOpinion/secondopinion010215.html

[P]ublic health policy in this country has allowed water fluoridation to continue in the absence of solid scientific evidence that its benefit is greater than its risk… When you commit to putting a powerful chemical into the water supply, youd better have the best of evidence that it is both safe and effective. The required level of evidence is just not there.

Reuters Health – Fluoridated Water: Some Say it is Unnecessary" – Feb. 16, 2001 -
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2001/02/16/eline/links/20010216elin003.html

If...the effects of the cessation of water fluoridation are not readily detectable due to other existing sources of the element--or better treatment--the continued practice of fluoridation is therefore unnecessary…

Irish 20/20 News Program – Hard to Swallow? The Water Fluoridation Debate" – Jan. 12, 2001 - http://fluoridealert.org/2020.htm

98% of Europe does not drink fluoridated water. Apart from 10% of the UK and 3% of Spain, virtually every European country has either stopped, rejected outright, or even banned water fluoridation as a health program.

New Hampshire Sunday News – Arsenic in the water: Benefits vs. dangers" - http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=12289

Arsenic, the legendary king of poisons, is being added to drinking water in … communities that fluoridate. The cancer-causing metallic element is among the contaminants found in hydrofluosilicic acid, which is used to deliver tooth decay-preventing fluoride to Manchester's drinking water.

Santa Barbara News Press – Fluoride fantasy" – Feb. 2, 2001 -
http://www.nofluoride.com/santa_barbaraNP.htm

…a growing body of research has raised serious questions about long-term fluoride use, indicating it may cause health problems such as cancer, mental impairment, brittle bones and fluorosis…

Willamette Week – The F Word" – Feb. 21, 2001 -
http://www.nofluoride.com/willamette_week.htm

Proponents of fluoridation argue that thousands of studies since 1950 have put questions about the safety of water fluoridation to rest. But if anything, the questions keep growing…In the last six months, the British and Canadian governments both released wide-ranging reports that reviewed the thousands of published scientific studies on water fluoridation…The British review was the most comprehensive ever done of fluoride science. The Canadian review, which looked at a different set of studies, reached the same conclusions as the British. Both directly challenged the conventional wisdom on fluoride in the United States.

Healthmall - Fluoride Bad to the Bone" – Feb. 14, 2001 - http://www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm?type=article&id=1497&a=

…increasing exposure to fluoride may be a contributing factor to the near epidemic levels of arthritis now found in the US….

Why all the Attention?

Why are these reports coming out so much more frequently these days?

Its simply that the weight of scientific evidence against fluoridation has been steadily increasing over the past decade, says Paul Connett, PhD, of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), an international coalition of organizations helping to raise awareness of fluoride's health and environmental hazards.

Anyone who looks at the evidence honestly, and bases their opinions on the actual published data, will come to the same conclusion," says Dr. Connett. The evidence that fluoridation is safe and effective is simply not there and it is only a matter of time before the practice is abandoned."

Contact:
Paul Connett, PhD, Fluoride Action Network, St. Lawrence University, Phone: 315-379-9200, Fax: 315-379-0448, Email: media@fluoridealert.org, URL: www.fluoridealert.org

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