The Case Against Fluoridation

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The Case Against Fluoridation

• Paul Connett, PhD
• Director, Fluoride Action Network
• FluorideALERT.org
• Taupo, Feb 25, 2015

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• I have spent the last 19 years fighting water
  fluoridation first as a professor of chemistry
  specializing in environmental chemistry and
  toxicology, and now as director of the Fluoride
  Action Network.
• This research effort culminated in the
  publication of The Case Against Fluoride in Oct,
  2010.

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James Beck, MD, PhD, A retired professor of
Physics from Calgary
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HS Micklem, D Phil (Oxon) A retired professor of
Biology from Edinbrgh
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Book published by Chelsea Green October,
2010 Can be ordered on Amazon.com
Contains 80 pages of references to
the Scientific literature
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More on IQ studies
PROPAGANDA versus SCIENCE
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Civil servants in Australia, Canada, NZ,
Ireland, UK, US and other fluoridated countries
are treating citizens to propaganda not science
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Queensland Healths promotion of mandatory
statewide fluoridation) (2007)
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Teeth exposed to fluoridated water Qld
Health 2007

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Teeth exposed to fluoridated water Qld
Health 2007
Teeth without exposure to fluoridated water
Qld Health 2007

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• Medical officer of health Dr. Hazel Lynn holds up
  a picture of a child's teeth. Lynn said water
  fluoridation prevents tooth decay and is a safe
  practice. (Owen Sound, Sun Times, Jan 31, 2014)

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Civil servants in fluoridated countries are
behaving as if it is more important to protect
the fluoridation program than it is to protect
the health of their citizens!
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News from the UK yesterdayWater fluoridation
above a certain level is linked to 30 per cent
higher than expected rate of underactive thyroid
(hypothyroidism) in England, suggests research
published online in the Journal of Epidemiology
Community Health. The researchers call for a
rethink of public health policy to fluoridate the
water supply in a bid to protect the nations
tooth health.
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 the UK study found a relatively strong and
statistically significant effect, with General
Practice (GP) areas being 62 more likely to have
high rates of diagnosed hypothyroidism if their
drinking water fluoride levels were above 0.7 ppm
compared to areas with fluoride levels below
0.3ppm.  This was after researchers had accounted
for key confounders, which are other factors that
influence hypothyroid rates.
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This was after researchers had accounted for key
confounders, which are other factors that
influence hypothyroid rates.But Dr. David Crum
of the the New Zealand Dental Assn is saying - 
"the research was flawed because fluoridated
areas of Britain were also the areas with high
iodine deficiency"
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I will argue that Fluoridation is

• 1) UNUSUAL
• 2) UNNATURAL
• 3) UNETHICAL
• 4) UNNECESSARY
• 5) UNSAFE
• 6) INEFFECTIVE and
• 7) There are better ways to fight tooth decay in
  low-income families

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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
1) Fluoridation
is Unusual
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The vast majority of countries do NOT fluoridate
their water
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97 of Western European population now drinks
Non-Fluoridated Water
Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Northern
Ireland Norway Scotland Sweden Switzerland
Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Gre
ece Iceland
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97 of Western European population now drinks
Non-Fluoridated Water
Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Northern
Ireland Norway Scotland Sweden Switzerland
Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany
Greece Iceland
Some fluoridate their salt
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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
2) Fluoridation
is Unnatural
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• Natures verdict
• The level of fluoride in mothers milk is
  EXTREMELY LOW
• 0.004 ppm
• (NRC , 2006, p. 40)

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Mothers milk protects our babies from early
exposure to fluoride
F 0.004 ppm
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Water fluoridation removes natures protection
F 1.00 ppm 250 x level in mothers
milk
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• A bottle-fed baby in a fluoridated community
  (0.7 1.2 ppm) is getting 175-300 times the
  fluoride dose that nature intended!

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• In other words by Natures standards
• 1 ppm is not small
• it is HUGE!

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• Please Note
• Life evolved from the sea where the level of
  fluoride is about 1.4 ppm, BUT not one single
  process in the body requires fluoride to
  function! Fluoride is NOT an essential nutrient

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• Please Note
• Many biological processes and components are
  harmed by fluoride (enzymes, G-proteins etc)

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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
3) Fluoridation
is Unethical
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• We should NEVER use the public water supply to
  deliver ANY medical treatment
• a) You cant control the DOSE
• b) you cant control who gets the
• treatment AND
• c) it violates the individuals right to informed
  consent to medication

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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
4) Fluoridation
is Unnecessary
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• In 1999, the CDC Oral Health Division (the 1
  promoter of fluoridation in the world) conceded
  that the predominant benefit of fluoride is
  TOPICAL not SYSTEMIC.

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CDC, MMWR, 48(41) 933-940, Oct 22, 1999

• fluoride prevents dental caries predominantly
  after eruption of the tooth into the mouth, and
  its actions primarily are topical

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This admission by the CDC Oral Health Division
should have ended fluoridation worldwide!
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If fluoride works primarily on the outside of the
tooth not from inside the body,

• Why swallow it and expose every tissue of the
  body to a toxic substance, when you can brush it
  on your teeth and spit it out?
• And why put it in the drinking water and force it
  on people who dont want it?

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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
5) Fluoridation
is Unsafe
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NRC (2006)
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• Fluoride but not necessarily water fluoridation
  
• Damages the bone
• Lowers thyroid function
• Damages the brain

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• Since 2006 much more has been published on
  fluoride and the brain. Many animal and human
  studies indicate that fluoride is a potent
  neurotoxicant www.FluorideALERT.org/issues/health
  /brain

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30 out of 32 Animal Studies Have Found Fluoride
Impairs Learning/Memory
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IQ studies the current tally

• 44 out of 51 studies have found an association
  between fairly modest exposure to fluoride and
  lowered IQ (China, India, Mexico and Iran)

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Harvard Meta-analysis of IQ studies
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The Harvard Meta-analysis

• In 2012, Choi et al (the team included Philippe
  Grandjean) published a meta-analysis of 27
  studies comparing IQ in high versus low
  fluoride villages .
• The study was published in Environmental Health
  Perspectives (published by NIEHS)

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Harvard meta-analysis of 27 studies

• The Harvard team acknowledged that there were
  weaknesses in many of the studies, however

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• the results were remarkably consistent
• In 26 of the 27 studies there was lower average
  IQ in the high versus low-fluoride villages.
• Average IQ lowering was about 7 IQ points.

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Dr. William Hirzy, a former senior scientist at
the US EPA and a risk assessment specialist, will
present his risk assessment for F and lowered IQ
next.
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More details on one of the IQ studies
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Xiang et al. (2003 a,b)

• Compared IQ of children in two villages
• Low Fluoride Village Average F in well water
  0.36 ppm (Range 0.18 -0.76 ppm)
• High Fluoride Village Average F in well water
  2.5 ppm (Range 0.57 4.5 ppm)
• Controlled for lead exposure and iodine intake,
  and retrospectively for arsenic.
• Found a drop of 5-10 IQ points across the whole
  age range between the two villages

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The lowest level that lowered IQ in Xiang study

• See group B, mean fluoride concentration 1.53
  ppm /- 0.27
• Some children had IQ lowered at 1.26 ppm
• This leaves no adequate margin of safety to
  protect all children drinking water between 0.7
  and 1.2 ppm.
• We usually use a safety factor of 10 to account
  for the wide range of sensitivity expect to any
  toxic substance in a large population.

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Dr. Philippe Grandjean

• Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury,
  and other poisons that cause chemical brain
  drain. (Harvard Press Release)
• Grandjean is the author of a book published this
  year entitled Only One Chance

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IQ and population
Number of Kids With a Specific IQ
100
IQ
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IQ and population
Number of Kids With a Specific IQ
Very Bright
100
IQ
Mentally handicapped
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IQ and population
Number of Kids With a Specific IQ
95 100
IQ
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IQ and population
Number of Kids With a Specific IQ
Very Bright
95 100
IQ
Mentally handicapped
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Xiang et al. (2003 a,b)
MALES
Ave. Level 2.5 ppm
Ave. level 0.36 ppm F
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The very last children who need a loss of IQ
points are chidlren from low-income families, who
are precisely the children targeted in water
fluoridaiton programs!
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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay

Quanyong Xiang, Paul Connett, Chris Neurath and
Bill Hirzy outside the EPA Headquarters in
Washington, DC Sept 8, 2014
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• The US EPA is in the process of determining a new
  MCLG (maximum contaminat level goal) for fluoride
  as recommended by the NRC in 2006.
• They say they are using SEVERE dental fluorosis
  as the most sensitive end point of fluorides
  toxicity.
• They claim that if they protect for this it will
  protect against damage to the bone and any other
  tissue.

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• To demonstrate that SEVERE DF is a more sensitive
  end point than lowered IQ they would have to show
  that ALL the children in the High Fluoride
  village in all the 40 studies where IQ was
  lowered
• had only SEVERE DF and not other milder categories

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The level of fluoride and IQ in different group
by dental fluorosis
Group No. Water F IQ Urine F Serum F
0 301 0.500.53 99.763.50 1.130.71 0.0440.017
1 65 1.881.07 94.1813.77 2.701.15 0.0710.023
2 59 2.440.66 93.2713.10 3.691.61 0.0820.016
3 63 2.670.63 91.5112.84 3.851.79 0.0850.019
4 24 2.890.81 95.3314.64 3.811.80 0.0840.018
Xiangs presentation at FAN conference , Sept 6,
2014
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Severity of dental fluorosis on the Dean scale
The level of fluoride and IQ in different group
by dental fluorosis
Group No. Water F IQ Urine F Serum F
0 301 0.500.53 99.763.50 1.130.71 0.0440.017
1 65 1.881.07 94.1813.77 2.701.15 0.0710.023
2 59 2.440.66 93.2713.10 3.691.61 0.0820.016
3 63 2.670.63 91.5112.84 3.851.79 0.0850.019
4 24 2.890.81 95.3314.64 3.811.80 0.0840.018
Xiangs presentation at FAN conference , Sept 6,
2014
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Severity of dental fluorosis on the Dean scale
The level of fluoride and IQ in different group
by dental fluorosis
Group No. Water F IQ Urine F Serum F
0 301 0.500.53 99.763.50 1.130.71 0.0440.017
1 65 1.881.07 94.1813.77 2.701.15 0.0710.023
2 59 2.440.66 93.2713.10 3.691.61 0.0820.016
3 63 2.670.63 91.5112.84 3.851.79 0.0850.019
4 24 2.890.81 95.3314.64 3.811.80 0.0840.018
Xiangs presentation at FAN conference , Sept 6,
2014
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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
6) Fluoridation
is Ineffective
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1) No RCT after 70 years!
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RCT randomized control trial, the gold standard
of epidemiology testing of drugs
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2) WHO data
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According to WHO data tooth decay in
12-year-olds is coming down as fast in NF as F
countries
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SOURCE World Health Organization. (Data online)
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3) The largest survey of tooth decay in the US
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NIDR survey Brunelle Carlos (1990)

• They looked at 39,000 children in 84 communities.
• In Table 6 Brunelle and Carlos compared tooth
  decay of children who had spent all their lives
  in a Fluoridated Community with those who had
  spent all their lives in a Non-Fluoridated one

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Brunelle and Carlos (1990) (Table 6)
2.8 DMFS F

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The largest US survey of tooth decay
3.4 DMFS NF
2.8 DMFS F

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Brunelle and Carlos, 1990
3.4 DMFS NF
2.8 DMFS F
Average difference (for 5 - 17 year olds) in
DMFS 0.6 tooth surfaces
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• Not only was this saving very small (0.6 of one
  tooth surface) but it was not even shown to be
  statistically significant!

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4) The most precise study of tooth decay in the
US
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• Warren et al. (2009)
• (the Iowa study) examined the relationship
  between the amount of fluoride ingested by
  individual children (in mg/day) and their level
  of tooth decay

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• They found no clear relationship! The authors
  state
• These findings suggest that achieving a
  caries-free status may have relatively little to
  do with fluoride intake
•  Warren et al., 2009

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Part 1.Better ways of fighting tooth decay
7) There are better ways of
fighting tooth decay in
low-income families
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A Better Strategy

• Most of the tooth decay today is concentrated in
  low-income families.
• We need to target those families with better
  dental services, better dental education and
  better diet.
• They have done this in Scotland

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Scotland

•  Instead of water fluoridation, the Scottish
  Government instigated its ChildSmile program.
  This involves
• a) teaching toothbrushing at nursery-school
• b) plus healthy snacks drinks
• c) plus health, dental hygiene and diet advice to
  their families
• d) annual dental check-ups and treatment if
  required including fluoride varnish applications.
  

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Scotland

• The proportion of children aged 46 years without
  obvious dental decay has risen from 42 in 1996
  to 67 in 2012.
• And for 1012 years it rose from
• 53 in 2005 to 73 in 2013
• (Information Services Division Scotland, 2013).

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Scotland

• Glasgow researchers found that...the cost of
  treating dental disease in five-year-olds
  decreased by more than half between 2001 and
  2010. (BBC, Scotland)

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• The message
• our kids need MORE BRUSHING!
• MORE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES!
• LESS SUGAR!
• Less sugar means less tooth decay and less
  OBESITY
• Less obesity means less diabetes and fewer heart
  attacks
• In other words education to promote less sugar
  consumption is a very good investment!

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More on IQ studies
SUMMARY
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• Fluoridation is
• Unusual (most countries dont do it),
• Unnatural (the level of fluoride in mothers milk
  is extremely low),
• Unethical (it violates the individuals right to
  informed consent to human treatment)
• Unnecessary (if it works at all it works
  topically)
• Unsafe (dental fluorosis, lowered IQ,
  accumulation in the bones) and
• Ineffective (based on promoters own studies)

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• Fluoridation is an
• obsolete practice
• and it is
• time to end it

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• Lets
• EDUCATE
• Not
• FLUORIDATE

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More on IQ studies
Communities ending or rejecting fluoridation
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Since 2010, 170 communities in Australia,
Canada, New Zealand and the U.S have stopped or
rejected fluoridation
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Make that 173, over the last few days we heard
that Montello, Wisconsin Boynton Beach, Florida
and East Brunswick, New Jersey have voted to end
fluoridation
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1n Nov 2012, Queensland lifted mandatory
requirement
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In August 2014, the Israeli Minister of Health
announced an end of fluoridation in Israel.
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Last week the Arkansas House voted to remove the
mandatory requirement for fluoridation. The Bill
now goes to the Senate.
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More on IQ studies
RESOURCES
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NRC (2006)
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Book published by Chelsea Green October,
2010 Can be ordered on Amazon.com
Contains 80 pages of references to
the Scientific literature
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• FluorideALERT.org
• Largest health database on fluoride in the world
  (click on researchers)
• Videos Professional Perspectives on Water
  Fluoridation (28 mins) (click on FAN-TV)
• Ten Facts on Fluoride (20 minutes)
• Interview with Chris Bryson (The Fluoride
  Deception) John Colquhoun Hardy Limeback Bill
  Osmunson and Bill Hirzy (click on FAN-TV).