The decision to add fluoride to water came after 72% of those who responded to public consultation opposed it, with 28% in favour. The authority had originally instructed Southern Water to add fluoride to improve dental health in February 2009, and the SCSHA now plans to press ahead.
Water fluoridation is commonplace in the USA. In the UK, 10% of our mains water supply is fluoridated. Under current laws, the decision to consult on fluoridation does not need approval of the Health Secretary or special legislation. A spokesman for the Department of Health said it was a “local decision”. In light of the recent ruling in Southampton, local health authorities across the nation are now pushing for fluoridation.
Before the practice of water fluoridation spreads across the UK, I would like to share some of the information that I believe the public should be informed of.
Fluoridation – Why?
The only reason sited is support in the prevention of dental cavities. I would question this as a reason to fluoridate water on the following grounds:
- It is utterly undemocratic to dose the public water supply. Water fluoridation violates Article 35 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, is banned by the UK poisons act of 1972, violates Articles 3 and 8 of the Human Rights Act and raises issues under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- There is no dosage control. Dosages will depend on water consumption and will not be sensitive to other factors that increase the dangers of fluoride such as young or old age, people with calcium and magnesium deficiencies, diabetics and people with impaired renal clearance.
- This measure is almost surreal when you consider any number of other steps that can be taken to support dental health – ones that are not dangerous. Dentistry professor David Locker and philosopher Howard Cohen argued that the moral status for advocating water fluoridation is “at best indeterminate” and could even be considered immoral because it infringes upon autonomy based on uncertain evidence, with possible negative effects.
Does It Really Work?
The most comprehensive systematic review of studies into fluoridation and dental health, published in the British Medical Journal, found that the evidence in favour of the practice was only of moderate quality: “many studies did not attempt to reduce observer bias, control for confounding factors, report variance measures, or use appropriate analysis.”
Richard Foulkes, M.D., former special consultant to the Minister of Health of British Columbia, revealed in a presentation to the California Assembly Committee of Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials: “The water fluoridation studies that were presented to me were selected and showed only positive results. Studies that were in existence at that time that did not fit the concept that they were “selling,” were either omitted or declared to be “bad science.” The endorsements had been won by coercion and the self-interest of professional elites. Some of the basic “facts” presented to me were, I found out later, of dubious validity. We are brought up to respect these persons in whom we have placed our trust to safeguard the public interest. It is difficult for each of us to accept that these may be misplaced.”
Dr Paul Connett points out that “the countries which are fluoridated are doing practically no health studies. They are far more concerned about protecting this policy for some reason than protecting health.” Former United States Environmental Protection Agency scientist Robert Carton went further, stating that “fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century.”
Bear these facts in mind when you learn that the U.S. Center for Disease Control hales water fluoridation as one of the top medical achievements of the 20th Century, ranked ahead of “Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard”…
What Are The Dangers?
It should be noted that small amounts of fluoride do naturally occur in water, in the form of calcium fluoride. Calcium is an antidote for fluoride poisoning. When an antidote accompanies a poison, it makes the poison far less toxic to the body. Additionally, calcium fluoride is not toxic enought to be used in vermin poisons and pesticides…
Sodium fluoride, which is a far simpler toxin than the fluoride compounds used for most water fluoridation, has also been used for rat and cockroach poisons, so there is no question that it is highly toxic. It is included in toothpaste, with the instruction “if your child swallows more than the recommended amount, contact a poison control center.” The amount that they’re talking about, the recommended pea-sized quantity, is equivalent to one glass of water. Yet, although it sounds absurd, there are no labels taps saying “if you consume more than one glass of water, contact a poison center.”
The fluoride that is added to 90% of drinking water is hydrofluoric acid. Entirely manmade and with no nutrient value whatsoever, it is one of the most caustic of industrial chemicals and the byproduct of aluminum, steel, cement, phosphate, and nuclear weapons manufacturing. It is illegal to dump in the sea and too concentrated to dump locally because it destroys vegetation and livestock. It is 85 times more toxic than naturally occurring calcium fluoride.
So what are the effects on the human body of thos toxin? One side effect that nobody disputes is fluorosis – coloured mottling of the teeth. While promoters of fluoridation dismiss this as purely cosmetic, I would suggest that this is clearly an indication that there has been some damage to the bone. Approximately fifty percent of the fluoride that you ingest each day ends up accumulating in your bones over a lifetime. Bone is a living tissue which is constantly being replaced through cellular turnover. It’s a finely balanced and complicated process; one which fluoride has been known – since the 1930s – to disrupt. The concern is over the potential of fluoride to damage the bone, causing symptoms such as susceptibility to fracture, osteoporosis and arthritis.
While health authorities assert that Fluoridation is safe (for whom?) up to 4ppm (parts per million), studies have shown that exposure to more than 1.9ppm lowers the IQ of children. Even at levels as low as 1ppm (part per million), studies have demonstrated direct toxic effects on brain tissue. Another risk – particularly to women – is that fluoride lowers thyroid function. Until the 1950’s it was used to treat patients with overactive thyroids. This is a significant concern as tens of millions of people today suffer from low thyroid function.
The most chilling concern over the use of fluoride is that once in the body, fluoride is a destroyer of human enzymes. It does this by changing their shapes. In human biochemistry, thousands of enzymes are necessary for various essential cell reactions that take place every second we’re alive – they trigger specific reactions in the body. One way they do this is by having the exact shape necessary, like a key in a lock. Fluoride changes the shape so that they no longer fit. Once they have been changed, they appear to be foreign. The body now treats them as invaders and the body attacks itself. This is known as an autoimmune situation and is at the heart of many of the diseases that seem to be epidemic in modern western society.
Chief chemist of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Dean Burk, when confronted with mountains of data, stated before Congress: “In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer death, and causes it faster than any other chemical.”
Seeking Clarity
While flawed studies showing fluoride’s efficacy in cavity protection are heavily promoted, supporting a slightly surreal logic of dosing public water to prevent tooth cavities, studies showing the dangers of fluoride consumption are downplayed. Why is this happening? The fact of the matter is that a toxic industrial waste is being passed off on the public as a nutrient with necessary health benefits, to the tune of £7billion or more per year. This is a substance that, as Dr. William Hirzy from the Environmental Protection Agency has pointed, is “called a pollutant if it goes into the air; pollution if it is released into the water; but if the public water utilities buy it and pour it in our drinking water, it’s no longer a pollutant. All of a sudden like magic it’s a beneficial public health measure.”
The real danger of this situation is that most people are not impartial medical academics with the time to really study the issues. So, as with most of the decisions about our health, we have to take the word of the authorities. More often than not, this seems to be to our detriment. The path is now clear for chemical companies to lobby local health authorities to give them the go-ahead to dispose of their toxic waste in our water supply while pocketing our money. I'd always urge you to seek to be informed; and to be vigilant.
Further Reading
I can recommend a couple of articles for you to read if you would like to take control of your health and be better informed on water fluoridation:
Video: Dr. Joseph Mercola interviews Dr. Paul Connett
Fluoride Research Facts List – Dr. Darryl Roundy
Fluoride – Risks and Benefits – David R. Hill, Professor Emeritus, The University of Calgary
Why I Changed My Mind About Water Fluoridation – John Colquhoun, School of Education, University of Auckland, published by The University of Chicago Press
Is Fluoride Really As Safe As We’re Told? – Dr. Joseph Mercola
The Fluoride Debate – Presentation of both sides of the argument, one issue at a time
How To Remove Fluoride From Your Water
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