(OT?)Fw: People for Safe Drinking Water Bulletin #20 - Aug 29, 2008 - Response to Health Canada claims of declining dental fluorosis

[Guest guest]

This may be of interest to folks who live in communities where water is fluoridated, and/or are interested in the health effects of ingesting fluoridated water and other foods/drinks prepared with fluoridated water.

Aasa

Subject: People for Safe Drinking Water Bulletin #20 - Aug 29, 2008 - Response to Health Canada claims of declining dental fluorosisTo: "Carole Clinch" Received: Friday, August 29, 2008, 7:24 PM

People for Safe Drinking Water Bulletin #20 - Aug 29, 2008

1. ISFR/FAN videos2. New Toronto Website3. Further Health Canada Responses and Rebuttals4. Tom PhD nutritional anthropologist, Health Sciences Research Institute - letterFor those who may not have received these 3 video links to ISFR/FAN Conference presentation produced by FAN:

Shiv Chopra

author of Corrupt to the Core: Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistle Blower

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/Corrupt%20Flyer.pdf - flyer

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6558018788602619012 & hl=en

Dr. Vyvyan – 30 minutes - "Fluoride and the Developing Nervous System"

Professor of Bioimaging, School of Biomedical Science, University of UlsterPresident, International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE)Toxico-pathologist interested in infant and fetal toxicology & toxicological properties of nanoparticles.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4072416559052593081 & hl=en

Dr. A.K. Susheela and Dr. Spittle - East Meets West

Dr. A.K. Susheela , F.A.Sc., F.A.M.S. Ashoka Fellow Executive Director, Fluorosis Research Foundation of India

Dr. Spittle MB ChB (with distinction), DPM (Otago), FRANZCP

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8799106191313858267 & hl=enSee new Toronto website info by Darcy Farrell on CWF and ISFR Conference:

http://e3s.ca/torontochange/index.php?option=com_content & task=category & sectionid=9 & id=118 DC, Shulman JD, Maupome G, Levy SM. 2006 Changes in Dental Fluorosis Following Cessation of Water Fluoridation. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology Jun;34(3):197-2 et al 2006 paper is the basis of Health Canada's claim that dental fluorosis is decreasing. Here is my response. The complete updated response to Health Canada is attached.

10. Health Canada Petition #221 response, question #4:

"The actual prevalence of moderate dental fluorosis in Canada is very low, and all evidence suggests that there has been an overall decreasing trend of moderate dental fluorosis in Canada since 1996. This is based on a review of Canadian data conducted by et al 2006."

Reality Check

Health Canada recently recommended lowering the recommended concentration guidelines of fluoride in drinking water to mitigate against growing concerns of increased dental fluorosis rates and severity. No evidence for decreasing dental fluorosis has been found in fluoridated communities. The only evidence found for decreasing dental fluorosis is in communities which have discontinued CWF (community water fluoridation).This paper was not a review of Canadian data, as claimed. It was analysis of 3 communities in British Columbia (Courtenay, Comox and River) which discontinued CWF and found a "marked decrease" in the rates and severity of dental fluorosis with CWF cessation - "as expected". "Following fluoridation cessation of the public water supply, the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis decreased significantly." "As anticipated, TFI [Thylstrup–Fejerskov Index of dental fluorosis] scores decreased following fluoridation cessation. The percentage of children with dental fluorosis dropped from 58% to 24%. The distribution of TFI scores also suggested that the severity of existing fluorosis also decreased." "Despite the reported high use of supplements, there were no significant differences in maximum TFI scores between children exposed to fluoride supplements and those not exposed." Interpretation: Fluoride supplements had "no significant" impact on the rate or severity of dental fluorosis. CWF was a significant cause of dental fluorosis rates and severity, "as expected". It has been noted by both the US Centers for Disease Control and the US National Research Council 2006 Review of Fluorides in Drinking Water that drinking water is the single largest source of fluorides – see #8 above).

The above statement by Health Canada that there is an overall decreasing trend of moderate dental fluorosis in Canada since 1996 – based on the et al 2006 Review - is false and misleading. There was NO evidence in this paper by et al 2006 that dental fluorosis is decreasing in fluoridated communities (70% of Ontario receives fluoridated drinking water. Many Ontario communities have high natural fluoride levels in excess of the Maximum Allowable Concentration level or MAC e.g. Stratford). There was NO evidence presented in this paper that dental fluorosis was generally decreasing in Canada. Recent data from Halton REgion and Niagara REgion and Toronto in Ontario show steep increases in Dental Fluorosis.

"In 1978, the fluoride in the water supply in Hong Kong was reduced from 1.0 to 0.7 ppm. The prevalence of dental fluorosis among children aged 7–12 decreased from 64% in 1979 to 47% in 1985, and the Community Fluorosis Index decreased from 1.01 to 0.75. While only a modest-to-moderate change, it does provide strong evidence of an association." 46. RW, Stamm JW. Dental fluorosis following downward adjustment of fluoride in drinking water. J Public Health Dent 1991;51:91–8.

"Another recent study investigated a temporary stoppage of fluoridation and found that an 11-month break showed strong cohort effects for fluorosis (47, 48)." 47. Burt BA, Keels MA, Heller KE. The effects of a break in water fluoridation on the development of dental caries and fluorosis. J Dent Res 2000;79:761–9. (no effect on dental caries but a significant decrease in dental fluorosis was found) 48. Burt BA, Keels MA, Heller KE. Fluorosis development in seven age cohorts after an 11-month break in water fluoridation. J Dent Res 2003;82(1):64–8. (dental fluorosis significantly decreased with temporary CWF cessation)

"Records from the water treatment plant in Durham [North Carolina, USA] show that fluoridation ceased between September, 1990, and August, 1991, because of technical problems. The fluoride level in Durham water during September, 1990, dropped sporadically to 0.1 mg/L. In October, the mean level was 0.5 mg/L, then it dropped to zero until August, 1991, when it was 1.1 mg/L. Fluoride remained around that level for the rest of 1991, and fluoridation has not been interrupted since. The stoppage was not publicized at the time, and later discussions with health professionals indicate that dentists and physicians did not try to compensate for it by prescribing fluoride supplements during the no-fluoridation period." & "In an earlier report from Phase 1 of this project (Burt et al., 2000), we found no caries effects, but we did find that fluorosis was less prevalent in children aged 1 to 3 years at the break than in those aged 4

or 5 years." & "A continuing decrease in caries severity was found following the cessation of fluoridation in Finland (Seppä et al., 1998) and in Germany (Künzel et al., 2000), when children were examined several years after fluoridation ceased permanently." & " Finland has comprehensive school dental services. In the German communities, social change following German re-unification included increased use of dental services and dietary improvements."

4. Letter by Tom , PhD, Nutritional Anthropologist

I've put together a series of questions which may be of special interest to a number of () residents. They are questions which anyone promoting, supporting or defending water fluoridation should be able and willing to answer.

Would you agree that fluoride is put in community water supplies to treat consumers of water, not the water itself?

Would you agree that adding fluoride to drinking water is intended to increase the amount of fluoride ingested by each consumers?

Would you agree that fluoride added to drinking water could be looked upon as a nutritional supplement?

Would you agree that without data indicating physiological fluoride deficiency in a given individual, it is inappropriate to prescribe, recommend or administer supplemental fluoride to that individual, even in small amounts?

Would you agree that without a confirmed physiological fluoride deficiency, it may be dangerous to prescribe, recommend or administer supplemental fluoride to an individual, even in small amounts?

Would you agree that fluoride added to drinking water may be classified as a drug if amounts ingested by any individual consistently exceed recognized nutritional requirements?

Would you agree that it is inappropriate, unethical and illegal to administer any substance classified as a drug without a prescription and without prior medicale evaluation to establish and confirm individual need and suitability?

Would you agree that the levels of fluoride naturally occurring in a water supply are used to determine whether or not it is appropriate to recommend fluoridation?

Would you agree that other exposures to fluoride are never taken into account when deciding whether or not to fluoridate?

Would you agree that fluoride deficiency in the target population is never tested for when deciding whether or not to fluoride?

Would you agree that high rates of dental disease in a population cannot be taken as an indication that any or all individuals in that population may suffer from physiological fluoride deficiency?

Are you aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data indicating or suggesting that increased fluoride ingestion can compensate for or correct the effects of a sugar-rich or otherwise poor diet on an individual's dental health?

Are you are aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data relating the same question to an individual's general state of health?

Are you aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data indicating or suggesting that any resident of () might suffer from fluoride deficiency should water fluoridation be discontinued in that community?

Are you aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data leaving no doubt whatsoever that increasing fluoride ingestion in children under twelve years of age age can, without any other form of intervention, reduce tooth decay in that age group and/or contribute to better dental health later in life?

Are you aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data relating the same question to children over 12 years of age?

Are you aware of, or have you personally reviewed, any data leaving no doubt whatsoever that increasing fluoride ingestion in children of any age by itself results in less decay, fewer fillings and fewer missing teeth at age 20 and thereafter?

Finally, if you agree that dental decay is not caused by a deficiency of fluoride and furhter agree that no deficiency exists, how can you defend the administration of a supplement meant to correct the non-exist deficiency, with the aim of preventing a disease which, in any case, is not caused by it?

If fluoride is added to community water supplies to act as a nutritional supplement there should be evidence showing that the populations of those communities suffer from a deficiency of fluoride. If no such evidence has been or can be produced, one must ask how fluoridation can be justified.

Dental health surveys in B.C. And elsewhere show that poor dental health results from:

poor diet with high sugar consumption

poor access to treatment, most often related to inadequate income.

No study or survey has ever produced evidence suggesting results from a deficiency of fluoride in the water supply.

The heart of my argument is that fluoride has never improved the health of any child. Healthy children naturally have healthy teeth, and its a nutritious, junk-free diet that makes children healthy, not fluoride.

Dr.

Health Sciences Research Institute

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