Fluoride, added to water supplies to prevent tooth decay, is also in virtually all non-organic foods and   beverages. Fluoride's brain effects were never examined prior  to water fluoridation.

                Recently, because of health concerns, Health Canada recommended that fluoride levels be lowered in Canadian  water supplies (0.7 mg/L) , children's toothpaste and infant formula but claims that “the weight of evidence does not support a link between fluoride and intelligence quotient deficit.”

                “It is hard to believe that any "weight of evidence" analysis could possibly dismiss fluoride's neurological impacts. There have now been  over 40 animal studies which show that fluoride can damage the brain, and no less than 18 studies which show that fluoride lowers IQ in  children, and only 2 that don't. I look forward to reading the full report when it is made available,” says Paul Connett, PhD, FAN  Executive Director.

                 According to ISFR conference organizer, Dr. Hardy Limeback, “Our conference features experts who researched the dangers that fluoride poses to human health. Our keynote speaker, Dr. A.K. Susheela, (Executive Director, Fluorosis Research and Rural Development Foundation, India) probably knows more about fluoride's toxic effects to the body than any other living scientist. It is important that officials who promote water fluoridation hear what she and others have to say," says Limeback.

                 Susheela can also explain to  Medical Doctors, often untrained in fluoride toxicology, how to diagnose, treat and reverse early symptoms of fluoride toxicity which mimic arthritis and irritable bowel syndrome.
 
                 The latest issue of ISFR’s journal, Fluoride, published 12 newly-translated Chinese studies, which report fluoride’s effects on the brain, including the lowering of IQ in children. These and other brain studies will be reviewed at both conferences. 
 
                  Coupled with these conferences, the Toronto-based Citizens for a Safe Environment (CSE) will host two public meetings with FAN in downtown Toronto on Monday August 11.

                   According to CSE director Karen Buck, “These meetings will give the public information they don’t get from our government or dental organizations. In the afternoon, a panel will address the question of whether Toronto should stop fluoridating its water. In the evening experts will explain fluoride’s dangers to health.”

                   After receiving an invitation to attend these meetings, the  Ontario Dental Association sent out a news release urging legislators and communities to stand up in support of fluoridation; but they won't do so, themselves. 

                "The best way that the ODA can get communities and politicians to stand up for water fluoridation is to provide,  in person, a cogent and scientifically-referenced defense of fluoridation at the afternoon forum,"  says CSE President Karen Buck.                 
 
                At all three events, Dr. Vyvyan Howard, an infant and fetal pathologist, and president of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, will be presenting a major review of studies on fluoride’s brain effects,  including the translated Chinese studies.
 
                "The best way to lower children’s fluoride intake, as Health Canada suggests, is to stop fluoridation," says  Connett. "It makes no sense to prescribe fluoride drugs to children via the water supply at levels which are between 150 and 250 times higher than the level in mothers’ milk.”

For details on both conferences go to http://www.FluorideAlert.org  

For the CSE/FAN public events go to http://fluoridealert.org/august.11.html  
 

SOURCE:   Fluoride Action Network http://www.FluorideAction.Net

Kidney Foundation Drops Fluoridation Support

                       Fluoride may damage bones of kidney patients

New York – June  2008  – The National Kidney Foundation withdrew its support of water fluoridation citing the 2006 National Research Council (NRC) report indicating that kidney patients are more susceptible to fluoride’s bone and teeth-damaging effects.

The kidney-impaired retain more fluoride and risk skeletal fluorosis (an arthritic-type bone disease), fractures and severe enamel fluorosis, which may increase the risk of dental decay, reports the NRC.

Fluoride is added to US water supplies ostensibly to reduce tooth decay. Fluoride is also in foods, beverages, (1) drugs and dental products.

The National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) (2) former fluoridation position statement also carried surprising cautions.  The NKF advised monitoring children’s fluoride intake along with patients with chronic kidney impairment, those with excessive fluoride intake, and those with prolonged disease. But NKF now admits, “exposure from food and beverages is difficult to monitor, since FDA food labels do not quantify fluoride content.”

The NKF’s April 15, 2008 statement goes further: “Individuals with CKD [Chronic Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride exposure.”

“More than 20 million Americans have CKD, and most don’t even know it. More than 20 million others are at increased risk for developing CKD,” NKF reports.

“There is consistent evidence that impairment of kidney function results in changes to the way in which fluoride is metabolized and eliminated from the body, resulting in an increased burden of fluoride,” concludes Kidney Health Australia. (3) in a paper NKF

recommends reading   (4)

NKF’s fluoridation support was dropped when a lawyer, (5)  an academic dentist and public health professional, Daniel Stockin, (6) alerted it to NRC’s findings.

“An easy way to reduce the uncontrolled flow of fluoride into our bodies is to stop water fluoridation,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. “But it takes political will to reject fluoridation.”

The American Dental Association was forced to drop the NKF as a supporter of water fluoridation.

Chronic kidney disease is a growing health problem in the United States occurring more often in African-American populations, says the Centers for Disease Control. (10)

More fluoride/kidney information here:  http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/kidney/index.html

References:

1) USDA Fluoride in Foods Database

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Fluoride/fluoride.pdf

2)  National Kidney Foundation, “Fluoride Intake in Chronic Kidney Disease,”

April 15, 2008

 http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/Fluoride_Intake_in_CKD.pdf

3) Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

 “Effects of fluoridation of community water supplies for people with

chronic kidney disease,” (2007) 22: 2763–2767, Ludlow et al.

 http://www.kidney.org/atoz/pdf/KHAFluoridation_CKD-NDT_2007.pdf

4) National Kidney Foundation, “Fluoride”

http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=205

5) September 18, 2007 letter, Reeves to National Kidney Foundation

http://www.fluoridealert.org/NKF_letter01.pdf

6) October  , 2007 news release “Did Kidney Foundation Leave Millions at Risk by Failing to Warn about Fluorides and Fluoridated Drinking Water?” by Daniel Stockin, MPH, The Lillie Center

http://fluoridealert.org/press/nkf.htm

7) American Dental Association,

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/compendium.asp

8) Louisiana Dental Association, “Health Smiles Coalition”

http://www.healthysmileslouisiana.org/coalition.html

9) American Dental Association, “Fluoridation Facts”

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/fluoridation_facts.pdf

10) U.S. Centers for Disease Control, MMWR “Prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease and Associated Risk Factors --- United States, 1999—2004

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5608a2.htm