4 posts tagged “dental”
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
Fluoride, neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth, is intentionally added to many public water supplies, not to purify the water but ostensibly to prevent tooth decay.
In Nassau County, NY, Levittowners voted out 29 years of water fluoridation in 1983. Carle Place and the Nassau communities bordering New York City followed in 1996. The Suffolk County NY Legislature voted down their Health Commissioner's fluoridation plan in 1991. Now Long Island is fluoridation-free yet enjoys a lower cavity rate than most fluoridated New York States counties and NYS, as a whole, which is 73% fluoridated.
Dentists hope fluoridation efforts will divert attention from the real problem - 80% of dentists refuse to treat Medicaid patients and 108 million Americans don't have dental insurance. Dentists fear governments may mandate they treat people they don't want to treat. So dentists treat their water supply instead.
A 2006 National Research Council (NRC) report reveals that fluoridation poses risks to the thyroid gland, diabetics, kidney patients, high water drinkers and others and can severely damage children's teeth.
"Government officials who continue to promote fluoridation must testify under oath as to why they are ignoring the powerful evidence of harm in the NRC report," says Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network.
Also, ignoring their own 1990 recommendation for more kidney and allergy fluoride research, NYS Department of Health representatives take part in current Nassau Suffolk Oral Health Coalition meetings where fluoridation is discussed and encouraged but fluoridation dissent is discouraged.
Over 1,200 professionals (and growing) have signed a statement urging Congress to stop water fluoridation nationwide and to hold Congressional hearings about why federal officials continue to promote fluoridation in the face of new scientific evidence that fluoridation is ineffective and has serious health risks. ( http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html)
Signers include a Nobel Prize winner, three NRC fluoride panel members, two officers in the EPA Union representing 1500 EPA professionals; and hundreds of medical, dental, academic, scientific and environmental professionals, worldwide.
Signer Dr. Arvid Carlsson, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine, says, "Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology."
The Professionals' Statement also references:
-- new American Dental Association advisory that infant formula NOT be prepared with fluoridated water
-- Centers for Disease Control's concession that fluoride's predominant effect is topical not systemic
-- Fluoridation chemicals are arsenic and lead-contaminated industrial waste, neither safety-tested nor FDA-approved for human ingestion.
-- CDC data shows fluoride has caused up to 51% of U.S. school children to have dental fluorosis (discolored teeth)
"As a Cosmetic Dentist, it is not uncommon to have patients receive gorgeous porcelain veneers to correct their dental fluorosis, white and brown damage from too much ingested fluoride. Costs range from several hundred dollars to well over $25,000 and need to be retreated every 10 to 20 years for life time costs which may exceed $100,000 per person," writes Washington state dentist Bill Osmunson in the British Medical Journal.
"No Long Islander is fluoride-deficient and no logical reason exists to add fluoride chemicals to any Long Island water supply," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF). The dental crisis that's occurring nationwide is not from lack of fluoridation but because most dentists won't treat Medicaid patients and 108 million Americans don't have dental insurance," says Beeber.
"Please contact your legislators to ask that they reject unnecessary and tax-draining fluoridation initiatives," says Beeber
"Also, please take action to end fluoridation once and for all by signing the online petition to end fluoridation and call for a congressional hearing here," asks Connett.
References:
Nassau County Dental Society Bulletin, President's Message, November-December 2006
http://www.nassaudental.org/Content.aspx?Command=File&File=html/presidentmsg-nd06.html
"Our partnership has led to a coalition between the Nassau County Dental Society, the Suffolk County Dental Society and the Nassau County Department of Health dealing directly with the access to care issue present in our community... The coalition is currently exploring the possibility of re-instituting water fluoridation programs in selected communities, recognizing the dramatic and direct positive impact this action would have on the general dental health of these communities."
Nassau County Community Health Assessment 2005-2010 (Updated May 2007)
http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/health/docs/pdf/2005-2010_cha.pdf
Page 35 "The LHD, as part of the Nassau Oral Health Coalition, will engage politicians, health professionals, community leaders and water districts to reexamine the public health benefits of water fluoridation."
"Fluoride: Benefits and Risks of Exposure," by NYS
Department of Health
employees and published in Oral Biology and Medicine
in 1990 advised
"The available data suggest that some individuals may
experience
hypersensitivity to fluoride-containing agents. Further studies on
hypersensitivity are required...
More resources
Write Congress to Stop Fluoridation & hold hearings here: http://www.actionstudio.org/public/page_view_all.cfm?option=begin&pageid=8276
In a statement released August 9, 2007, over 600 dentists, physicians, scientists and environmentalists urge Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted. They cite new scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. (http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html)
Signers include a Nobel Prize winner, three members of the prestigious 2006 National Research Council (NRC) panel that reported on fluoride’s toxicology, two officers in the Union representing professionals at EPA headquarters, the President of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, and hundreds of medical, dental, academic, scientific and environmental professionals, worldwide.
Signer Dr. Arvid Carlsson, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine, says, “Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It's really obsolete.”
An Online Action Petition to Congress in support of the Professionals' Statement is available on FAN's web site, www.fluorideaction.org.
“The NRC report dramatically changed scientific understanding of fluoride's health risks," says Connett. "Government officials who continue to promote fluoridation must testify under oath as to why they are ignoring the powerful evidence of harm in the NRC report,” he added.
An Assistant NY State Attorney General calls the report “the most up-to-date expert authority on the health effects of fluoride exposure.”
The Professionals’ Statement also references:
-- The new American Dental Association policy recommending infant formula NOT be prepared with fluoridated water.
-- The CDC’s concession that the predominant benefit of fluoride is topical not systemic.
-- CDC data showing that dental fluorosis, caused by fluoride over-exposure, now impacts one third of American children.
-- Major research indicating little difference in decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities.
-- A Harvard study indicating a possible link between fluoridation and bone cancer.
-- The silicofluoride chemicals used for fluoridation are contaminated industrial waste and have never been FDA- approved for human ingestion.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a DC watchdog, revealed that a Harvard professor concealed the fluoridation/bone cancer connection for three years. EWG President Ken Cook states, “It is time for the US to recognize that fluoridation has serious risks that far outweigh any minor benefits, and unlike many other environmental issues, it's as easy to end as turning off a valve at the water plant.”
Partially, as a result of this statement, at least one city, Cobleskill NY, stopped 54 years of water fluoridation. See: http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/2998.html
Many communities rejected or stopped fluoridation over the years. See: http://www.fluoridealert.org/communities.htm
Take Action to End Fluoridation. Sign the Online Petition to End Fluoridation and call for a Congressional Hearing
http://www.actionstudio.org/public/page_view_all.cfm?option=begin&pageid=8276
SOURCE: Fluoride Action Network http://www.FluorideAction.Net
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