Bulletin #724

December 24, 2006

Dear All,

Sorry for the delay but my travel plans prevented me from distributing this Dec 12 press release at the time. However, being a little late, it makes a splendid Christmas eve gift to our readers. The press release announced the formation of an international alliance to keep fluoride away from babies and fight water fluoridation. Forming the alliance are 5 non-governmental groups: the Alliance for Natural Health; the Dr Rath Health Foundation; the National Health Federation, VOICE and MayDay.  These organizations come from five different countries: the UK; Germany; the US; Ireland and Denmark, respectively.  

Their action has been triggered by two events: the Codex meeting in Thailand and the Nov 9 egram alert from the ADA recommending that infants not be given formula made up with fluoridated water. The press release draws attention to the fact that the most prescribed medication in the US and other fluoridated countries has never been “licensed” by any governmental body and thus has never been put through the rigorous trials normally expected for any drug, let alone one that goes to so many people.

It pains me to have to distribute the comment that the ADA is a “prestigious” body, especially since having issued their baby formula recommendation it appears to have done absolutely nothing to get this vital message to parents and probably is doing everything it can behind the scenes to obfuscate it or even retract it. The ADA has an impossible circle they have to square. How can they maintain the fiction that fluoridation is safe for everyone while declaring that it is unsafe for babies?

Their press release is below.

Updates: the Wal-Mart online petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/walmart/ now stands at 1067 and our North American readers fighting fund for 2007 now stands at $1920, en route to our mini-goal of $10,000 by December 31. This is the deadline to have your tax-deductible contribution count against your 2006 earnings. For those who can afford it, a donation to FAN (small or large) has never been easier with our secure, online donation system at: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=5061.  Donations can also be sent by mail to: AEHSP-FAN, PO Box 5111, Burlington VT 05402.

Meanwhile, thank you for everything you are doing personally to end this nightmare of unnecessary exposure to this toxic substance. Now I will leave you in peace to enjoy the holidays. I will be sending out the next bulletin on December 26.

Paul Connett
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PRESS RELEASE: Unlicenced drug used for babies condemned by health NGOs
For immediate release
 Tuesday, 12 December, 2006  

 Unlicenced drug used for babies condemned by health NGOs   

Five non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Alliance for Natural Health, the Dr Rath Health Foundation, the National Health Federation, VOICE and MayDay, have  formed a new alliance to challenge national and international regulations and guidelines that continue to allow the use of synthetic fluorides in infant formulas.      

After decades of use in drinking water in certain parts of the world, such as USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, Australia and New Zealand, fluoride’s risk to health is demonstrated by a growing body of scientific evidence, including increased risk of cancer, osteoporosis, bone fractures and dental fluorosis (mottling of the teeth), that may outweigh its purported benefit: the reduced incidence of dental caries.  This  concern has been most recently voiced by the American Dental Association (ADA),  which issued interim guidance on 9 th November 2006, advising parents to mix  powdered infant formula with fluoride-free water.    

Fluoride represents a range of compounds that occur naturally in both spring and river waters, and a group of synthetic compounds, which are by-products of industrial wastes. These latter compounds are then added to water supplies for the purpose of  killing bacteria implicated in tooth decay.      

Dr Robert Verkerk, Executive Director of the Alliance for Natural Health, said:  “Fluorides are extremely reactive molecules which have been shown to cause  considerable harm in biological systems. They continue to be used by health  authorities for a specific medicinal purpose, namely the treatment and prevention of dental caries, yet they have never been subjected to the full risk/benefit analysis which is required in order to bring other drugs to the market. Drinking water medicated with fluoride clearly amounts to government-sponsored use of an unlicenced drug. It is staggering that international bodies such as the United Nations’ Codex Alimentarius Commission could have overruled the substantial scientific  concerns about fluoride in infant formula raised by several countries in November’s  Codex meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand and that babies, the most vulnerable  members of our society, are made the innocent victims.”   

Paul Anthony Taylor, on behalf of the Dr Rath Health Foundation, added: “It is deeply  irresponsible of governments to force all sectors of society to consume fluoride along with our single most required form of sustenance – water, especially when the toxic dose overlaps the therapeutic dose meaning there is no safety margin. The recent meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses in Chiang Mai, exemplified the irrational and inconsistent behaviour of regulators in  relation to fluoride.  On the basis of consensus voting procedures, the same  committee, in the same meeting, voted to prevent fluoride from being added to powdered formulas during their manufacture, while allowing the same contaminant to be added to water used in the manufacture of ready-to-use formulas.”   

Long time anti-fluoridation campaigner, Robert Pocock of VOICE in Ireland, has  welcomed the united front being developed against ingested fluoride. “VOICE has  been waging a long battle against the Irish government’s fluoridation of drinking water”, says Pocock, “given the high toxicity of synthetic fluorides and their uncontrolled dosage, there are undeniable risks to the human body and there is no safety margin between the amounts required to yield a therapeutic effect and the amounts that are unsafe.  Since babies are among the most susceptible groups exposed, it is deeply irresponsible for any regulator to continue allowing this unlicenced drug to be used for babies, especially when no specific scientific studies have been undertaken to demonstrate its safety.  Worse still is that increasing numbers of cell, animal and human studies reveal significant risks to adults and children, risks that have now been raised by prestigious bodies such as the American Dental Association.”   

 “Putting this into perspective”, added Verkerk, “the UN World Health Organization has set for fluoride a maximum guideline level of 1.5 mg per litre in drinking water without making any reference to consumption by infants. Looking more closely at the guidelines most recently agreed by another UN body, Codex, the situation is preposterous. We have calculated that, in physiological terms, the Codex guideline level for babies allows a baby to potentially be exposed to the equivalent amount of  fluoride to which an adult would be exposed when drinking 16 litres of fluoridated water.”    

The US-based National Health Federation (NHF) has strongly opposed since the 1950s the fluoridation of public water supplies, and has long fought against the  contradictory consensus views at Codex meetings. Scott Tips, NHF’s Legal Counsel,  said: “This disproportionate behaviour at Codex must be stopped and we welcome  the support of other high-profile NGOs in this important struggle in which the most vulnerable sector of our society – babies - are the innocent victims. Even the Canadian Dental Association has stated that ‘Fluoride supplements should not be  recommended for children less than three years old.’  This demonstrates a most definite awareness that fluoride is not the innocuous substance that it is passed off as being, particularly where the forms used (hydrofluosilicic acid, sodium  silicofluoride, and sodium fluoride) are nothing more than the by-products of  commercial fertilizer or aluminium production. In fact, while many governments struggle with the fluoride issue, increasing amounts of scientific evidence  contraindicate the use of fluoride in the public water supply.”    

Also adding its voice to this campaign, the Danish civil health rights organization, MayDay has been publicizing the health risks of fluoride for many years.  Tamara Thérèsa Mosegaard, MayDay’s chairwoman, noted, “Our focus is upon working for optimal health for all.  As such, clean drinking water without any added medicinal  substances is a basic human right.”    

The alliance of NGOs opposed to fluoride is arguing that drinking water is an inappropriate medium for the delivery of fluoride, because – amongst many other  things – it is impossible to control dosage owing to different levels of consumption.  Additionally, toxicity varies greatly between different groups, with babies being the most sensitive group of all. The NGOs propose that any government wishing to promote fluoride for the purpose of reducing dental caries should make it, at most,  optional and should ensure that in whatever appropriate form fluoride is delivered (e.g. as tablets, in toothpastes or mouthwashes) the dosage can be controlled  according to body weight, age, medical condition and individual consent. The NGOs are also calling for an international ban on the fluoridation of drinking water, involving as it does, a medicine that is consumed involuntarily that has never been licenced by any national drugs regulator worldwide. Its use by governments is thus seen as a  violation of the rights of individuals.       

ENDS.   

CONTACTS    

Alliance for Natural Health  The Alliance for Natural Health  The Atrium, Curtis Road  Dorking, Surrey RH4 1XA, UK  Tel: +44 (0) 1306 646600  Fax: +44 (0) 1306 646552  Email: info@anhcampaign.org Website: www.anhcampaign.org    

 Dr Rath Health Foundation  Dr. Rath Health Foundation  Stralauer Platz 33/34   10243 Berlin  Germany   Tel: +49 (0) 30 246 479 100   Fax: +49 (0) 30 246 479 101  Email: info@dr-rath-foundation.org   Website : www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/   

  National Health Federation  The National Health Federation  P.O. Box 688  Monrovia, California 91017  USA  Tel: +1 626 357 2181  Fax: +1 626 303 0642  Email: contact-us@thenhf.com   Website: www.thenhf.com/     

  VOICE  Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment  9 Upper Mount Street  Dublin 2  Ireland  Tel: +353 1 642 5741  Media Contact: +353 86 811 3071  Email: avoice@iol.ie    Website: www.voice.buz.org         

MayDay  MayDay, civil health rights movement  Rundforbivej 2, Troeroed  DK – 2060 Vedbaek  Denmark  Tel. +45 7020 7770  Fax : +45 7020 7771  E-mail: kontakt@mayday-info.dk Main website: www.mayday-info.dk