FAN Bulletin 871

August 22, 2007

Dear All,

Now that we have been able to get over 600 professionals to sign the statement calling for an end to fluoridation, and an ONLINE MESSAGE system up and running calling on the US Congress to hold hearings, our big task is to get the message out. In this dear reader you are critical.

If you were to read the last item (item 3) below you might throw up your hands in despair. In this piece the Center for Media and Democracy outlines the formidable amount of money the ADA spends on lobbying and PR to defend its policies, including the “safety” of mercury amalgams, water fluoridation and fluoride dental products. But don’t despair. We have something that they don’t have: the truth. Already, their pro-mercury arguments are in tatters. Consumers for Dental Choice, the International Academy for Oral medicine and Toxicology and others have driven a wedge between the FDA and the ADA. We have to do the same with the ADA and the CDC on water fluoridation.

It’s a veritable battle of the “three letters”: the scientific information contained in the NRC report versus the distortions by the ADA (the NRC report is not relevant to water fluoridation) and the CDC (the NRC report is consistent with our promotion of water fluoridation), as well as the foot-dragging of the EPA water division, which after 16 months still has not performed the new health risk assessment recommended by the NRC panel, and the continued failure of the FDA to take responsibility for regulating the most prescribed medicine in US history.

All these agencies have let the American people down. The NRC has given us the ammunition to put things right. So how can the individual help?

Sign the Online message to your US Senators and your Representative.

This is the top item on our home page: http://www.FluorideAction.net

2. Send a letter to your local newspaper.

Michelle Bradley from Wilmington, Delaware did that a few days ago and I have printed her short and succinct letter below. Why don’t you copy this and add just one sentence, “Readers can help secure such a hearing by sending the ONLINE MESSAGE to Congress, which is available at the web site of the Fluoride Action Network, www.FluorideAlert.org” and send it to your local paper?

I received this note from Michelle:

Hi Paul,

I am not a professional but a citizen and consumer in Wilmington, Delaware. I want to thank you for your fantastic work on the Fluoride Action Network.

Also I wanted to let you know that I had a letter to the editor published in my local paper, The News Journal, about this issue. I have recently learned about the fluoride issue after watching the video “Fluoride Deception” on Google video. I am absolutely horrified by what I have been learning. Just today I got my hands on Christopher Bryson’s book (after having to request that my local library order a copy). I have been telling all my friends and family about the dangers of fluoride and it has not been easy dealing with people’s reactions of disbelief. They actually think that I have gone off the deep end, but I am pointing them to the wealth of information that is out there. Unfortunately a lot of people simply do not want to take the time to inform themselves, and this is so frustrating to me.

Hopefully we will see the end of water fluoridation in our lifetime.

Thanks again,

Michelle Bradley

3. Send in the Media Release (#2 below) that we distributed yesterday, to all your local news outlets.

They may not use it immediately but it is all part of the process of warning them about the distortions distributed by the ADA. Next time around maybe they will balance these with quotes from FAN.

And, of course, get as many of your friends and colleagues to visit our web site: http://www.FluorideAction.net
Hopefully, they will react the same way as Michelle Bradley.

Thanks for all you are doing to end this outdated, unethical and unscientific practice.

Paul Connett
————————————-

1) Michelle’s letter

The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, August 20

Halt water fluoridation for Congressional inquiry

I support over 600 medical, dental, scientific, and environmental professionals calling for an end to water fluoridation. A landmark 2006 National Research Council report on fluoride in water identified many adverse health effects associated with exposure to fluoride.

Based on the concentration levels reported to be harmful, there is no adequate margin of safety to protect against the adverse effects for the 170 million Americans drinking fluoridated water. Especially at risk are infants and small children, the elderly, and those with above average water consumption, inadequate nutrition, diabetes and poor health.

We need a new Congressional hearing requiring officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide, under oath, valid evidence that fluoridation is safe.

Fluoridation is outdated, unscientific, violates medical ethics and denies freedom of choice. It should be halted pending a new Congressional hearing and any legislation that may result from it.

Michelle Bradley, Newark
————————————

2. FAN’s Media Release

ADA Distributing Misleading Information on Two Federal Fluoride Reports, Says Fluoride Action Network

NEW YORK, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) charges the American Dental Association (ADA) with circulating false and misleading information in its newsletter (8/15) that expressed concern over professional “opposition to community water fluoridation.”(1)

ADA misrepresented important findings in the 2006 National Research Council (NRC)(2) report and trivialized the significance of the dental fluorosis epidemic afflicting American children (CDC, 2005).

“We don’t understand why the ADA won’t deal honestly with the science that caused 600 professionals to urge fluoridation be ended,”(3) says Paul Connett, PhD, FAN Director.

The ADA says the NRC report is not relevant to water fluoridation, but, according to its website, made this statement before it had reviewed the report. In March, 2006 it wrote: “Additional information will appear on ADA.org after the report has been reviewed”(4) but no further information has appeared.

Connett says, “The ADA assessment is totally superficial, in contrast to statements from three NRC panel members who wrote important chapters in the report.”

Kathleen Thiessen, PhD, says, “I have become increasingly convinced that deliberate exposure of a large fraction of the U.S. population … To uncontrolled and unmonitored intake of fluoride in their drinking water is unwise at best, and probably harmful to a substantial number of people.”(5)

Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, writes, ” … it is obvious that the benefit of fluoridation is next to nil. … I am even more convinced that fluoride should be banned as a systemic drug (which includes water fluoridation) …”(6)

Robert L. Isaacson, PhD, adds, “The health of the entire country is at risk as long as fluoridation of the drinking water remains uncurbed.”(6)

The ADA claims that dental fluorosis, which now impacts 32% of American children, is “so slight that only trained professionals can notice it.” However, very mild fluorosis affects up to 25% of tooth surfaces and mild up to 50%(7). The CDC reports that 4% of children have moderate or severe fluorosis(8), in which all tooth surfaces are affected, frequently with
brown staining and sometimes pitting.

“These categories are easy to identify and can result in psychological harm,” says Connett. “We urge citizens to sign the ONLINE MESSAGE calling for an end to fluoridation and Congressional hearings at: http://www.FluorideAction.net.”

References:

(1) http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=2625

(2) http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11571

(3) http://www.fluoridealert.org/statement.august.2007.html

(4) http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/topics/fluoride_report_response.pdf

(5) http://www.fluoridealert.org/thiessen-letter.pdf

(6) http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.quotes.aug.2007.pdf

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

(8) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/s403a1t23.gif

Contact: Paul Connett, PhD, 315-379-9200 paul@fluoridealert.org

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

————————————————

3. The ADA’s Money, Lobbying and PR machinery

SourceWatch
a project of the
Center for Media & Democracy

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Dental_Association

American Dental Association

The American Dental Association (ADA) is the professional association representing 152,000 dentists and describes itself as being “committed to the public’s oral health, ethics, science and professional advancement; leading a unified profession through initiatives in advocacy, education, research and the development of standards.” [1]

* 1 Lobbying
* 2 Public Relations
* 3 Contact Information
* 4 External Links

Lobbying

According to a January 2006 search of the online database Lobbyists.info, the ADA lobbies on “Environmental / Superfund” and health issues. It has a political action committee, the American Dental Political Action Committee, whose director is Francis X. McLaughlin. ADA’s Washington DC office has at least 13 staff people, including three Congressional lobbyists: Michael A. Graham, William Prentice and Judith C. Sherman. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Dental Political Action Committee gave $1,481,504 to federal candidates in the 2004 election cycle, 40% to Democrats and 60% to Republicans. [2]

ADA also hires outside counsel and consultants, including Larson Dodd Stewart & Myrick and Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates on health issues, and Pepper Hamilton LLP on environmental / Superfund issues, according to Lobbyist.info.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, the ADA spent $2,520,000 on lobbying from 1998 to 2004. Over that same period, the ADA was represented by WPP Group plc, Larson Dodd Stewart & Myrick and Baker & Hostetler. [3]

The ADA filed a lawsuit on January 31, 2006 against the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and its dental health aide therapists (DHATs) who fill a void left by dentistry’s refusal to treat low-income individuals or work in rural areas of Alaska. [4]

After the Fluoride Action Network (FAN), which opposes water fluoridation, established its website at fluoridealert.org, the ADA bought the website URL fluoridealert.com, presumably to confuse people seeking the FAN website.

Public Relations

According to the press release for its 2005 media conference, the ADA has hired the PR firm Stewart Communications, Ltd. The firm’s website details: [5]

Stewart Communications, Ltd. planned and implemented the American Dental Association’s (June 2000) media conference, the organization’s first media conference since 1983. …

Media involved in the ADA event included Associated Press, Reuters Health, Consumer Reports, the Good Housekeeping Institute and Magazine, the New York Daily News, “DATELINE NBC,” Essence, Self, and the Columbia News Service.

Placements included news items on ABC-TV’s “World News This Morning” as well as television coverage in major markets and on Reuters TV, which serves 900 broadcast outlets worldwide.

The “Healthy Mouth Healthy Smile” was recognized by the Publicity Club of Chicago and awarded a Silver Trumpet.

According to another page on the firm’s website: [6]

The mission of the Health Reporting Conference is to train practicing physicians and other healthcare professionals to be skilled communicators as reporters, expert news sources or program hosts on a local level, bringing health and medical information to local audiences through radio and TV. The conference is like “completing medical broadcast journalism school in a weekend.”

Secured speakers and special guests have included: Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD., as well as former Surgeons General Koop and Novello, Drs. Timothy Johnson, Art Ulene, Dean Edell and Nancy Snyderman.

The 2005 ADA media conference was covered by many media outlets, as well.

ADA has also hired the New York-based PR and marketing firm Van Vechten & Company. [7] According to the firm’s webiste, they won a Presidential Citation for their work for ADA. [8] The firm’s website briefly describes their ADA work: [9]

What did we do for the ADA? We fought false information about the supposed risks from fluoride. We fought false reports about intensified risks from amalgams and the mercury contained within fillings. But our biggest challenge was the highly controversial case surrounding Kimberly Bergalis and five other Florida patients infected with AIDS by a central Florida dentist. Our program literally changed the face of dentistry and introduced Universal Precautions as the new standard in infection control.

Contact Information

American Dental Association
211 East Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611-2678
Phone: 312-440-2500
Website: http://ada.org/

External Links

* ADA press release, “‘Rinse and Spit’ Takes On New Meaning in Dental Office of Future,” October 2002. “It sounds like science fiction, but to treat the merest trace of a cavity, your dentist may someday have you rinse with a solution containing millions of microscopic machines called nanoassemblers.’ … Nanotechnology (”nano” is derived from the Greek word for dwarf) will eventually offer humans the means to manipulate matter atom by atom.”
* ADA online press kit, “Technology Allows Spitting Image of Your Health: Saliva to provide noninvasive way to diagnose diseases,” June 8, 2005. Part of the media around a New York City ADA media conference on June 8, 2005, titled, “Face of the Future: The New Oral Biology,” also promoted on U.S. Newswire.
* ADA press release, “Technology Allows Spitting Image of Your Health: Saliva to provide noninvasive way to diagnose diseases,” June 8, 2005.
* ADA celebrates fluoridation while children still suffer with cavities “[10], August 2005

Retrieved from “http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Dental_Association”