FAN Bulletin 876

September 23, 2007

Dear All,

I am still playing catch up with the news while I was away. Here are some of the happenings around the country and around the world.

1. Texas. Two towns in Texas have stopped fluoridation after many years, Elgin and Smithville. The reasons are given in a September 20 article, which sadly mangled our email address,

2. Yarmouth, MA. Citizens incensed by a vote by their local Board of Health to fluoridate this town in Cape Cod have collected enough signatures to get this measure on a ballot on the May 2008 ballot. Here is a letter from a local citizen, Elvira Pacitto, vipac3@yahoo.com. Please contact her with suggestions help and contacts in the Yarmouth area.

Dear Dr. Connett,
  
 We attended the Board of Health meeting on May 7, where you so eloquently debunked the fluoride myth.  Since then, I have often had cause to refer to your website info@fluoridealert.org.  It has proved an invaluable resource.
  
 Voting took place by the Board of Health on June 18, and the decision to put fluoride in our water was voted in by a 3 to 2 vote.  The people were outraged, and let it be known.  The following day, it was headlines in our Cape Cod Times.  Because of this, we received countless calls, and ended up being the ones to implement a network of volunteers to circulate petitions.  Currently have about 50 very dedicated people collecting signatures.  
  
Now for the GOOD NEWS.  Am delighted to report that this past week, we turned in a total of 3,138 signatures (with more coming in), now in the process of being validated.  We were told we needed only 2,000, but were taking no chances that the people of Yarmouth would be denied both a Voice & a Choice on the May, 2008 ballot…
  
 Would like to take this opportunity to give you heartfelt thanks for coming to Yarmouth, at your own expense, and giving so generously of your time, and the benefit of your vast expertise on this issue.
  
Sincerely,
  
Elvira (Vi) Pacitto vipac3@yahoo.com

3. Corning, NY. The indomitable Kirk Huttleston nofluoride@stny.rr.com, is trying to collect enough signatures to get a ballot on the November election to overturn the city’s decision to fluoridate Corning. Again if you live in the Corning area please contact Kirk. He writes:

I have finally gotten over the many obstacles that this has been to do properly.

I have kits for registered voters ordered by address - for walkers and last name - for crowds

I have a petition that limits in 3 ways the local government from deciding on this issue and would push this issue directly to a popular vote if it was going to be considered.

It strips local government of the decision making power on this issue…

I and a few friends have collected 125 - 150 signatures so far (Kirk says they need 500 - 600 names) and we have done virtually NO neighborhood walking yet – just a bit in 5th ward.

Kirk  nofluoride@stny.rr.com

4. Southern California. Doug Cragoe has written us several emails about the decision of the Metropolitan Water Board to go ahead and fluoridate the drinking water of 18 million people in Southern California:

1. About the 8/20/07 meeting and EWG press conference, Doug writes:

I attended and shot video of the press conference and Metropolitan Water District meeting that happened in L.A. Today (8/20/07)…

Dr. Thiessen gave her presentation to the MWD board.  It was too scientific in my opinion.  The board members are not scientists.  After her 5 minutes Dr. David Nelson, an official fluoridator from the state of CA, gave his 5 minute presentation.  It was far more dramatic and more targeted to people who don’t understand science.  He said California children have terrible teeth compared to the rest of the country.  I think that’s debatable. I think there are stats showing we have good teeth here.  He implied it’s because our fluoridation rate is less than many states.  He showed a picture of terrible tooth decay without saying whether that child had fluoridated water or not.  

  At the press conference a reporter said the MWD told them they (the MWD) would do a complete and adequate notification to their water customers.

When it was my turn to speak for 3 minutes at the meeting I asked them whether they were going to warn about fluoridated baby formula.  In a round about way the board said no, they didn’t have to.  I asked them again, were they specifically going to warn about baby formula? Again, they said they didn’t have to.  So there will be NO warning not to use fluoridated water for formula.

(interruption – I don’t know if this bulletin is going to survive the attentions of our adorable cat which is insisting on crawling over the keyboard If weird letters appear you will know where they come from!)

2. Referring to the earlier decision to fluoridate Los Angeles, Doug wrote:  

It’s believed that about 10 million dollars have been spent implementing fluoridation in L.A., but nobody knows the real figure.  The L.A. fluoridation engineer –speaker at the ADA fluoridation forum Chicago 2005 – has no idea how much was spent.  There were no studies planned to see what the results of fluoridation would be in L.A.  We simply don’t know what the result has been.  Neither will we have any idea what the result will be of the impending fluoridation of 16 (18? PC) million people by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  No studies planned.

3. On August 28, Doug wrote:

The impending fluoridation by the Metropolitan Water District will raise the fluoride level from .18 to .8 PPM in Malibu California.  If there was ever a chance to find an investor for a good documentary on fluoride now is the time.  Malibu is full of rich movie producers who will now be getting added fluoride in their home water systems.  Most of them don’t drink tap water, but still it’s worth a shot.

Malibu water customers have already received what’s called the “Splash” newsletter which announced the fluoridation.  They will get an official letter shortly before the fluoridation begins.  The newsletter is at:L.A. County Water Works.

Here’s what the newsletter said about infant formula:  ”If liquid concentrate or powdered infant formula is the primary source of nutrition for an infant in your household or if you use home kidney dialysis equipment, please consult your physician for recommendations.”

I’m sending the “Fluoride Deception” video to the wife of a big time movie producer there.  I’m looking for suggestions to find an investor there.

I just had my letter to the editor published by the L.A. Daily News, 2nd largest paper in L.A.  I can’t copy it to you yet as it’s not on their website until tomorrow.  I pointed out that there will be no warning from the MWD about infant formula.

4. Yesterday, Doug sent us this newspaper report, indicating that one poison is going to be used to help another:

      A Los Angeles County child advocacy group announced a $20 million project Friday to fluoridate water in Los Angeles   
      County.

The funding, from First 5 LA’s tobacco tax revenues, will be provided in grants to small city water agencies that want to fluoridate their water. The Metropolitan Water District already fluoridates their water, but in many cities the fluoride levels are diluted when they mix with the local water supply, said Evelyn Aleman, First 5’s manager of government affairs.

“This is about tooth decay and cavity prevention,” Aleman said. “All of the major dental associations are supportive of this.”

Fluoride helps strengthen teeth against cavities, the most common preventable chronic disease in the U.S., according First 5 LA’s news release. Tooth decay is the No. 1 reason that children miss school, the release added.

“Today’s commission approval of my oral health initiative means that thousands of kids in Los Angeles County will grow up with healthier, stronger teeth,” said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who is also chairman of First 5 LA.

4. Ireland. Dr. Andrew Rhynne has written another editorial in the Irish Medical News (September 21, 2007), see:  ”http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/3056.html” He complains about the outrageous double standard being demonstrated by the Irish Medicine Board which has withdrawn certain well known herbs from the shelves of health food stores but leaves untouched the unlicensed medicine forced into the public drinking water of 73% of the people of Ireland.

5. Isle of Man. News from another Doug. Doug Cross has put out a general appeal to get more information on Dr. Paul Emerson who is pushing fluoridation on the island (which has one of the oldest running parliaments in the world). Doug writes:

Recently Liz Vaughn and I have been working together with Kevin Glynn on the Isle of Man, attempting to bring some sort of common sense to the desperately irrational situation there. The public is being bombarded with pro-fluoridation propaganda in preparation for the imminent introduction of fluoridation, and the Island Parliament, the House of Keys, has authorized a ‘consultation period’ of one year, much of which has already passed. During this period the public has been been bombarded with pro-fluoridation propaganda of the most extreme kind, most of it originating from within the DHSS itself.

Much of this torrent of misinformation is identical to the pro-fluoridation propaganda pouring from the British Fluoridation Society and other UK Government-sponsored or UK Government-supported organizations. This obviously raises issues of the propriety of the promotion of an unethical medical policy that contravenes European Law by one Sovereign State (the UK) in the territory of another State, the Isle of Man. That’s right - the Isle of Man is, like the Channel Isles, not part of the UK or even the EC. The promotion of such a policy by the UK Dept of Health in the territory of another would be seen as a serious improper intervention in the affairs of the Island itself. (The DHSS is supposedly impartial in its attitude to fluoridation!).
 
This incessant pro-fluoride propaganda makes a mockery of the so-called ‘public consultation’. The repeated claims that it is highly beneficial and safe, coming mainly from Dr Paul Emerson, of the DHSS, give the public only the proponents’ side of the arguments. Any attempt to promote an equal and informed debate is dismissed by the authorities as the ill-founded clamor of ignorant ‘activists’.
 
So we asked the simple question, “Who is Dr Emerson?”. We have been trying to find out something - anything - of the background to the pro-fluoridation Public Health Consultant to the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) in the Isle of Man. This is what we have been able to find out so far, presumably as disclosed by Dr. Emerson himself:
 
“Dr Emerson was born at the Royal in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but when six months old he was taken to Zambia where at the appropriate time he received his primary education. His secondary Education took place in Rhodesia and continuing to immigrate south he went to university in South Africa from where he qualified with a specialist registration degree in Public Health. On qualification he took up post as Director of Professional Services Support in Kwazulu Natal. He then went to Durban in South Africa where he was appointed Deputy Medical Officer for Health. Prior to coming to the Isle of Man he was in Derbyshire as Consultant in Public Health Medicine. He came to the Island in December 2001 and took up the post of Consultant in Public Health, with the DHSS based at Crookhall House.” (Source   www.diabetes.org.im/newsletter/newsletter%204.doc accessed 25th August 2007.
 
Despite extensive searches for information on Dr. Emerson (his full name as registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) is Charles Paul Davis Emerson), we have drawn an almost total blank. Apart from the most sketchy record of his graduate qualification at Cape Town in 1980, and registration on the GMC List of Medical Practitioners in January 1982, we can find no record of anything that could be used to confirm this history. He appears never to have published anything in a technical or peer-reviewed Journal before ariving on the Island, a surprising thing for an appointee to such a high level job. Nor can we find any mention of him on the Internet before his arrival on the Island - we can find no record of his presence on any committee or like body, not even for his term of employment in Derbyshire, UK. Nor can we find any mention of his presence in Kwazulu Natal, nor Durban, South Africa.
 
His stance in favour of fluoridation is so vociferous, it would be reasonable to suppose that he must have been noticed by someone in the Fluoride Action Network or any similar group sometime, somewhere. But where, and when? Does anyone in, or linked to, FAN know ANYTHING about the history of Dr. Emerson and why he is so vociferous in promoting water fluoridation? If so, please let us know, as these questions are beginning to be asked on the Island itself, and any further information would be much appreciated.
 
Best wishes
 
Doug and Liz

If anyone has information on Paul Emerson please contact Doug Cross at maverick65@tiscali.co.uk. On a personal note, I will be going to the Isle of Man in November to debate Dr. Emerson.

6. More arrogance from Victoria, Australia. David McRae has sent us the URL for a transcript of an ABC-TV program which underlines the arrogance of health officials in their unexplained and relentless attempt to force fluoridation on people in Victoria who clearly don’t want it.

The fact that this arrogance (ignorance backed up with over confidence) is repeated over and over again wherever fluoridation is pushed and practiced is, of course, not sufficient evidence to conclude that there this is worldwide conspiracy to dupe the public, but it does raise serious questions about what motivation drives these people.

DR JOHN CARNIE, DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: The only possible adverse effect of fluoride might be mild dental fluorosis, and for which we have put out, you know, very good guidelines on how to avoid that. The benefits on the other hand are absolutely indisputable.

PETER HULIN, WARRANAMBOOL FLUORIDE ACTION GROUP: Where is our democratic right to choose what we put in our body? I mean, this sort of mass medication is like we are living in Hitler’s Germany.

DR MARK BOWMAN, AUSTRALIAN DENTAL ASSOCIATION: There’s a lot of claims that are made, claims I don’t know that we should really air some of these claims because they’re just not worth mentioning.

VERN ROBSON: Everyone who is eligible to vote should be able to do so. And then whatever the result is, I think it would be a good indicator to governments at all level as to how the people really feel about this issue.

ANTHONY HOWARD, REPORTER: In the 30 years since fluoride was introduced to Melbourne’s water supply, debate over its benefits has largely laid dormant. But now as the Department of Human Services prepares to introduce the chemical to water supplies in regional sisters like Warrnambool and Ballarat, fluoridation has bubbled back to the service.

PETER HULIN: I put a letter, I think, or maybe two letters into the paper asking for the council to facilitate a meeting so that the people can get both sides of the story, and then people just started coming through the door. And then they started ringing and I’ve been involved in local politics, I guess, for 30 years, and I’ve just never ever experienced the groundswell of opposition to this.

ANTHONY HOWARD: Peter Hulin is not a councillor, but when 800 people turned up to a public meeting, he became the ringleader in a furious, albeit one-sided debate.

PETER HULIN: Then when we invited the DHS to come to the meeting and explain their point of view to us, on the day of the meeting, they then write to us and say, oh, we’re not coming. That’s just not unacceptable.

ANTHONY HOWARD: The Department of Human Services wasn’t the only group to snub the meeting. No representative from the Warrnambool City Council or the Australian Dental Association were present on the night.

DR JOHN CARNIE: Those sorts of public meetings - in the past we have found that they are not the best way of trying to get a message across because you get some very local opponents of whatever you’re trying to do and it just becomes an impossible situation to try and get any message across to the people who want to listen.

ANTHONY HOWARD: The department and Australian Dental Association share the view that the science to prove the benefits of fluoride is well founded and well documented.

DR JOHN CARNIE: The fact is that almost every major health organisation in the world supports the use of fluoride in water, starting with the World Health Organisation and going on to every other major health organisation in Australia and overseas.

DR MARK BOWMAN: Dental decay is amongst the most expensive diseases we have. It rates in the top two of diet related diseases. It’s more than any other single disease like heart disease or asthma. It’s a very expensive disease for the population and we need to treat it in the most efficient, economic way we can.

ANTHONY HOWARD: The debate has raged to varying degrees all over the world. The more extreme opponents say fluoride in drinking water causes bone cancer. Others like Warrnambool doctor Natalie Ryan take a different tact, suggesting the benefits of ingesting yet another chemical are overstated.

DR NATALIE RYAN: But it’s only when we go and read the original studies that we’re confronted with a different picture. The thing is there is no long term safety data in Australia. There’s really no studies done on tissues other than teeth, and we know that the other main target tissue in the body are the bones. And there is data overseas that is suggesting significant potential health issues.

ANTHONY HOWARD: But more than anything, opponents are upset at being patronised by authorities they say are not interested in meaningful consultation.

DR JOHN CARNIE: In the case of Warrnambool, yes that decision has been taken and so it will proceed now. It will be some months obviously before this happens because there are engineering works and so on that have to be undertaken, but what we are hoping is that as people get used to the idea, they will start to look at the evidence and they will be convinced that actually the evidence that we provide indicates that there are no huge health risks to this. In fact, it’s all on the benefit side.

ANTHONY HOWARD: In 2002, Coliban water backed down on plans to add fluoride to the Mount Alexander shire water supply after community opposition. In the last two years, the State Government has refocused on completing the rollout of fluoridation across the remaining areas of the state. But DHS can’t say how much the policy will cost, how long it will take or which part of the state will be next.

DR JOHN CARNIE: The resources don’t allow us to do, you know, all of these groups at any, at the same time, and so we had to proceed in kind of step by step fashion. So I really want say who is going to be next.

ANTHONY HOWARD: As the Department of Human Services has the law on its side, it appears the Warrnambool objectors need a political miracle to keep fluoride out of their water supply. For now, they’re pinning their hopes on another of the Prime Minister’s recent forays into state issues.

VERN ROBSON: Our local federal member and speaker of the House of Representatives, David Hawker, has been in contact with the Prime Minister. It’s possible that the Prime Minister will intervene and allow a public plebiscite on this issue.

PETER HULIN: It might be a State Government directive to put fluoride into water supplies throughout the state, but the end of the day in a democracy, if we don’t want it, surely to God we can’t be forced to have it in your water.

DR JOHN CARNIE: Ultimately public health authorities have to take some decisions for benefit of the majority that may not, as I said, be welcomed by every single last person in a community. So I guess it’s that rationale that drives this desire to ensure that fluoridation of water goes right across Victoria eventually if possible.

7. Correction. With respect to my comments on the recently deceased Dr. Richard Foulkes in the last bulletin, Dr. Albert Burgstahler wrote to me that: “In your note about Richard Foulkes, you erred in ascribing the massive cumulative indexes for 1968-2002 to him. That compilation was done largely by Elke Babiuk. Richard wrote an excellent review of 35 years of Fluoride, but he did not prepare the author and subject indexes. I really miss him.”

Sorry for the length of this bulletin, but much has been happening. For even more information on recent events check “The Latest news” section on our home page http://www.FluorideAction.net

Now its on to Washington, DC. If you need to reach me over the next week please contact Ellen at 315-379-9200. I will be back on September 28th.

Paul Connett.