FAN Bulletin 1093

October 12, 2009

More and more communities around the country ? and around the world ? are questioning the wisdom of fluoridating their water. As they do so government spokespersons and organized dentistry step in and assure decision-makers that everything is fine. There’s nothing to worry about. When local journalists examine the issue readers are treated to the usual chestnuts:

1. “Every dollar spent on fluoridation saves $38 in avoided dental bills.”

2. The CDC labels fluoridation of water as one of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century.”

3. “It’s not really a controversy, but there are some who make it out to be a controversy”

4. “The three bottom lines are water fluoridation is safe, effective and cost saving.”

All four of these quotes are taken directly from the article below that appeared in The Gainesville Sun on October 9. The journalist, Megan Rolland, quoted the same source (Scott Tomar) each time ? twice directly and twice indirectly.

QUOTE 1: Dr. Scott Tomar was co-author of the article which gave rise to the notion that for “Every dollar spent on fluoridation saves $38 in avoided dental bills.”
Reference: Griffin SO, Jones K, Tomar SL. 2001. An economic evaluation of community water fluoridation. J Public Health Dent 61(2):78-86.
Abstract at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11474918?ordinalpos=&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.SmartSearch&log$=citationsensor

QUOTE 2: Tomar was lead author of the report published in 1999 which purportedly supports the notion water fluoridation is one of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century.”
Reference: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 1999. Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Fluoridation of drinking water to prevent dental caries. MMWR 48(41): 933-940 October 22.
Available at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4841a1.htm
Authors: Scott Tomar and Susan Griffin - see citation 27, on page 27 of Tomar’s Curriculam Vitae at http://fluoridealert.org/re/tomar.scott.cv.ref.27.pdf

A complete listing of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century” can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/00056796.htm

QUOTES 3 & 4, which also appear in the article below, are again from Scott Tomar, now a professor teaching at the School of Public Dentistry in Gainesville, Florida, and the current President of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

The report co-authored by Tomar that purportedly supports the quote that fluoridation is one of “Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century,” appeared in the CDC in-house organ Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) which does not receive external peer review. The MMWR simply acts as a mouthpiece for CDC research and policy ? and in this case its propaganda on fluoridation.

At the time that Tomar had written this 1999 piece, he had published nothing on fluoridation. His specialty was smokeless tobacco and oral cancer. His single co-author Susan Griffin is an economist. Both may have been quick learners ? and probably were as far as promoting the party line was concerned.

However, their paper was 6 years out of date on health studies (it relied on the 1993 NRC report) and the evidence they produced for effectiveness would be laughable for any one who cared to read the article. Few do. Tomar and Griffin offer a graph (see Figure 1 in their report) purporting to show that tooth decay in 12-year olds has been coming down since the 1960s because the percentage of the American population drinking fluoridated water has increased over the same period. This is easily discounted when one observes the same data tracked in about 20 countries by the World Health Organization. The same declines or greater have been occurring in all industrialized countries during this same period whether they are fluoridated or not! See http://www.FluorideAlert.org/who-dmft.htm You can find a full critique of this CDC report (”The Emperor Has No Clothes”) on FAN’s website. See http://www.FluorideAlert.org/cdc.htm

As far as the notion contained in the other Tomar article, that every $ spent on fluoridation saves $38 in dental costs, this too is equally laughable. This “study” exaggerated the benefits of dental saving (they assumed that a person would have to take a day off work to get a filling and added in the lost day’s pay!) ignored the costs of treating dental fluorosis, and any other health problems that might be caused by ingesting fluoride (which of course they deny!).

The authors also ignore the fact that fluoridation uses an artificially cheap source of fluoridating chemicals obtained from the phosphate fertilizer industry. The chemicals cannot be dumped into the sea by international law and contains many contaminants. If they calculated the costs of using a pharmaceutical grade of fluoride for this purpose the cost of water fluoridation would be prohibitive. Well over 99% of the fluoride used in fluoridation goes nowhere near children’s teeth! You can afford to waste 99+% of your fluoridating agent if it is hazardous waste that someone is anxious to get rid of, but you cannot afford to waste 99+% of a costly pharmaceutical grade chemical.

How long will the CDC get away with this propaganda? How long will journalists just “suck it up” without bothering to carefully check the other side on this issue?

Paul Connett

GRU WON’T REMOVE FLUORIDE; COMMISSION WILL VOTE
Despite medical evidence to the contrary, some believe the tooth-protecting additive is dangerous.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091009/ARTICLES/910091008/1002?Title=GRU-won-t-remove-fluoride-commission-will-vote

By Megan Rolland
The Gainesville Sun (Florida) - October 9, 2009

Fluoride - a chemical added to drinking water to help prevent tooth decay - is back in the public dialogue in a vocal way.

Opponents of fluoride in Gainesville’s public water supply have requested the public policy that allows the use of fluorine be reconsidered by the City Commission.

Despite outcry from a group of citizens concerned about what they say are the health risks of fluoride, the Gainesville Regional Utility committee voted Thursday against changing the public policy.

The issue will now go before the full City Commission for consideration.

“The studies that I have seen actually say that there is no significant association between fluoride exposure and these conditions,” Commissioner Craig Lowe said. “Every dollar spent of fluoridation saves $38 in avoided dental bills.

“Who would be most harmed without fluoridation? That would be those children in homes where there is not sufficient other dental hygiene to avoid them getting dental decay. That would be children predominantly in lower socioeconomic status and at-risk homes.”

About 30 people gathered Tuesday night at a meeting held by citizens concerned about the fluoride used in Gainesville’s public drinking supply.

Local resident Karen Eberly said it’s time for another look at the issue despite reports from groups such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say water fluoridation is safe and effective.

The CDC labels fluoridation of water as one of the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century.”

But Eberly and others believe there is enough information available linking fluoride to other problems, such as arthritis and types of bone cancer, as well as its impact on children’s intelligence.

“I think these risks outweigh any possible benefits,” Eberly said.

Eberly also cited information that shows countries that don’t fluoridate their water are seeing the same decline in cavities among residents as people in the United States. “It’s not ethical. Do we have to be force-fed fluoride?” she said.

Eberly and other citizens in her group opposing fluoride cite, among others, a study completed by the National Research Council in 2006 that warned of the dangerous health impacts of high levels of fluoridation.

That study suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency lower its current maximum allowed level of fluoride from 4 parts per million.

David Richardson, assistant general manager for water and waste water systems for GRU, said the fluoride levels are kept at a constant 0.8 parts per million in Gainesville, well below the EPA safety level.

“We do that on the state of Florida’s recommendation based on climatic conditions and how much water a person consumes,” Richardson said.

The study by the National Research Council emphasized that the scope of its study did not span to “the lower exposures commonly experienced by most U.S. citizens” like those found in area drinking water.

Rob Brinkman, chair of the local Sierra Club, said his organization supports lowering the EPA standard from 4 parts per million.

“The Sierra Club feels that the current 4 (parts per million) is way too high and seeks to have that standard lowered … We must remember it does not stop at us, but ends up back in the ground in the ecosystem, and there is growing evidence that fluoride does have effect on various things in the ecosystem.”

Gainesville resident Melissa Rawley-Payne told the group how she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. But she said she has also found that eliminating fluoride sources, particularly fluoridated water, helped her.

Some information says fluoride exposure has an effect on thyroid function. The process of eliminating fluoride from her diet as well as limiting exposure to fluoridated water has been difficult and expensive, she said.

“I want people to learn more about it and see what’s out there and try to make a decision on their own, particularly how it may be affecting children,” Rawley-Payne said.

Others in the community consider attempts to remove fluoride a threat to public health.

“It’s not really a controversy, but there are some who make it out to be a controversy,” said Dr. Scott Tomar, a professor at the University of Florida who previously was with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Oral Health. “The three bottom lines are water fluoridation is safe, effective and cost saving.”

Tomar said there is “significant evidence” that water fluoridation prevents tooth decay and is safe, a position consistent with that of the World Health Organization, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.