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Study: Adding Fluoride to Water is Money Down the Drain

By NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

Children’s cavity rates are similar whether water is fluoridated or not, according to data published in the July 2009 Journal of the American Dental Association by dentist J.V. Kumar of the NY State Health Department (1).

 

In 2008, New York City spent approximately $24 million on water fluoridation ($5 million on fluoride chemicals)(1a).  In 2010, NYC’s fluoride chemicals will cost $9 million (1b).

 

Fluoride in water at “optimal” levels (0.7 – 1.2 mg/L) is supposed to reduce tooth decay without creating excessive fluorosis (fluoride-discolored and/or damaged teeth).  Yet cavities are rampant in NY’s fluoridated populations (1c).

 

Attempting to prove that fluorosed teeth have fewer cavities, Kumar uses 1986-1987 National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) data which, upon analysis, shows that 7- to 17-year-olds have similar cavity rates in their permanent teeth whether their water supply is fluoridated or not (Table 1).

 

In 1990, using the same NIDR data, Dr. John Yiamouyiannis published equally surprising results in a peer-reviewed journal. He concluded, “No statistically significant differences were found in the decay rates of permanent teeth or the percentages of decay-free children in the F [fluoridated], NF [non-fluoridated], and PF [partially fluoridated] areas.” (2).

 

Kumar divided children into four groups based on their community’s water fluoride levels:

 

Less than 0.3 mg/L where 55.5% had cavities

From 0.3 to 0.7 mg/L where 54.6% had cavities

Optimal 0.7 to 1.2 mg/L where 54.4% had cavities

Over 1.2 mg/L where 56.4% had cavities

 

“Dr. Kumar’s published data exposes more evidence that fluoridation doesn’t reduce tooth decay,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

 

“It’s criminal to waste taxpayers’ money on fluoridation, while exposing entire populations unnecessarily to fluoride’s health risks, especially when local and state governments are attempting to balance budgets by cutting essential services,” says Beeber.

 

Despite 60+ years of water fluoridation, Americans are spending more than ever on dental care. "between 1998 and 2008 the increase in the cost of dental services exceeded that of medical care and far exceeded the overall rate of inflation," according to Slate Magazine. Americans paid 44.2 percent of dental bills themselves compared to 10.3 percent of physician costs, Slate reports. (3)

 

Dentists' Nominal Net Income for 2000 was $533,000 up from $141,000 in 1982, according to the American Dental Assolciation Survey published in the March 2005 Journal of the American Dental Association. During the same time period, the number of Americans living in fluoridated communites went from 116 million to 172 million. (4)

 

Analysis of Kumar’s data:  http://tinyurl.com/MoneyDownTheDrain 

 

More information about fluoride and tooth decay:

http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/teeth/caries/fluoridation.html#surveys

 

 

References:

 

1) “The Association Between Enamel Fluorosis and Dental Caries in U.S. Schoolchildren,” Kumar & Iida Journal of the American Dental Association, July 2009

(Table 1)

 

1a) http://www.scribd.com/doc/18235930/NYC-Fluoridation-Costs-2008-Feb-2-2009-Letter-Page-1

 

1b) http://www.council.nyc.gov/html/budget/PDFs/fy_10_exec_budget_dept_enviro_protection.pdf

 

1c) http://www.freewebs.com/fluoridation/fluoridationfailsnewyork.htm

2) Fluoride: Journal of the International Society for Fluoride Research
April 1990 (Volume 23, Issue 2, Pages 55-67) “Water Fluoridation & Tooth Decay: Results from the 1986-1987 National Survey of US Schoolchildren,” by John A. Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D.

3) Slata Magazine, "The American Way of Dentistry, The Oral Cost Spiral" by June Thomas (September 29, 2009)

4) Fluoridation Statistics:

 

 

 

Fluoride in Your Water? GET IT OUT

By NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

 

Water suppliers nationwide, in the US, are required to supply consumers with annual Water Quality Reports or Consumer Confidence Reports at least once a year. 
 
“Consumers should take this yearly opportunity to check their water fluoride levels,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. "If your water department adds fluoride chemicals, tell them and your legislators to stop. They are wasting your money and endangering your health," says Beeber.
 
“If your water is not fluoridated, don’t be complacent.  The American Dental Association has mobilized their army of dentists nationwide to go to your legislators and convince them that you need to swallow more fluoride (a) without any knowledge of how much fluoride you are already ingesting,” says Beeber
 
Dental fluorosis (discolored teeth), the visible sign of fluoride overdose, now afflicts up 48% of school children, reports the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  
Fluoride's purported benefits are topical but its risks are systemic, says the CDC. "This means there is no good reason to swallow fluoride and no logical justification for water fluoridation," says Beeber.
 
A 2006 review of peer-reviewed studies in respected journals by the prestigious National Research Council (NRC) reveals fluoride is a health risk even at low levels added to water supplies. Especially harmed are high-water drinkers, babies, kidney and thyroid patients. The NRC panel found that fluoride’s links to cancer and lowered IQ are plausible.
 
Because of the NRC report, the CDC and the American Dental Association both advise that infant formula should NOT be mixed with fluoridated water.
 
The NRC report also caused the National Kidney Foundation to advise that “Individuals with CKD  [Chronic Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride exposure.” Too much fluoride damages bones and malfunctioning kidneys do not excrete fluoride properly allowing a toxic build-up in the bones.
 
Besides, fluoride ingestion is not stopping tooth decay in primary teeth.
 
According to a systematic review of fluoride supplement research published in the November 2008 Journal of the American Dental Association, "There is weak and inconsistent evidence that the use of fluoride supplements prevents dental caries in primary teeth." In fact, the authors could find only one study, from China, showing any fluoride benefit to primary teeth and that study was probably biased with a high withdrawal rate, the authors write.
 
Fluoride supplements never underwent FDA testing.(1)
 
"Fluoridation began with the untested belief that ingested fluoride prevented tooth decay in small children, only. Evidence-based-dentistry now shows that swallowing fluoride poses dental risks without benefits to the very children fluoridation was supposed to help," says Beeber.
 
"It may...be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood caries (cavities) reports
dentist Howard Pollick, University of California, and colleagues, in  the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
 
Beeber advises: Call your water department, ask if fluoride chemicals are added into your water supply.  Then ask them and your local legislators, “Who has the authority to stop fluoridation?”  Organize your neighbors to lobby the appropriate agency or department to have them cease fluoridation. You will be saving your community money and improving overall health with no increased dental risk. In fact, many studies show that when fluoridation ends, tooth decay rates actually go down or stay the same.
 
Fluoride does occur naturally in most water systems. But over 90% of fluoridating communities use silicofluorides, waste products of phosphate fertilizer production, which carry trace amounts of lead, arsenic, mercury and other toxins, according to NSF International, the governing body over water additives.(2)
 
Opposition to fluoridation is scientific, respectable and growing in numbers and political popularity.
 
On November 4, 2008, 53 US cities rejected fluoridation joining a growing list of communities saying "No" to fluoridation.
 
Dr. Joey Hensley, a respected practicing physician serving in the Tennessee legislature, urges all Tennessee Water Districts to stop fluoridation. At least 31 Tennessee water districts have already complied.
 
Over 2,550 professionals signed a statement urging the US Congress to stop water fluoridation until Congressional hearings are conducted, citing scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks. See statement: http://www.fluorideaction.org/statement.august.2007.html
 
Also, 11 Environmental Protection Agency unions, representing over 7000 environmental and public health professionals, called for a moratorium on drinking water fluoridation programs across the country, and have asked EPA management to recognize fluoride as posing a serious risk of causing cancer in people. (3)
 
Fluoridation is now a political issue usually defended and promoted, without valid science, by organized dentistry and their members in federal and state health departments as well as those in private practice.
 
For more information on fluoride's adverse health effects, visit the Fluoride Action Network Health Page at  http://www.FluorideAction.Net/health 
 
Join the 21,000 Americans calling on Congress to stop fluoridation here:  http://congress.FluorideAction.Net
 
 
SOURCE:  New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
 
References:
 
 
1) August 2000 letter from NJ Assemblyman Kelly to Senator Robert Smith http://www.fluoridealert.org/fda.htm
 
 

3)  Press Release August 19, 2005, “EPA Unions Call for Nationwide Moratorium on Fluoridation, Congressional Hearing on Adverse Effects, Youth Cancer Cover Up,” Contact: Dr. William Hirzy, Vice-President NTEU Chapter 280
 
 
 
 

 

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