Nexus - 1106 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Copy t this page and send it to your nearest politicians — and dentists! OPEN LETTER [released 31 August 2004] to: The Premier of Queensland Queensland Minister for Health Lord Mayor of Brisbane Deputy Lord Mayor of Brisbane Councillors, all Cities and Shires of Queensland W: wish to express our grave concerns regarding renewed proposals to fluoridate Queensland's water supplies. Fluoridation began at a time when asbestos lined our pipes, when lead was added to petrol, and DDT was regarded as safe and effective. These chemicals have now been banned, but fluoridation remains untouched (www. fluoridealert.org/absurdity.htm). Research is now raising doubts about fluoridation's effectiveness. Data compiled by the World Health Organization shows tooth decay has declined at a similar rate in all Western countries, irrespective of each country's water or salt fluoridation status (www.fluo- ridealert.org/WHO-DMFT.htm). New evidence for potential, serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion is also emerging. This evidence is summarised on the following websites: www. fluoridealert.org/limeback.htm and www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm. It is extraordinary that the same people who reject abundant global evidence about the association between fluoride ingestion and organ damage (e.g., to bones, teeth, glands or immune system) embrace the questionable science used to support its benefits. They ignore the many confounding possible influences in this research. This includes sugar consumption (averaging 1 kg per week per person in Australia, much of which is hidden), other nutritional influences, general dental hygiene, use of floss and movements in population. Recent studies by several eminent researchers strongly suggest that fluoride works primarily by topical means through direct action on the surface of the teeth via toothpaste or gels used in dental treatments (www.slweb.org/bibliography.html; see XIII, "topical versus systemic effects") (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 1999 and 2001). Ingestion of fluoride through drinking fluoridated water is not essential nor effective for caries reduction. Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, BSc, (Associate Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto, and Past President of the Canadian Association for Dental Research) apologised in 1999 for inadvertently misleading both his colleagues and dental stu- dents in his support for fluoridation. Addressing them, he concluded: "For the past 15 years, I had refused to study the toxicology information that is readily available to anyone. Poisoning our children was the furthest thing from my mind" (www. fluoridealert.org/ news/1537.html). The fluoridating agent most commonly used is a hazardous contaminated industrial-grade product from the phosphate fertiliser industry (www. fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm). We strongly reject the notion that placing a chronic poison in our water supplies is clever preventive medicine. We represent 1,500 doctors, dentists, scientists and others working in the interests of public health who are primarily interested in prevention and early intervention in disease processes. The question of fluoridation was considered with care, openness and good representation by the Lord Mayor's Task Force in 1997, which came down clearly against fluoridating Brisbane's water supply (www.fluoride-journal.com/98-3 1-4/314-232.htm). It is astounding that this issue could again be raised in Queensland in an apparently co-ordinated national campaign. No new evidence has been put forward to our knowledge that would warrant a revision of the 1997 decision. We will urge Queenslanders to study the evidence showing potential serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion and to inform their councillors and state members how they feel about this matter. Yours sincerely, Dr Doug Everingham MBBS, 1972-75 Australian Minister for Health; Dr Eric Davis BDSc DipClinNutr FACNEM ASOMAT; Dr Gary Deed MBBS (Qld) FACNEM ACNEM AIMA, Diabetes Australia (Qid); Dr Barry Ryan MBBS (Qld) FACNEM, Member, Brisbane Lord Mayor's Taskforce on Fluoride, 1997; Dr Philip Stowell MBBS (London) FACNEM; Dr John Ryan MBBS (Qld) FRACGP DCH (Irel) MSc Nutrition FAC- NEM FAMAC MRCGP (UK), CMEC Member, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Australia; Dr Kris Mylonas MBBS (Qld) FACNEM Post- grad DipAcup BCTANT; Shirley Strachan ND BHSc (CompMed) MA (Hons) History GradDip (MarArch); Mark Diesendorf BSc PhD, Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University; Dr Robyn Cosford ACNEM AIMA, Holistic Dental Association; Cr Lisa C Intemann BA (Hons) BAppSc DipSocSc, Wauchope, NSW; Professor Ian Brighthope MBBS (Melb) BAg FACNEM, Founding Director, President, ACNEM; Professor Noel Campbell FACNEM FASID BDSc LDS, Melbourne, Vic; Philip Robertson BHSc ND, Dept Health Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Vic; Dr Vicki Kotsirilos MBBS (Monash) FACNEM DipHerbMed CertAcup DipHyp; Dr Bogdan Sikorski, Senior Toxicologist, Office of Complementary Medicines, Canberra, ACT; Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith PhD (Law), Coordinator, National Toxics Network Inc; Dr Hardy Limeback BSc PhD DDS, Associate Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto, Canada; Dr Rosalie Bertell PhD GNSH, Founder, Int Inst of Concern for Public Health, Canada; Prof Dr Leo Rebello ND PhD DSc FFHom, Fellow, European Medical Association, President, AIDS Alternativa International, World Peace Envoy, Bombay, India; Dr Philip Michael MB BCh BAO MICGP, Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association; Dr Elizabeth Cullen MB BCh BAO MSc; Irish Dentists Opposed to Fluoridation (61 members); Dr Andrew Rynne Founder, Clane General Hospital, Co. Kildare, Ireland; Loty Zilberman MSc, Chemical Engineer, Israel; Bruce Spittle MB ChB DPM FRANZCP, Dunedin, New Zealand; Dr Michael E Godfrey MBBS (London) FACAM FACNEM, Tauranga, New Zealand; Tohru Murakami DDS PhD, Japanese Society for Fluoride Research; Mageswari Sangaralingam, Consumers’ Association of Penang, Malaysia; Dr C Vyvyan Howard MB ChB PhD FRCPath, Developmental Toxico-Pathology Group, University of Liverpool, UK; Paul Connett PhD, Professor of Chemistry, St Lawrence University, New York; Roger D Masters PhD, Research Professor and Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government Department of Government HB, Dartmouth College, NH, USA; Robert J Carton PhD (Environmental Science), Former Chief, Environmental Compliance, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, USA; Russell L Blaylock MD, Neurosurgeon and Neuroscientist, Past Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Visiting Professor of Biology, Belhaven College, Jackson, Mi: pi, USA; Samuel E Epstein MD, Professor Emeritus Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Christopher Bryson, Investigative Journalist, Author of The Fluoride Deception, New York, USA; Michael F Dolan PhD, Research Professor, Department of Geosciences, UMass, USA; Albert W Burgstahler PhD, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Kansas, USA... The Premier of Queensland Queensland Minister for Health Lord Mayor of Brisbane Deputy Lord Mayor of Brisbane Councillors, all Cities and Shires of Queensland