It is hard to believe that the NZ Dental Association is still calling for the Fluoridation (Health Amendment) Bill, a.k.a the Mandatory Fluoridation Bill, to be passed despite a bombshell study (Green et al) published in one of the world’s top medical journals this year, JAMA Pediatrics. The study found that fluoridated water was associated with lowered IQ in children to the same degree that lead was found to be lowering IQ before it was banned in petrol.

A study published two weeks ago found that Canadian adolescents living in fluoridated places had 3-fold greater odds of being diagnosed with ADHD as those in non-fluoridated areas. This finding suggests that fluoridated water may cause the majority of all ADHD cases.

But even more shocking is another new study that has been accepted for publication, and was presented at a recent conference, which found that for every 1 mg/L increase in tap water fluoride there was a 9 IQ point decrease in the formula-fed infants.

These studies come on top of over 60 other human studies that have found fluoride is a neurotoxin. These latest studies have been funded by the US Government and are the highest quality epidemiological studies on fluoride ever conducted.

The US National Toxicology Program has recently released their draft monograph on fluoride. They have concluded “ that fluoride is presumed to be a cognitive neurodevelopmental hazard to humans.” They have based this primarily on higher levels of fluoride exposure (i.e., >1.5 ppm in drinking water) and say that the lower levels used in fluoridation (in NZ that is 0.7 to 1ppm) the evidence is unclear (even though the studies were based on communities with exactly that level of fluoridation). However, according to Dr Bill Hirzy, former senior risk analyst at the US Environmental Protection agency, a simple risk analysis would automatically rule fluoridation unsafe.

It is well known that scientists, doctors and dentists will often hold onto a belief rather than accept they have been proved wrong. The NZ Dental Association still thinks that mercury based fillings are safe for children and pregnant women. Doctors refused to wash their hands between the mortuary and delivering babies even though Dr Semmelweis had figured simple hand washing would stop peurperal fever that was killing tens of thousands of mothers and children. The NZ Ministry of Health still refuses to accept the extremely toxic, dioxin-laced, 245T (a component of Agent Orange) that was sprayed over most of the country in the 1950s to 1980s caused cancer or birth defects. Scientists refused to believe the earth revolved around the sun and the Church put Galileo under house arrest for the rest of his life for daring to tell the truth.

Decision makers need to recognise that this cognitive dissonance is a common human frailty and need to stop blindly following the long-time promoters of fluoridation – and think for themselves.

Fluoridation needs to stop immediately.

*Original press release online at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1911/S00057/dentists-continue-to-ignore-fluorides-effect-on-the-brain.htm

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