In John Miller’s recent response to an Oct. 3 opinion piece about the health risks of water fluoridation, I was referred to as an unreliable spokesman for anti-water fluoridation (“Fluoride in water is not end of the world,” Community Commentary). Putting aside Miller’s unsupported attacks on my “practices and credentials,” I nevertheless stand in excellent company as a proponent against the use of fluorides-14 with Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry and medicine who are on record for either directly opposing or expressing strong reservations about fluoride’s health benefits and safety.

I do not know the reasons for Miller endorsing fluoride’s safety, because there are literally hundreds of articles published worldwide in peer-reviewed journals and independent research, which provide strong evidence to the contrary. These articles reach back to 1931 when dental fluorosis — the degeneration of dental bone — was first associated with fluoride consumption in drinking water.

Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization, issued a press release warning that independent research based on government findings shows that 64,000 children in Southern California will be at risk from over-fluoridation. According to the group, in the four years since the Metropolitan Water District decided to add fluoride to the tap water of millions of Californians, scientists at Harvard University, the prestigious National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and even the pro-fluoride American Dental Assn., have all raised serious concerns about the safety of fluoridated water for infants and young children.

I also want to draw attention to the sources of the 300-plus supporting documents referenced in the American Dental Assn.’s Fluoridation Facts relied on by Miller. My review of the articles cited by the association reveals that the vast majority are studies performed in the U.S., and most of those are from U.S. government publications, association literature and the highly institutionalized Journal of Public Health Dentistry.

It is difficult to understand why so many intelligent people in our nation can continue to protect erroneous health beliefs that are so contrary to the actual scientific research. But when we peer behind the facade of federally and privately funded industry associations and agencies, such as the American Dental Assn., the Centers for Disease Control and, yes, even our local community water commissions, we have departed from the world of science and entered the domain of politics, corporate influence and biased, vested interests.

Their fear and insecurity requires citizens to be held in the dark by any means possible. Pro-fluoridation pamphlets, such as Fluoridation Facts, are advertising propaganda, a dumbing-down of scientific inquiry, to assure citizens that our government and dominant medical agencies hold their health in their best interests.

Many scientific facts can be stated to disprove the government’s and major medical agencies’ assumptions about fluoride and fluoridation. But I will address a couple of those stated in Miller’s article.

It is true that most European countries have not legally “banned” water fluoridation. Yet this is misleading because all developed European countries, with the exception of the United Kingdom, have discontinued water fluoridation. Sweden and Germany, however, forbid water fluoridation. Some European nations, such as Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, never used fluoride in their drinking water to begin with.

Miller also believes fluorosilicic acid is safe and natural. The truth is that this inorganic compound, a member of the halogen family, is listed as a hazardous material by the National Institute of Health and the Department of Transportation. Fluorosilicic acid is commonly used in wood preservatives, fur dyeing, metal preparation, and sewer and waste treatment.

My only suggestion to readers is to protect yourselves and your children by familiarizing yourself with the real, unbiased scientific evidence about fluoride’s terrible health risks. Begin by doing a Google search for word strings such as fluoride and cancer, fluoride and obesity, fluoride and thyroid, fluoride and kidney, fluoride and enzymes, fluoride and peritonitis, fluoride and pineal gland, fluoride and retardation, fluoride and memory, fluoride and crime, and fluoride and infertility. For the more adventurous among you, search for fluoride and concentration camps. You will surely be awakened to the disparate ratio between sites reporting fluoride’s dangers and sites supporting fluoride’s safety.
• GARY NULL is a New York resident and author of “Get Healthy Now!” and “The Encyclopedia of Natural Healing.”

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