Dr. Wiseman’s presentation on August 8, 2014, to the Austin City Council was videotaped and made available on YouTube. The following is a transcription made by the Fluoride Action Network.
Thank you Mayor and council members. My name is Jeremy Wiseman, a family practitioner at Wiseman Family Practice. The topic I want to discuss today is the fluoridation of water. I know this topic and its potential health effects have been discussed in the past but I would like to cover a few other issues of concern to me. Now we first need to establish that fluoride is a drug. The definition of a drug is a substance intended for the use in the diagnoses, cure, mitigation, treatment and/or prevention of disease. In this case, of course, its the prevention of dental caries. Now there are many bedrocks of medicine today but two of the big ones in my opinion would have to be informed consent of medical treatment and dosage control of medications. Now informed consent is defined as the consent to medical procedures and treatments given by a patient after – that’s the key word there – after the potential risks, hazards, and benefits of treatment have been explained. Now this principle has been completely ignored with the fluoridation of our public water in the attempt to improve public health and I believe it needs to be reconsidered. The second issue is dosage control. Now presently fluoride is added to water at about .7 to 1.2 parts per million depends in the nation on where you live. Now this means that everyone, infants to adults, get the same concentration. Now depending on how much a person drinks, this dosage is highly variable, especially for infants who bottle feed on a water-based diet. If we can’t consider taking fluoride out of our public water supply, which I believe is the ultimate solution, then I propose that we have some sort of labeling or education for parents about the potential dangers of dosing in infants and children. Now I want to emphasize that I am not actually against fluoride. I actually believe that topical fluoride has its place in toothpaste for example. And I believe that there’s dental benefits for doing this. But the systemic absorption of fluoride to our water supply is altogether a different issue. And I think one that has proven and potential health risks that I think are unnecessary and I think are unsafe for public health.
Presentation online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawkMWIqHYk
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