It’s official!
“The issue isn’t the infant formula itself, but the [fluoridated] water it’s reconstituted with”. This statement was made recently by Professor John Stamm, spokesman for the American Dental Association (ADA), and William Maas, the Oral Health Director for the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in confirming the ADA’s warning of November 2006 – that infant formula must NOT be reconstituted with fluoridated water because of the unacceptable health risk to the baby.
The NZ Ministry of Health continues to claim that the warning only applies in the US, not in NZ, in spite of the clear statements from the ADA. “The Ministry falsely claims that water fluoridation was allowed for when setting the allowable level of fluoride in formula – impossible when it is the water itself that is the problem, not the formula, as confirmed by the ADA and CDC” says Mark Atkin, National Co-ordinator for Fluoride Action Network (NZ), a voluntary organisation of scientists, health professionals, and others opposed to fluoridation on both health and ethical grounds. “Further, the Ministry admits it doesn’t hold the information claimed, and has never seen such calculations!” adds Mr Atkin, following a Ministry reply to an Official Information request.
“In fact NZ formula contains over 3 times as much fluoride as US formula, so the problem is even worse here. For the Ministry to deliberately lie to the public in this way, putting the public’s health at risk, is not only deplorable, it is legally actionable” asserts Mr Atkin, who has both a science degree and an honours degree in public law.
“The scientific case against fluoridation – that it is not only ineffective but harmful to health – becomes even more overwhelming with almost every month that passes. It is only political bloody-mindedness and public deception by officials and others that keeps this unconscionable practice going. But no one can keep the truth suppressed forever, as we are seeing” concludes Mr Atkin.