(Wed., Jan 2, 2008)

NEW YORK, Jan. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Some recent studies suggest that
over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth,
bones, the brain and the thyroid gland," reports Scientific American editors
(January 2008). "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to
shift," writes author Dan Fagin.
 
"Fluoride, the most consumed drug in the USA, is deliberately added to 2/3 of
public water supplies theoretically to reduce tooth decay, but with no
scientifically-valid evidence proving safety or effectiveness," says lawyer
Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation. 
 
Fagin, award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York
University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, writes,
"There is no universally accepted optimal level for daily intake of fluoride."
Some researchers even wonder whether the 1 mg/L added into drinking water is
too much, reports Fagin.
 
After 3 years of scrutinizing hundreds of studies, a National Research Council
(NRC) committee "concluded that fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function,
especially in the thyroid -- the gland that produces hormones regulating
growth and metabolism," reports Fagin. 
Fagin quotes John Doull, professor emeritus of pharmacology and toxicology at
the University of Kansas Medical Center, who chaired the NRC committee thusly,
"The thyroid changes do worry me."
Fluoride in foods, beverages, medicines and dental products can result in
fluoride over-consumption, visible in young children as dental fluorosis --
white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth. We can't normally see
fluoride's effects to the rest of the body.
Reports Fagin, "a series of epidemiological studies in China have associated
high fluoride exposures with lower IQ."
 
"(E)pidemiological studies and tests on lab animals suggest that high fluoride
exposure increases the risk of bone fracture, especially in vulnerable
populations such as the elderly and diabetics," writes Fagin.
 
Fagin interviewed Steven Levy, director of the Iowa Fluoride Study which
tracked about 700 Iowa children for sixteen years. Nine-year-old "Iowa
children who lived in communities where the water was fluoridated were 50
percent more likely to have mild fluorosis... than [nine-year-old] children
living in nonfluoridated areas of the state," writes Fagin. Levy will study
fluoride's effects on their bones.
Over 1200 professionals urge Congress to cease water fluoridation and conduct
Congressional hearings because scientific evidence indicates fluoridation is
ineffective and has serious health risks. Support them; write your
representative here:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2477/t/2782/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=21960
 
     Contact
    Paul Beeber, Esq.
    http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
    http://www.FluorideAction.Net
    http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu
    516-433-8882
    nyscof@aol.com
SOURCE  NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation

www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS108377+02-Jan-2008+PRN20080102