Professionals Against Water FluoridationUpdate - 11/05/2005
For Immediate Release: 31 August 2004 An OPEN LETTER to all Queensland Councillors and to State Government Members, from a professional group representing over 1500 Australian doctors, dentists and scientists against water fluoridation and personally supported by eminent international scientists as well as others working in the interests of public health, was released today. Spokesman for the group Dr John Ryan, a prominent Brisbane General Practitioner representing many professionals interested in preventative and early intervention therapies, said the group was extremely disappointed in the State Government Policy of supporting fluoridation. The group knows that the Government had not sought advice from those opposed as their group was not consulted and that Government has relied on highly questionable views supported by other associations and bureaucrats. Dr Ryan said that Dr Doug Everingham, who as a central Queensland family doctor in the 1960's had published praise of fluoridation, re-assessed his views after reading of flaws in the official case. He sought more balanced evidence as Australia's 1972-75 Minister for Health and as an office holder at the 1975 World Health Assembly. He has since opposed water fluoridation, ingestion of fluoride tablets and unsupervised use of fluoridated toothpaste by children too young to avoid swallowing the paste while brushing. Dr Everingham is a prominent member of Professionals Against Water Fluoridation. Dr Ryan said that his group was heartened by the comments by Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman who indicated that the onus needed to be on the pro-fluoridation group to prove their case. However, he viewed with concern the move this week by Queensland Liberal's leader Bob Quinn, supported by Surfers Paradise MP and dentist John-Paul Langbroek, to introduce a Private Member's Bill into parliament to try to override local authorities and force fluoridation into all Queensland water supplies. Dr John Ryan Chairman PAWF
Queensland Minister for Health Lord Mayor of Brisbane Deputy Lord Mayor of Brisbane Councillors, all Cities and Shires of Queensland We wish to express our grave concerns regarding renewed proposals to fluoridate Queensland's water supplies. Fluoridation began at a time when asbestos lined our pipes, when lead was added to petrol, and DDT was regarded as safe and effective. These chemicals have now been banned, but fluoridation remains untouched (www.fluoridealert.org/absurdity.htm). Research is now raising doubts about fluoridation's effectiveness. Data compiled by the World Health Organization shows tooth decay has declined at a similar rate in all Western Countries, irrespective of each country's water or salt fluoridation status (http://www.fluoridealert.org/WHO-DMFT.htm). New evidence for potential serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion is also emerging. This evidence is summarised on the following web sites: http://www.fluoridealert.org/limeback.htm and http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm. It is extraordinary that the same people who reject abundant global evidence about the association between fluoride ingestion and organ damage (e.g. to bones, teeth, glands, or immune system), embrace the questionable science used to support its benefits. They ignore the many confounding possible influences in this research. This includes sugar consumption (averaging 1 kg per week per person in Australia) much of which is hidden, other nutritional influences, general dental hygiene, use of floss and movements in population. Recent studies by several eminent researchers strongly suggest that fluoride works primarily by topical means through direct action on the surface of the teeth via toothpaste, or gels used in dental treatments (http://www.slweb.org/bibliography.html see: XIII, 'topical versus systemic effects'), (Centers for Disease Control {CDC}1999 and 2001). Ingestion of fluoride through drinking fluoridated water is not essential nor effective for caries reduction. Hardy Limeback, PhD, DDS, BSc, (Associate Professor and Head, Preventive Dentistry, University of Toronto and Past President of the Canadian Association for Dental Research) apologised in 1999 for inadvertently misleading both his colleagues and dental students in his support for fluoridation. Addressing them he concluded: "For the past 15 years, I had refused to study the toxicology information that is readily available to anyone. Poisoning our children was the furthest thing from my mind" (http://www.fluoridealert.org/news/1537.html. The fluoridating agent most commonly used is a hazardous contaminated industrial-grade product from the phosphate fertilizer industry (http://www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm). We strongly reject the notion that placing a chronic poison in our water supplies is clever preventive medicine. We represent 1500 doctors, dentists, scientists and others working in the interests of public health who are primarily interested in prevention and early intervention in disease processes. The question of fluoridation was considered with care, openness and good representation by the Lord Mayor's Task Force in 1997 which came down clearly against fluoridating Brisbane's water supply (http://www.fluoride-journal.com/98-31-4/314-232.htm). It is astounding that this issue could again be raised in Queensland in an apparently co-ordinated national campaign. No new evidence has been put forward to our knowledge that would warrant a revision of the 1997 decision. We will urge Queenslanders to study the evidence showing potential serious harm from long-term fluoride ingestion and to inform their councillors and state members how they feel about this matter. Yours sincerely,
Dr Doug Everingham MBBS
Dr Eric Davis BDSc Dip. Clin. Nutr.
Dr Gary Deed
Dr Barry Ryan
Dr Philip Stowell
Dr John Ryan
Nea Cameron-Smith RN
Dr Kris Mylonas
Shirley Strachan ND BHSc(Comp Med)
Mark Diesendorf BSc PhD
Dr Robyn Cosford
Cr Lisa C Intemann BA(Hons) BAppSc DipSocSc
Professor Ian Brighthope
Professor Noel Campbell
Philip Robertson BHSc ND
Dr Vicki Kotsirilos
Dr Bogdan Sikorski
Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith PhD (Law)
Dr. Hardy Limeback BSc PhD DDS
Richard G Foulkes BA MD
Ella Haley BSc PhD
Dr Robert C Dickson MD CCFP
Michelle Meyer ND
Dr Rosalie Bertell PhD GNSH
Patrick Chapus
Professor Dr Leo Rebello ND PhD DSc FFHom
Dr Philip Michael MB BCh BAO MICGP
Dr Elizabeth Cullen MB BCh BAO MSc(Community Health)
Irish Dentists Opposed to Fluoridation (61 members) idof@eircom.net idof@eircom.net Dr Andrew Rynne
Medical Practitioner Life long campaigner for civil liberty and free choice,
Loty Zilberman MSc
Bruce Spittle MB ChB DPM FRANZCP
Dr Michael E Godfrey
Tohru Murakami DDS PhD
Kenichi Narita DDS
Kenji Akiniwa DDS
Junji Kato MD PhD
Yoshihiro Satoh MD
Mageswari Sangaralingam
Marie-Lou Roux
George Cheng
Herlin Hsieh
Dr C Vyvyan Howard MB ChB PhD FRCPath.
Paul Connett PhD
Roger D Masters PhD
Robert J Carton PhD (Environmental Science)
Russell L Blaylock MD
Vinod Barot MSc PhD DIS (India)
W Robert Heterick AB MSc PhD (Clinical Psychology)
David Kennedy DDS
Mae Woo DDS
Samuel E Epstein MD
Christopher Bryson
Firuzeh Mahmoudi MSc MPA (Environmental)
Bruce Randall
Jeanine Trevillyan MD
Tony Tweedale MS(Environmental Studies)
Dr Neil Carman BS (Plant Biology), MS(Plant Biology), PhD(Phytochemistry)
Raymond R White PhD(Stanford Biological Sciences 1973)
Susan Augustoni
Phillip M Allen MD PhD & June Allen MEd
Michael F Dolan PhD
Albert W Burgstahler PhD
Endorsed by:
Dr John Ryan
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