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Over 1300 additional professionals signed onto the Fluoride Action Network's (FAN) statement calling for an end to fluoridation as more evidence emerges to condemn fluoridation.
Now over 1,860 professionals urge Congress to stop water fluoridation and hold Congressional hearings, citing scientific evidence that fluoridation, long promoted to fight tooth decay, is ineffective and has serious health risks.
Since the first FAN August 2007 statement, the following has occurred:
• The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Canada’s leading voice on environmental health issues, released a statement opposing fluoridation.
• The National Kidney Foundation dropped its fluoridation support replacing it with this caution: “Individuals with CKD [Chronic Kidney Disease] should be notified of the potential risk of fluoride exposure.”
• Researchers reporting in the Oct 6 2007 British Medical Journal indicate that fluoridation never was proven safe or effective and may be unethical.
• A qualitative review of studies found a consistent and strong association between the exposure to fluoride and low IQ, conclude Tang el al., in "Fluoride and Children’s Intelligence: A Meta-analysis” in Biological Trace Element Research (e-published 8/10/08)
• Scientific American editors wrote in January 2008, "Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland"
• Dr. A. K. Susheela, a leading fluoride expert, explains in a video why US physicians overlook fluoride as a possible cause of diseases commonly caused by fluoride. The video is available on YouTube.
• An expert panel Health Canada commissioned to study the risks of fluoride exposure says the government should cut the recommended amount in drinking water, encourage the use of low-fluoride toothpaste by children and have makers of infant formula reduce levels in their products. The panel recommended reduced fluoride exposure because it was worried children might be getting too much of the chemical.
Signers to the FAN statement include:
• Dr. Arvid Carlsson,winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Medicine;
• Vyvyan Howard, MD, PhD, President, International Society of Doctors for the Environment;
• Ken Cook and Richard Wiles, Environmental Working Group;
• Lois Gibbs, Center for Health, Environment, and Justice;
• Joseph Mercola, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, who runs the #1 most visited natural health website;
• Theo Colborn, PhD, co-author, “Our Stolen Future”;
• Sam Epstein, MD, Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition;
• The current and six past Presidents of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology;
• Board of Directors (2007), American Academy of Environmental Medicine.
• FIVE Goldman Prize winners - given for excellence in protecting the environment
• Three members of the prestigious 2006 National Research Council (NRC) panel that reported on fluoride’s toxicology
• Three officers in the Union representing professionals at EPA headquarters
• Hundreds of medical, dental, academic, scientific and environmental professionals, worldwide.
Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Arvid Carlsson says, “Fluoridation is against all principles of modern pharmacology. It's really obsolete.”
An Online Action Petition to Congress in support of the Professionals' Statement is available on FAN's web site, and over 15,000 individuals have signed so far.
“The NRC fluoride report dramatically changed scientific understanding of fluoride's health risks," says Paul Connett, PhD, FAN’s Executive Director. "Government officials who continue to promote fluoridation must testify under oath as to why they are ignoring the powerful evidence of harm in the NRC report,” he added.
The Professionals’ Statement also references:
• The new American Dental Association policy recommending infant formula NOT be prepared with fluoridated water.
• The CDC’s concession that the predominant benefit of fluoride is topical not systemic.
• CDC data showing that dental fluorosis, caused by fluoride over-exposure, now impacts one third of American children.
• Major research indicating little difference in decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities.
• A Harvard study indicating a possible link between fluoridation and bone cancer.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a DC watchdog, revealed that a Harvard professor concealed the fluoridation/bone cancer connection for three years. EWG President Ken Cook states, “It is time for the US to recognize that fluoridation has serious risks that far outweigh any minor benefits, and unlike many other environmental issues, it's as easy to end as turning off a valve at the water plant.”
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