April 12, 2002

Tap water safe for use in babies' bottles

by Fionnuala Quinlan
Health Correspondent

PARENTS who prepare their babies' bottles with tap water are not putting their health at risk, according to a controversial report which Health Minister Michel Martin is due to receive today. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) report, which took more than a year to complete, contradicts the findings of the British Medical Association and has been described as a cover-up by anti-fluoridation campaigners.

Information received by Dr Don MacAuley of Fluoride Free Water under the Freedom of Information Act shows that in October 2001, the FSAI agreed infant formula should not be made with tap water.

A copy of the minutes of an FSAI meeting released under an FOI note say: "The scientific committee agrees that the precautionary principle should apply and recommends that infant formula should not be reconstituted with fluoridated tap water."

However, anti-fluoridation campaigners have questioned why the minutes of the same meeting which were posted on the FSAI website fail to mention the scientific committee's deliberation on fluoridation.

The copy on the FSAI website states that the FSAI believes infants under the age of four months are exposed to doses of fluoride above the recommended level, but simply concludes this should be discussed at a later meeting. The minutes do not mention the recommendation that babiesí bottles should not be made with tap water.

Dr MacAuley last night said: "It is a scandal, an absolute scandal. What happened is somebody said 'you can't say this (infant formula) should not be used or fluoridation will end.' It is now time for the Irish public to stand up and say 'enough is enough'. A Food Safety Authority recommendation, which has been buried, is not going to stop fluoridation. There is an election coming and only public pressure can stop fluoridation."

Newborns who are fed formula prepared with tap water are receiving three times the limit recommended by the British Medical Association, while a three-month old child receives up to six times the limit, Senator Avril Doyle recently warned.

Dr MacAuley said between 40% and 50% of teenagers he treats are suffering from dental fluorosis - tooth damage which has been linked to fluoridated drinking water. Of those, 90% were fed formula prepared with tap water.

FSAI deputy chief executive Alan Reilly dismissed Dr MacAuley's accusation of a cover-up and said he had mistakenly been sent a draft copy of the October meeting minutes, which were subsequently amended and published on the website.

However, FSAI records show the minutes of the October meeting were adopted without amendment.
Mr Reilly said their final report was due to go to the minister today with the recommendation parents continue to use tap water.

However, Senator Avril Doyle accused Minister Tom Moffatt of misleading the Seanad when he stated in February the FSAI was still considering the impact of fluoridation on infants' health.

"Not only should Minister Moffatt consider his position after having misled the Seanad but he must immediately instruct via the health boards the state agencies involved to communicate this advice to all parents, mothers-to-be and the maternity hospitals throughout the State," she said.

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 IrishHealth.com

July 14, 2003

Dentists criticise fluoridation findings

by Deborah Condon

A group of Irish dentists who oppose fluoridation have called for an investigation into why a report from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which contained concerns about allowing infants to drink fluoridated tap water, was 'buried'.

Speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health, Dr Don MacAuley, chairman of Irish Dentists Opposing Fluoridation (IDOF), said that the FSAI report would have signalled an end to fluoridation.
Dr MacAuley was presenting evidence of irregularities relating to the Forum on Fluoridation, which was set up in May 2000 by Health Minister, Micheal Martin, to examine the contentious issue of water fluoridation.

The forum's final report was published last September. It recommended that the fluoridation of piped water supplies should continue as a 'public health measure'. However it also recommended that levels of fluoride should be reduced, 'in light of both international and Irish research which shows that there is an increasing occurrence of dental fluorosis'.

Supporters of fluoridation insist that the practise is safe and that the dental health of residents of fluoridated communities is considerably better than that of residents living in non-fluoridated communities.

However opponents of fluoridation are concerned about 'mass medication', fluorosis (damage to the enamel of the teeth), dental cavities and other health risks they claim are linked to the practise.

Speaking at the Joint Committee, Dr MacAuley said that the FSAI submitted a risk assessment report to the forum in 2001 which concluded that bottle-feeding infants should not use tap water, as they could be overdosing on fluoride. However this report was not referred to in the forum's final report.

Dr MacAuley also expressed concern that the majority of members of the forum 'have a pro-fluoridation bias' and that the final report ignored the fact that levels of tooth decay remain low in many parts of Europe where fluoridation is not practised.

Following the meeting, the Green Party called for a further hearing on fluoridation to clarify why the FSAI report was not included in the forum's final report. Meanwhile Fine Gael said that the notion of a mandatory mass medication scheme is 'repellent and becomes frightening when one considers the dosage ingested by an individual is impossible to measure'.

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The Irish Times

July 11, 2003

Forum's recommendations on fluoridation not implemented

by Alison Healy

The Forum on Fluoridation has expressed disappointment at the Government's failure to implement its recommendations.

Almost a year ago, the forum issued its report recommending that the level of fluoride in water be reduced from between 0.8-1.0 ppm to between 0.6-0.8 ppm.

Yesterday, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children asked why the recommendations had not yet been implemented. Forum member Dr Joe Mullen said he was disappointed at this. Asked by the committee chairman, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, if this was a serious omission, Dr Mullen said it was certainly preferable that the measure be introduced.

Ms Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael spokeswoman on health, said it was surprising that the reduction in fluoride levels was not immediately implemented as it would save up to E1 million.

Last night, a Department of Health spokesman said an expert group was being set up to oversee the implementation of the recommendations, and to advise the Minister for Health on the issue.

Dr Don MacAuley, chairman of Irish Dentists Opposing Fluoridation, told the committee that the Forum on Fluoridation had failed.

He claimed that the majority of the forum's members were pro-fluoridation, that they had ignored the European experience and that they had "buried" a recommendation from the Food Safety Authority that infants not be fed formula made up with fluoridated tap water. He asked the committee to investigate this further.

Dr Wayne Anderson, chief food science specialist with the Food Safety Authority, said the recommendation had been withdrawn when members of the scientific committee had expressed concerns about the report.
Six out of 15 scientists missed the meeting that approved the report, and some of them queried the decision.

The Green Party chairman, Mr John Gormley, said that this was "a dramatic about-turn", and called for further hearings on the issue.

"This is clearly a pivotal matter, as even those who came before the committee admitted that had the initial report been approved, it would have meant the end of water fluoridation in Ireland," he said.

NOTE: To read about other instances of scientific suppression in the fluoride debate, see: www.fluoridealert.org/suppression.htm