Group to Protest at Fluoridation’s 60th Birthday Party in Chicago

Burlington, Vt. -- The Fluoride Action Network (FAN) will protest during the July 13th “Celebration of 60 Years of Community Water Fluoridation” ceremony held jointly by the American Dental Association (ADA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Chase Promenade South, (between Randolph and Monroe Streets) beginning at 10 am.

FAN members with signs, walking books and a singer will begin at 9:30 am.

Following the demonstration and ceremony, chemistry professor Paul Connett, PhD, FAN’s Executive Director, will appear at the Barnes & Noble DePaul Center (Corner of State and Jackson) at 1 pm to educate Chicagoans about the health dangers associated with their fluoridated water supply.

Dr. Connett will also discuss the new book, “The Fluoride Deception,” by Chris Bryson, exposing the politics, and conflict of interest, underlying the promotion of fluoridation.

William Hirzy, PhD, Environmental Protection Agency scientist and David Kennedy, DDS, Citizens for Safe Drinking Water, along with a representative of the newly-formed group, Chicago Citizens Against Fluoridation, will join Dr. Connett.

FAN will also protest the ADA’s and CDC’s three-day fluoridation strategy symposium at the ADA Headquarters, 211 East Chicago Avenue, from July 14 – 16 (starting at 8:30 am)

Ignoring fluoridation’s dangers the ADA/CDC presenters will coach attendees to initiate and retain fluoridation at the state and local levels throughout the United States. FAN members will greet symposium-goers with signs, posters and literature explaining fluoridation’s harm outside ADA Headquarters on July 14 and 15.

A May 19 request to CDC Director, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, to allow a FAN presentation of fluoridation’s hazards at this partially taxpayer-funded event, was ignored.

“Dentists should apologize for fluoridation; not celebrate it,” says Paul Connett, PhD, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network.

“If this was 1945, when fluoridation began, we could excuse the ignorance. But modern science clearly shows the risks far outweigh the benefits of fluoridation,” says Connett. “It is dangerous and absurd to continue force-feeding fluoride chemicals into every person in the country via their water supply,” says Connett.

The CDC concedes that fluoride’s intended decay-reducing benefit is from topical application, not from ingestion. “Thus,” says Connett, “ingesting fluoride makes as much sense as swallowing sunblock to prevent skin cancer.”

American children are fluoride-overdosed reports the Journal of the ADA, whether or not they live in fluoridated communities. (1) Dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow or brown permanently stained teeth - is the only visible sign of fluoride toxicity. However, published reports link fluoride to bone, kidney, thyroid, and brain damage.

In June, the Environmental Working Group called for a government inquiry into a Harvard scientist’s suppression of his student’s PhD thesis linking fluoride to higher rates of osteosarcoma, a frequently fatal bone cancer, in boys during early childhood. (2)

Impure and untested silicofluoride chemicals, waste products of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing, are used by over 91% of U.S. fluoridating communities. Recent research links fluoridation chemicals to children’s higher blood lead levels. (3a-c)

Fluoridation chemicals together with the newer water disinfectant, chloramine, have also been shown to leach lead from home plumbing systems. (4)

The Fluoride Action Network is an international coalition working to broaden public awareness about fluoride's impact on human health and the environment.

For more information, email: chicago@fluoridealert.org or call 802-355-0999 | 315-379-9200

References:

(1) “Prevalence and trends in enamel fluorosis in the United States from the 1930s to the 1980s,” J Am Dent Assoc., Feb. 2002 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(2) Environmental Working Group, “Harvard Fluoride Findings Misrepresented?,” accessed 7/4/05
http://www.ewg.org/issues/fluoride/20050627/index.php

(3) a) Masters R, et al. (2000). Association of silicofluoride treated water with elevated blood lead. Neurotoxicology 21(6): 1091-1099

b) Masters RD, Coplan M. (1999). Water treatment with Silicofluorides and Lead Toxicity. International Journal of Environmental Studies 56: 435-449

c) Myron J. Coplan and Roger Masters. 2001. "Guest Editorial: Silicofluorides and fluoridation," Fluoride Quarterly Journal of the Interantional Society for Fluoride Research, 34: 161-220

(4) The News & Observer, “Water treatment process called potential risk,” By JERRY ALLEGOOD
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/2417101p-8794959c.html