DECEMBER 14, 2012

DECEMBER BULLETIN #14

Dear Readers:

In this bulletin we hear from Merilyn Haines, FAN-Australia, who explains the background to the exciting news that the Queensland government has lifted its mandatory requirement that every town be fluoridated. It is now up to each community to decide. This news – and the news that certain MPs are calling for a ban on fluoridation altogether- has led to a furor in the media. Some of the editorials have been every bit as nasty and ill-informed as those we have seen recently in the US in other communities that have stopped fluoridation (see list and links below). But first here is an update on our fundraiser.

FAN’s 2012 Fundraiser

Yesterday we fairly quickly saw the mini-goal of $538 reached from12 donors, which exhausted the challenge grants, which have doubled every donation, for the last $11,000 raised. Thus from these donations we must add $1,076 to the total. Since that point we have added another $414 from another 6 donors, bringing our grand overall total to $39,856 from 175 donors. This is incredibly good after just 13 days As far as the money goal is concerned we are well on track to reach $100,000 by midnight Dec 31. However, right now we are far, far short of our other goal of reaching 1000 donors. So our eventual success will hinge upon two things 1) continuing to attract very big donations and 2) encouraging far more people to make smaller contributions.

Don’t forget that:

1) Every donor of $10 or more will receive a free copy of the DVDProfessional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation.

2) When we reach the 200-donor milestone we will receive an extra donation of $500 from one of our very generous benefactors. 

3) The person who is actually the 200^th donor will receive a free FAN coffee cup ( right now the figure is 175).

If you would like to make a donation you can either use the donation feature on our website (details) or send a check made out to FAN to 104 Walnut Street, Binghamton, NY 13905.

For a list of premiums with pictures click here.

Merilyn Haines’ report from Australia: Cleaning up after the perfect storm of forced fluoridation in Queensland.

Mandatory fluoridation in Queensland has just ended, almost 5 years to the day the previous (and unelected) Qld Labor Premier Anna Bligh announced her decision to force fluoridation on 4 million Queenslanders.

The new LNP government on the 29^th Nov overturned the mandatory requirement allowing Queensland Councils to make decisions whether to start, continue or cease fluoridation.  Immediately some Qld Councils have said that they will not be fluoridating the towns in their jurisdiction.  Several other Qld councils have indicated that they may cease.  The larger councils in SE Qld with interconnected water supplies will be looking at the issues involved in the New Year.

Activists for safe drinking water (i.e. no fluoride) will have their work ahead of them cleaning up after the fluoride storm, working to get all of Queensland de – fluoridated, but it is now possible and do-able.

It is interesting to look back and note the planned steps that took place for forced fluoridation to have occurred. Firstly the Qld govt bought Qld council water supplies at a rock bottom price. The Qld govt   then built a water grid for drought proofing that interconnected most of the water supplies in SE Qld, over half of the state’s population.

In 2006, behind the scenes, the Queensland Dental Association asked the Qld govt for $200, 000 to help the Dental Association promote fluoridation and “counter the antis.” The then Qld Health Minister gave the Qld Dental Assn the $200,000 with no strings attached.  Over the next 2 years, the Qld Dental Assn collected 25,000 signatures on a non-conforming pro-fluoridation petition and presented it to the Qld govt. Premier Bligh then used this petition as ammunition and justification for her decision to force fluoridation on the whole state. 

In early 2007, the Qld Medical Assn wrote to the Qld govt saying that the govt MUST mandate fluoridation on the whole state and to use the water grid as an opportunity to do this. Premier Bligh then used the “endorsements” from the Queensland Medical and Dental Associations to justify forced fluoridation.

When Premier Bligh announced her forced fluoridation decision in late 2007, documents show that she based her decision on a study published in 1996 comparing child tooth decay in Townsville (the only large fluoridated town in Qld) to the unfluoridated capital Brisbane.¹The Qld govt portrayed that there was 65% less tooth decay in Townsville children. However, this study showed for permanent teeth in children aged 6 to 12 years old there was an average difference of only 0.23 less decayed tooth surfaces in Townsville children compared to Brisbane children. The Townsville children had a lifetime exposure of fluoridated water compared to no exposure for Brisbane children.

The Townsville Brisbane study had measured tooth decay in tooth surfaces (a more sensitive method) rather than number of teeth with decay. Each tooth has either 4 or 5 surfaces, when a child has 28 teeth, they have 128 tooth surfaces. It was discovered that dentally trained staff in Qld Health had portrayed that the difference was the number of decayed teeth, when it was really a difference of tooth surfaces. This was similar to saying that 100 kilojoules is the same as 100 calories, or that 100 km per hour is the same as 100 miles per hour.  By doing this they mis-portrayed and exaggerated any difference in tooth decay.  This was tantamount to fraud.

Premier Bligh ignored data from the then most recently published Australian surveys showing that children from two heavily fluoridated states had more, or similar decay in their permanent teeth than did children from non- fluoridated Qld. Premier Bligh also ignored data from the then current, and 2 previous, Qld children’s dental surveys showing that children from fluoridated Townsville had more tooth decay in their permanent teeth (the teeth they have for life ) than several large non-fluoridated Qld Health Districts. Later we discovered that data from the second national Australian adult oral health survey²showed that was no difference in tooth decay between adults in the heavily fluoridated Australian states and unfluoridated Qld, even though these states had been fluoridated for 40 or more years.

The Qld govt in 2007 and 2008 conducted a massive advertising campaign that Queensland had the worst tooth decay in Australia and that fluoridation was proven safe.  Those actions affirmed the ploy that “if you tell a lie big enough and often enough, that people will believe it.”

When Premier Bligh was booted out of office earlier this year she left Qld in a dire financial situation. The Qld Labor Party now only has 7 MPs left.  Forced fluoridation was just one of Premier Bligh’s bigger mistakes. Now we are left with the mess. 

We are very pleased that the new Qld govt has now taken the first huge step and has overturned mandatory fluoridation in Queensland. The change would not have occurred without 3 core LNP MPs (led by Jason Woodforth, who is now being viciously attacked in the media) and 29 more of their MP colleagues who successfully lobbied the new Premier and Health Minister to end mandatory fluoridation. There will now be interesting times ahead in Queensland.  Watch this space.

(1)Caries experience among children in fluoridated Townsville and unfluoridated Brisbane. Slade GD. Spencer AJ, Davies MJ, Stewart JF. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 1996 vol 20  No 6

(2) State and Territory reports of the AIHW National Adult Oral Health Survey 2004- 2006 (Australia )

Merilyn Haines on behalf of FAN-Australia and Queenslanders For Safe Water, Air and Food Inc., Email info@qawf.org

Paul Connett adds:

Within a few days of penning this summary, the media – both local and national -went crazy, see the list and links to a sampling below. However, there was one ray of hope from the media. A local radio host in Brisbane (Greg Cary) is making sure that both sides are being heard. Both Dr. Andrew Wong, former head of the Queensland branch of the Australian Dental Association and myself have been interviewed on his program (4BC Mornings) over the last few days. Here are the links to both these broadcasts.

4BC Mornings: Dr Paul Connett, Former Professor of Chemistry at St Lawrence University, New York, Director of The Fluoride Action network (USA) and Co Author of "The Case against Fluoride" tells Greg Cary why fluoride isn't safe to use in water anywhere in the world and why it shouldn't be in our water.

http://www.4bc.com.au/blogs/4bc-blog/fluoride-the-facts/20121211-2b6zv.html#.UMmKUaw8rOM

4BC Mornings: Immediate Past President of the Australian Dental Association, Queensland Branch, and practising dentist, Dr Andrew Wong, joins Greg Cary with the facts on Fluoride. Listen now and join the conversation. 

http://www.4bc.com.au/blogs/4bc-blog/fluoride-the-facts/20121211-2b6zv.html#.UMernaw8rOM

 If either of those links give you trouble you can just go to   http://www.4bc.com.au/Mornings and then click on the Fluoride: the facts heading.

Some excerpts from a selection of poorly informed but often nasty editorials and articles

Courier Mail editorial – Leave fluoride in our water supply

QUOTE, QUEENSLAND dragged itself into the latter half of the 20th century with its decision three years ago to introduce fluoride to the water supply.

Any proposal to reverse it should be quickly slapped down by the State Government. The link between fluoride and good dental health is clear and is only debated by those at the very fringes of the health debate where facts are illuminated only by moonlight.

Courier Mail - Diluted diatribe about fluoride is short on facts (Paul Syvret editorial)

QUOTE, (Paul Sylvert)… The member for Nudgee, Jason Woodforth, recently told Parliament he would not rest until this mind-bending poison was removed from our drinking water.

 "Fluoride depletes iodine in the body, causing hyperthyroidism and immune deficiency. This is a scientific fact. It is a toxic waste  yet another fact. It is transported as a hazardous chemical. It is not natural at all. It comes from the toxic smoke stacks of industry. It is a neurotoxin  proven fact."

 Wow. Facts, more facts and proven facts. And a bonus tautology, but let's not be picky.

 Woodforth followed this up, after a minor storm erupted over his comments on the weekend, with an impassioned post on The Courier-Mail web site arguing among other things: "There is not one piece of scientific data to prove the effectiveness or safety of Fluoride, not one!"

 (Thankfully he restricted the written equivalent of table thumping to exclamation marks and readers were spared the block capitals beloved of so many other fluoride opponents.)

 According to my interweb research  none of it peer reviewed I confess  apparently fluoride causes brain damage, infertility, thyroid problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, and can reduce regular water drinkers to a room temperature level IQ.

 No mention of piles or ingrown toenails, but I concede my research was not exhaustive.

 What sinister plot is behind this? Why would governments want to poison the populace with this chemical?

 Why would the Centre of Disease Control in the United States name fluoridated drinking water as one of the 10 most important medical advancements of the 20th century? And why would this propaganda be parroted by ostensibly reputable bodies such as the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Dental Association?...

 What next? Calls to ban chlorination of our drinking water so we can all return to boiling it before it's drinkable?

 Seriously, some of the pseudoscience surrounding the supposed dangers of fluoride is loopy; little more than quackery interwoven with conspiracy….

Courier Mail -Minister and former dentist John-Paul Langbroek tells backbencher Jason Woodforth to concentrate on his electorate 

QUOTE, Mr Langbroek yesterday suggested backbencher Jason Woodforth's time would be better spent shoring up his hold on the marginal electorate of Nudgee than publicly pushing his view that the use of fluoride was "mass medicating people" with a "brain-altering poison."

Sunshine Coast Daily -MP's crusade against fluoride in water ‘irresponsible' 

QUOTE, "Anybody, especially somebody in a prominent position such as a politician, arguing for this is arguing from a position of great ignorance and is highly irresponsible," Dr Herdy (Sunshine Coast Local Medical Association president, PC) said.

 "Fluoride has been in the water (around Australia) for decades and there is no evidence whatsoever of anybody coming to any harm.

ABC-TV-Fed Govt slams calls to ban fluoride in Queensland water 

QUOTE, TANYA PLIBERSEK (Federal Minister of Health): Look I think it’s Dr Google leading people astray again. You can find all sorts of nutty things on the internet about, you know, the harmful effects of this or that and people should be very, very careful what they believe when they’re reading it from these sorts of sources.

ABC Radio -- Queensland under fire over fluoridation 

QUOTE, ANDREW WONG: (former head of the Queensland branch of the Australian Dental Association). If you look at the overwhelming majority of scientific evidence that is evidence based, peer reviewed, of the highest quality, water fluoridation is safe and is effective.

Courier Mail - Queensland health minister Lawrence Springborg slams 'way-out' fluoride claims

QUOTE, Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has hit out claims about the supposed dangers of fluoride…“On the internet you can get all sorts of wild, weird and wacky information because anyone can be an author and publish things as fact on anything.''

The Conversation (a blog by Michael Vagg, Clinical Senior Lecturer at Deakin University School of Medicine & Pain Specialist at Barwon Health):

Note to MPs – stop buying into conspiracy theories about fluoride

QUOTE, The recent resurrection of the fluoride debate by a sitting LNP Member is just the latest example of pollies who alter reality to suit their particular brand of populism….

The problem for the cranks is that the science in favour of water fluoridation is very sound...

Mr Woodforth should wise up and learn some science instead of just googling conspiracy websites. Fluoride conspiracy theories are harder to kill than zombies, and just as brain-dead.