December 12, 1997

November 27, 1997

The Methuan Board of Health voted against fluoridation last month. Worcester, Massachusetts voted to stop fluoridation late last year. Now, the Natick Board of Health has decided to ignore a non-binding referendum against fluoridation and will fluoridate anyway. John Chiros, a spokesman for Natick residents opposed to fluoridation, made this statement:

"The Natick board of selectmen's attempt to stop fluoridation failed and our water now comes complete with rat poison. Many of us are now on bottled water but will continue to fight this thing. Some of us are now holding Saturday morning 1/2 hour vigils in front of the town hall until the fluoridation stops or town meeting convenes. We expect to go to town meeting in January to try to get them to pursue a new binding referendum next year."

The Boston Globe published an editorial on November 26, 1997 lauding the decision to fluoridate in Natick. I really must say, it was a real mudslinger with negligent, pseudoscientific statements for fanning the flames of fluoridation mania.

November 7, 1997

Methuen, Massachusetts voted against fluoridation in a non-binding referendum on Nov. 4,1997. The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune reported on Nov. 5 that the vote was 4159 against, to 3765 for. Unfortunately, this was a non-binding vote . Activists in Methuen did not pursue the signatures necessary to make the vote binding because the Board of Health there made a gentlemen's agreement to abide by the vote. That board now appears to be backing away from it's agreement with some nonsense about a low turnout.

In Natick, Massachusetts, the fight to rescind a 1988 vote for fluoridation which was not yet implemented, has heated up. This spring the town voted against fluoridation in a non-binding referendum. In October,1997 the fluoridation study committee appointed by the Board of Selectmen, unanimously and emphatically recommended that the town should not fluoridate it's water supply. The Natick Board of Health has rejected these recent developments and indicated that they intend to go ahead with fluoridation. The Natick Board of Selectmen's subsequent attempt to resolve the matter using mediation failed, and they have now announced that they will pursue an injunction to prevent fluoridation until relief through legislation can be sought through town meeting and the state legislature.

The National Academy of Sciences held a conference in Washington, D.C. on September 23 to promote the publication of their new book, Dietary Reference Intakes: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride. Here are some highlights of the panel discussion as reported by Health Wire.

In this workshop which was open to the public, Dr. Paul Connett, professor of chemistry at St. Lawrence University at Canton, N.Y. and an international expert on dioxin risk assessment pointed out that the NAS review perpetuates a simple arithmetic error made by Dr. Harold Hodge. The error was published in the 1940's in support of the safety of fluoridation. Even after Dr. Hodge corrected the error in 1979, the correction is still being deliberately ignored by the NAS. Dr. Connett said that one does not have to be a rocket scientist to see the error in converting milligrams to pounds. Dr. Herschel Horowitz, representing the ADA, interrupted Connett to insist that fluoride is not a cumulative poison. Dr. J. William Hirzy, senior vice president of NFFE Local 2050 answered Horowitz's "outburst" by pointing out that the NAS review cites scientific evidence that 50 percent of ingested fluoride goes to the bones and tissues and refers to chronic fluoride poisoning of cryolite workers who did not become sick until after prolonged exposure.

In a heated exchange, Dr. Hirzy questioned the panel to try to get them to admit that claiming fluoride is a "beneficial element" implies it is an essential nutrient, which it is not. Dr. Vernon Young, chairman of the standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, denied that the NAS document was trying to establish fluoride as an essential nutrient.

The panel's answer to many of the questions from Dr. Paul Connett was "I don't know." Panelist Cuberto Garza, chair of the Food and Nutrition Board, insinuated that the reason Dr. Connett was having the sessions videotaped, was for personal profit. Dr. Connett told the panel that citizens in Washington, California , Pennsylvania and other states concerned about mandatory fluoridation laws had a right to be informed and questioned why the panel would be afraid of public disclosure. Dr. Connett demanded an apology from Dr. Garza and received one.

The free videotape of the proceedings is available to the media upon request by calling 800/728-3833. A copy of the NFFE statement is also available by calling Dr. Hirzy at 202/260-4683, or writing c/o NFFE Local 2050, Mail Code UN-200, USEPA, 401 M Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.

Today was the last day for turning in petitions for the California Safe Drinking Water Initiative. Dr. David Kennedy, D.D.S., leader of the petition drive, says, "Doesn't look like we are going to qualify. I wonder if there are any others out there who consider that a major trajedy? We will clearly poison our children's future. The only thing we can do about it is to buy water purification equipment that will reduce our dose by 50%."

On May 5, 1997, a wrongful death suit was filed in Cambridge, Massachusetts against the sellers, manufacturers of, and the doctor who prescribed a drug combination commonly known as fen-phen. The suit arose because an over weight lady who wanted to fit into her wedding dress used these diet pills until she died of the side effect of primary pulmonary hypertension. Although each of these fluorine-containing drugs had been approved, the combination had never been approved by the FDA.

Fen refers to fenfluramine. The brand name is Pondimin. Phen refers to phenterdine. In June, 1997, the Mayo Clinic reported heart-valve damage from fen-phen. The FDA ordered warning labels for these products in late August, 1997. On September 3, 1997, Nutri-System, a company that offers weight loss programs, announced it will drop fen-phen. Nutri-System will use phenterdine and Prozac in the weight loss programs. Now it's "fen-pro." Prozac also contains fluorine. Another diet drug that was recently found to have a potential for causing heart-valve damage is dexfenfluramine. The trade name of this diet pill is Redux. Redux was the first diet pill approved by the FDA in 20 years, but now will carry a warning on the label about the possible heart-valve damage. The FDA defends its 1996 decision to approve Redux even though it now requires the warning.

People use diet pills and read diet books because they want instant gratification, says Kathleen Doheny, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The diet clinic at UCLA remains full of people who don't care about the risk of diet pills. An attorney who used diet pills for a year said, "It lowers my anxiety level to the point that I'm not as productive. I don't get my work out as promptly and I am not as mentally quick." He continues to use diet pills, anyway. A massage therapist said, "I had jittery hands, cold hands and feet, sweaty hands for no reason. I was moody and depressed. I had a fast heart rate and headaches." The massage therapist quit using diet pills. Dr. Morton H. Maxwell, at the UCLA diet clinic, says careful selection of patients is the key to success.

Information for this article came from the Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1996, pp. E1+, May 8, 1997, pp. E1+, the New York Times, September 4, 1997, p. D8 (L), and the Wall Street Journal, August 28, 1997, pp. B1+.

Irene Sieberling Harrison was born in 1890. Her father was F. A. Sieberling, founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The Sieberling family has lived in the Akron, Ohio area since 1810. She has always refused to drink fluoridated water. "If I did, I'd be dead," she always used to say. She celebrated her 107th birthday this year. In 1968, there was campaigning for and against a measure to fluoridate the city's water in Akron. Mrs. Harrison opposed the fluoridation measure. Someone put a pro-fluoridation bumper sticker on her car and it was there for a week before she noticed it. She was not thrilled. Her daughter reports that Mrs. Harrison kept a lot of papers about fluoridation in the attic. She saved everything -- except that bumper sticker.

Part of the information in this article came from the The Akron Beacon Journal, February 2, 1997, pp. G1+.

The prevalence of dental fluorosis has continued to increase in the United States and Canada and other industialized countries. Part of the cause may be the hidden sources of fluoride in foods. Researchers at the University of Iowa analyzed 238 commercially available infant foods. The fluoride concentration ranged from 0.01 to 8.38 micrograms per gram. Micrograms per gram is equivalent to parts per million in water. Some manufacturers process foods at various locations where the water may be fluoridated or unfluoridated. The consumer has no reliable way of choosing or avoiding fluoridated brands. Chicken was significantly higher in fluoride content. This is attributed to the mechanical deboning procedure which allows small fragments of bone to get into the chicken product. Dry cereals are another significant source of fluoride when reconstituted with fluoridated water. Food is one of several sources of fluoride intake, along with toothpaste, dietary supplements and fluoridated water. The total amount of fluoride per day is a better measure of fluoride intake than the concentration of fluoride in these sources, but is not easy to assess. This research was published in the July, 1997 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. The authors stated their belief that allowing enough fluoride in food to cause dental fluorosis is a good idea. No mention was made of the class action law suit which was filed in the United Kingdom last year against tooth paste companies by more than 200 people who have dental fluorosis from using too much fluoride toothpaste.

Fluoridation of public water supplies has been promoted for over fifty years. During the last twelve years, the bottled water market has continued to boom. Americans drink almost 3 billion gallons of water a year. About twenty of the more than 500 brands of bottled water contain fluoride. The Lawrence, Kansas Journal-World, July 15, 1997, pp. 1A, 3A, reports that an ardent pro-fluoridationist, Michael Easley, is concerned about this trend. Mr. Easley says, "I'm concerned about people who are relying on bottled water. They're not getting enough fluoride and may not realize they're depriving their children, who will pay the price their entire lives." One might inquire into what drives people to use bottled water for cooking and drinking. Do harmful effects of additives such as hydrofluosilicic acid and sodium hydroxide contribute to the growing aversion for tap water? For those who feel they must swish with fluoride, now they can use bottled water with fluoride and spare the rest of us.