FAN CAMPAIGN BULLETIN #87: British newspaper warns of fluoride's dangers.

THE FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK
www.fluoridealert.org
July 19, 2004

Dear All,

Well at least one British newspaper - yesterday's Sunday Express -has taken seriously the warnings of fluoride's possible dangers to the baby's developing brain. The Sunday Express printed both an article - Fluoride alert for children - and an editorial -Don't toy with fluoride- on the matter (see below).

It has been my firm believe for a number of years that the number one argument that destroys any notion that fluoride is necessary for good teeth (or anything else for that matter) is the very low level of fluoride in mothers' milk. The average level is between 0.005 to 0.01 ppm in breast milk, which is up to 200 times lower than that added to water in fluoridation programs. If fluoride was needed for healthy teeth why would nature have been so incompetent as to have virtually excluded it from baby's first meal?

But a more important question is: how much damage are we doing to the delicate machinery of a child's developing brain by bottle feeding with fluoridated tap water? This was one of the key concerns given by Dr. Arvid Carlsson (Nobel Laureate for medicine in 2000) when he led the successful campaign against fluoridation in Sweden in the 1970's. It is also one of the arguments used by Dr. Vyvyan Howard, a fetal and infant pathologist from the University of Liverpool, who was interviewed in the Sunday Express article.

Who in their right minds would take the risk of damaging the brains of children in an effort to protect their teeth? Please email the Sunday Express and thank them for speaking up on this issue, their email address: .

Paul Connett

Sunday Express
July 18, 2004
Fluoride alert for children

EXCLUSIVE
By Lucy Johnston
Health Editor

'The problems far outweigh the possible benefits to their teeth'

TAP water could be lowering children's intelligence, leading experts have warned.

Top doctors claim fluqride in drinking water can interfere with a child's brain function. They believe this can lower IQ levels and lead to behavioural problems.

Last night Dr Vyvian Howard, an expert in chemicals and infant health at Liverpool University, told of his concern. He said: "Babies are on a wet diet for the first four months. If they drink infant formula they get fluoride through tap water, which is toxic and can affect brain development.

"We know mothers screen out fluoride, preventing it from getting into breast milk. This is a natural evolutionary process to protect them. Fluoride is not safe for babies."

Ten per cent of the country has fluoridated tap water to keep teeth healthy and the Government plans to extend coverage under a new act now passing through Parliament. Fluoride is also added to toothpaste and is found in tealeaves, fertilisers, pesticides and air pollution. Doctors think there are so many sources that children could also be overdosing.

Dr Peter Mansfield, a GP and director of the Good Health Keeping service at Louth, Lincolnshire, studied more than 100 children with behavioural problems.

He discovered those with high levels of fluoride in their bodies were more likely to have developmental and behavioural problems.

Once the fluoride was taken out of their diet they got better.

He said: "This is very worrying. Fluoride is toxic and could cause mental problems. It could be that thousands of children are underperforming as a result. We had children we thought were affected by fluoride. In some cases they were hyperactive, lacked concentration and were unhappy all the time.

"We tested them and quite clearly demonstrated that fluoride was causing their problems. "The trouble fluoridated water is causing far outweighs the possible benefits to children's teeth. Nothing like enough work has been done on this and no one is checking - it's very worrying." His findings are borne out by a Unicef-backed study of 769 schoolchildren in China. It found those with mental retardation or low IQ levels had excess fluoride in their systems.

The study concluded that the chemical makes mental health problems worse by interfering with the cen-tral nervous system. Another study carried out in America found that rats behave like hyperactive children when given a comparable amount of fluoride.

Some experts including Dr Howard also fear fluoride is fuelling rising obesity levels. They think it interferes with the body's hormone balance, especially the thyroid gland, which controls weight gain.

Medical author Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield said: "Fluoride disrupts the hormones that control the thyroid gland. This causes an underactive thyroid which leads to obesity, tiredness and depression."

And Dr Howard said: "Fluoride was once used as a medicine to treat thyroid overactivity."

OPINION: PAGE 22
SUNDAY EXPRESS
OPINION

Don't toy with fluoride

OUR Government has the best of motives in wanting to extend the fluoridisation of our water supply. But it is embarking on a risky experiment which, as we report today, some believe could lower children's intelligence, lead to behavioural problems and cause health problems in adults.

Our modern sugary diet is not only making our children obese, it is also rotting their teeth. Toddlers as young as two have teeth removed. One hospital in Sheffield extracts all the milk teeth from a child once a week on average. In Glasgow, 2,000 children aged under five have extractions each year.

It is an uphill struggle to persuade people to change their family's diets. Therefore, the Government reasons that the best way to strengthen children's teeth is to add fluoride to water which everyone drinks.

But some experts claim the benefits of fluoride are negligible or non-existent. Others worry that fluoride has dangers which outweigh any benefits, particularly in babies with underdeveloped systems.

The Government must not embark on what amounts to mass medication of the population without exhaustive studies that are carried out to the highest scientific standards over a long period.

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