"Nutters"

It is customary for the proponents of water fluoridation to denigrate people opposing this practice. In Queensland a politician and also the president of the Australian Dental Association for 2006 called them "nutters."

In the US this attitude did not escape an eminent lawyer: 'prior to my hearing this case, I gave the matter of fluoridation little if any thought but I received quite an education, and noted that the proponents of fluoridation do nothing more than try to impugn the objectivity of those who oppose fluoridation.' Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J.P. Flaherty.

In his excellent book Fluoride - Drinking ourselves to death? Barry Groves collected a number of these so called nutters under Appendix A. Here are they:

John Colquhoun, BDS, Mphil, PhD, DipEd. He was a principal dental officer at Auckland in New Zealand; Department of Education, University of Auckland:

'When the socioeconomic variable is allowed for, child dental health appears to be better in the un-fluoridated areas.'

David C. Kennedy, DDS. Professor and past president, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology:

'During the Fountain Congressional hearings of 1977, the NCI admitted that they had relied upon no scientific data whatsoever when they claimed 25 years earlier that fluoride would be safe to add to the community water supplies.'

Hardy Limeback, DDS, PhD. Professor of preventive dentistry, University of Toronto:

'Children under three should never use fluoridated toothpaste or drink fluoridated water. And baby formula must never be made up using (fluoridated) Toronto tap water. Never.'

'Water fluoridation had actually contributed to the birth of the multimillion dollar cosmetic dentistry industry. In Canada we are now spending more money treating dental fluorosis than we do treating cavities. That includes my own practice.'

Tohru Murakami, DDS, PhD. Vice-president, Japanese Society for Fluoride Research, Japan:

'I just shudder to think how many cases of fluoride poisoning have been covered up by false science.'

Philip R.N. Sutton, DDSc, FRACDS was a senior lecturer in dental science, University of Melbourne:

'The scientific basis of fluoridation is very unsatisfactory. It is promoted, in the main, by emotion-based 'endorsements' rather than by scientifically acceptable evidence.'

Dean Burk, PhD was senior chemist and director Cyto-chemistry Section, National Cancer Institute:

'Fluoride causes more human cancer deaths, and causes it faster, than any other chemical.'

Paul Connett, PhD. Professor Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology:

'The argument for fluoridating the public's water supply - the reduction of dental caries for children under the age of twelve (hardly life-threatening) - is hugely outweighed by the many potential health hazards, some of which are extremely serious indeed.'

Mark Diesendorf, BSc, PhD. Director, Institute for sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia:

'A review of recent scientific literature reveals a consistent pattern of evidence - hip fractures, skeletal fluorosis, the effect of fluoride on bone structure, fluoride levels in bones and osteosarcoma (bone cancer) - pointing to the existence of causal mechanisms by which fluoride damages bones.'

George Erickson, RS, CHO. Director Public Health, Wilmington, Massachusetts:

'This pattern of a higher crude death rate in the cities with fluoridated water supplies was apparent for all categories of death except for those by accidental means and suicide.'

Benedict J. Gallo, PhD (Botany). Research microbiologist, US Army Research, Development and Engineering Centre, former teaching fellow and research associate, University of Michigan:

'A recent epidemiological study shows a correlation between decreasing annual fertility rate in humans and increasing levels of fluoride in drinking water.'

Ludwig Gross, MD (Physician). Former Chief Veterans' Administration Cancer Research, New York:

'The plain fact that fluorine is an insidious poison, harmful, toxic and cumulative in its effects, even when ingested in minimal amounts, will remain unchanged no matter how many times it will be repeated in print that fluoridation of the water supply is "safe."'

Charles Gordon Heyd, MD (Physician). Past President American Medical Association:

'I am appalled at the prospect of using water as a vehicle for drugs. Fluoride is a corrosive poison that will produce serious effects on a long range basis. Any attempt to use water this way is deplorable.'

David R. Hill, PEng. Professor emeritus, Psychology Department, University of Calgary, Canada:

'Studies in mainstream peer-reviewed medical journals and government reports now document the fact that serious harms are associated with exposure to small amounts of fluoride - including hip fracture, cancer, and intellectual impairment. There is evidence that both individual and institutional fluoride promoters have stacked the deck, manipulated experimental results, suppressed evidence that spoke against their view, and victimised or smeared those who spoke against them.'

J William Hirzy, PhD (Chemistry and Risk Assessment). EPA scientist and senior vice-president, National Federation of Federal Employees:

Historically, fluoridation is mandated by government and rejected by citizens. Communities all over the US are currently fighting for their right to choose. Japan and nearly all of Europe have rejected fluoridation.'

Robert L Isaacson, PhD (Neuro-behavioural Science). Professor epartment Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY:

'The formation of sound, decay-resistant and caries-free teeth as well as strong, sturdy bones, whether in animal or human populations, does not require fluoride, or at least not in more than minuscule, trace amounts.'

Donald Kennedy. Scientist, Stanford University. Former Commissioner Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

'Many of the statements in the CR report on fluoridation are directly contradicted by readily available scientific research. Rather than weigh all new evidence as it appears, in a constant and critical reevaluation of the advisability of fluoridation, the promoting agencies - most notably the US public health service and the American Dental Association - have chosen to ignore any research that does not support their claims.'

Harold D. Kletschka, MD, FACS (Cardiovascular surgeon). Past military consultant in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery to the US Air Force surgeon-general and the surgeon of Headquarters Command, USAF Cardiovascular Research Centre:

'The fact that fluoride is incorporated into the mineral matrix of bones and teeth does not make it an essential nutrient. Other elements hardly considered essential, such as lead and cadmium, also accumulate in bones and teeth, and they are not regarded as beneficial. Obviously, if fluoride is not essential in human nutrition, any consideration of it in terms of an 'adequate intake' is clearly not appropriate and should not be part of a dietary reference intake report.'

John R. Lee, MD (Physician), Sebastopol, California:

'No study in the past three decades has demonstrated any significant dental benefit from fluoridation. The older historical studies, on which claims of dental benefit are based, are so seriously flawed that most independent researchers conclude they should be ignored. In fact recent studies, here and abroad, show that fluoridation is correlated with higher caries rates, rather than lower ones.'

Gene W. Miller, PhD (Biochemistry and Toxicology). Former head of biology, associate dean of science and dean of environmental science, Utah State University:

'It was found that among the environmental pollutants, fluoride was the most damaging.'

Paul H. Phillips, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin:

'Fluorine is known to be an enzymatic inhibitor which interferes with the metabolism of the breakdown of glucose, between the 6-carbon and 3-carbon compounds. The metabolism of glucose or its breakdown is our primary source of energy for maintaining life and doing useful work.'

J.J. Rae, PhD (Biochemist). Associate professor of chemistry, University of Toronto:

'It is known as a scientific fact that fluoride is a deadly poison to enzymes, upon which all life depends.

Doug D Styne, MD (Physician) Department of Pharmacology, University of Pretoria, South Africa: 'Long-continued ingestion of minute quantities of fluorine causes disease of the thyroid gland.'

Hugo Theorell, MD (physician). Nobel Prize winner for his research in enzyme chemistry:

'The fluoride ion exerts its toxic effect by inhibiting the action of enzyme systems.'

John Yiamouyiannis, PhD (biochemistry) A world authority on the biological effects of fluoride:

In the United States fluoridation accounts for more than 30,000 deaths a year, of which 10,000 are due to cancer, and it accounts for chronic effects in the majority of the US population.'

And here are the super-nutters, the tigers of the scientific world, yes, Nobel Prize winners also opposed to fluoridation. The book gave only a listing:

Adolf Butenandt (chemistry, 1939)

Arvid Carlsson (medicine/physiology, 2000)

Hans von Euler-Chelpin (chemistry, 1929)

Walter Rudolf Hess (medicine, 1949)

Corneille Jean-Francois Heymans (medicine, 1938)

Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (chemistry, 1956)

Joshua Lederberg (medicine, 1958)

William P. Murphy (medicine, 1934)

Giulio Natta (chemistry, 1947)

Sir Robert Robinson (chemistry, 1947)

Nikolai Semenov (chemistry, 1956)

James B. Sumner (chemistry, 1946)

Artturi Vitanen (chemistry, 1945)

Under the heading Water Fluoridation 'Obsolete' you find on the Internet an interview with Dr Arvid Carlsson, the Nobel Prize winner for medicine of 2000. Go to: http://www.fluoridealert.org/carlsson-interview.html

Carlsson: In modern pharmacology it's so clear that even if you have a fixed dose of a drug, the individuals respond very differently to one and the same dose. Now in this case, you have it in the water supply and people are drinking different amounts of water. So, you have huge variations in the consumption of this drug. It's against all modern principles of pharmacology. It's so obsolete, I don't think anybody in Sweden, not a single dentist would bring up this question anymore.'

'Fluorine has a protective action against caries, but this is a local effect (topical, at the surface of teeth). If you drink it, you are running the risk of all kinds of toxic actions. And of course there are such actions. You have mottled teeth, which is not a small thing…There is no need, really, to go any further into all these other toxicity problems because I think mottled teeth is enough. This is something you shouldn't expose citizens to.'

As a wag wrote to The Courier-Mail: 'swallowing fluoride to protect your teeth, is as useful as drinking sunscreen to protect your skin.'

So…who are the real nutters?

US organizations that have withdrawn their support for fluoridation since 1990:

American Academy of Allergy and immunology

American Academy of Diabetes

American Cancer Society

American Chiropractic Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Diabetes Association

American Nurses Association

American Parent/Teachers Association

American Psychiatric Association

Child Study Association of America

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Activation Network

Commission on Chronic Illness

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Joint Committee on Health problems in Education

National Kidney Foundation

National Institute of Municipal Law Officers

Society of Toxicology

Source: Fluoride - Drinking ourselves to Death? Newleaf 2001, by Barry A. Groves, p. 114

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