IN 1841, Charles McKay published the famous book Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds. He articulated many instances of seemingly irrational mass behaviour which overtook large sections of diverse populations down through the centuries. If he was writing today, he could add another chapter. He could describe how five per cent of the world population were convinced by corporate spin doctors and politicians to place a grade six poison in their drinking water in the belief it would miraculously give them immunity from tooth decay. Well-known American dentist Dr Bill Osmunson DDS, who is also a master of public health, actively supported fluoridation for 25 years until he was convinced by some of his patients to examine the science. He has now become an activist in opposing the practice in America.
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"I am confident that most dentists and other medical professionals who still promote fluoridation have not actually read both sides of the literature for themselves," he says. Dr Osmunson says that any benefits are from topical application and not from ingested fluoride and he says the numerous human studies suggesting neurological damage, including drops of several IQ points, are of most concern. Dentists can fix teeth. No one can fix IQ. Thousands of dentists now oppose fluoridation and hundreds are now prepared to speak out.
Please note – you don't need to swallow fluoride in any form and ingesting fluoride presents serious health risks, particularly in the young (read the label on your toothpaste). Fluoride supplements are prescribed drugs that have never been approved by the American FDA.
If people feel the need to ingest fluoride, they should simply ignore the safety warning on their toothpaste and swallow it. This would save the rest of us from mass medication.
Will health officials and government bodies be held criminally responsible, in the future, for the addition of unregulated harmful substances into public drinking water? Dilution will be no defence.
This is such a nonsense debate. Oral health has improved all over the world not because of fluoride, but because of improved nutrition and improved oral and dental practices.
The Chinese must love this. America can't produce enough hydrofluorsilic acid, so they import the Chinese waste to supplement their shortfall. The Chinese certainly won't put it in their drinking water, so the Americans, and probably Australians as well, take it off their hands. Problem solved.
Perhaps it's time to remember Benjamin Franklin’s observant quote: "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
