Joan Lunden Not Up on Fluoride Science

The American Dental Association and the Centers for Disease Control now recommends that infant formula NOT be mixed with fluoridated water. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't allow fluoridated bottled water to be marketed towards infants.

Dental fluorosis - white spotted, yellow and brown and sometimes pitted enamel has increased by almost 50% in some age groups, according to the CDC. Dental fluorosis occurs when children ingest too much fluoride while their teeth are forming.

Modern science now shows that ingested fluoride confers no benefit Fluoride only works topically - meaning it only needs to touch the outside of the tooth enamel to work. However, swallowing fluoride exposes children to fluoride risks and makes as much sense as swallowing polish to paint your toenails.

The National Academies published a report on fluoride toxicology in March 2006 and revealed that fluoride jeopardizes health - even at low
levels deliberately added to public water supplies. Fluoride poses risks to the thyroid gland, diabetics, kidney patients, high water drinkers and others and
can severely damage children's teeth.

On October 6, 2007, the British Medical Journal reported that studies show that that fluoridation, touted as a safe cavity preventive, never was proven safe or effective and may be unethical

Cavity rates declined equally in fluoridated and non-fluoridated European countries. "This trend has occurred regardless of the concentration of fluoride in water or the use of fluoridated salt," write Sir Iain Chalmers, editor of the James Lind Library, which was set up to help people understand the evidence base of medicine, KK Cheng, professor of epidemiology at Birmingham University, and Trevor Sheldon, professor and pro-vice-chancellor at York University.

In 1999, England's Department of Health commissioned a systematic review on the effects of water fluoridation on dental health and to look for evidence of harm. (York Review). The reviewers were surprised that fluoridation was long endorsed and promoted with such certainty when 3200 world-wide papers failed to show any good quality evidence of benefit or safety. "Thus, evidence on the potential benefits and harms of adding fluoride to water is relatively poor," the BMJ's researchers write.

Sheldon, who was also Chair of the York Review's advisory committee, as well as co-author of the BMJ article, wrote in a different 2006 report that officials promoting fluoridation may have misrepresented the York Review findings to suit "prior beliefs and policy intent." ("Muddy waters: evidence-based policy making, uncertainty and the 'York review' on water fluoridation," Journal Evidence & Policy, Paul Wilson and Trevor Sheldon Vol 2 No 3 2006 pages 321-31 )

Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth. Having a fluoride-free life, if it were possible, does not create tooth decay. Bad diets create bad teeth.

After over 60 years of fluoridation reaching 2/3 of Americans on public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply tooth decay is a growing problem - not because we are fluoride-deficient but because we are dentist deficient. Eighty percent of dentists refuse Medicaid patients. 108 Million Americans don't have dental insurance. Fluoride will not help this problem. In fact, fluoride could worsen the problem as there is no dispute that too much fluoride actually can cause teeth to crumble