In all the years that Science Cafe New Hampshire has put on events, some dealing with controversial topics like climate change and vaccinations, only one time have we had to scold audience members for being obnoxious: When we talked about public water fluoridation. Some opponents go over the edge in their embrace of conspiracy theories and sometimes iffy medical science. Hint: If you hear a fluoridation opponent talk about “rat poison” you can safely stop listening.
With that in mind, here’s an announcement from the state celebration the practice:
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services (DPHS) has announced that several New Hampshire cities and towns have been awarded a Water Fluoridation Quality Award from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The City of Concord, the City of Dover Water Department, the UNH/Durham Water System, Laconia Water Works, the Lebanon Water Department, the Lancaster Water Department, and Manchester Water Works were all recognized for excellence in community water fluoridation. Fluoridation is the adjustment of the level of fluoride, a naturally occurring element, in drinking water to an amount that is effective for preventing tooth decay.
“Water fluoridation is effective in preventing cavities in children and adults and also highly cost-effective,” said Casey Hannan, MPH, Acting Director of the CDC Division of Oral Health. “Fluoridation is one of the best investments that communities can make in maintaining the oral health of their citizens. Studies continue to show that for every one dollar invested by communities in water fluoridation, 20 dollars are saved in dental treatment costs.”
New Hampshire ranks 44 in the country for the fluoridation of public water systems, with less than half of residents (47%) served by a public water system receiving fluoridated water. Many New Hampshire residents receive water from private wells, which may or may not have naturally occurring fluoride. In all, the CDC is giving Water Fluoridation Quality Awards to 1,360 water systems across 29 states.
Community water fluoridation has been recognized by CDC as one of ten great public health achievements of the twentieth century. It is one of the most practical, cost-effective, equitable, and safe measures communities can take to prevent tooth decay and improve oral health, according to the CDC.
“We fully support community water fluoridation as a strategy to improve the public’s oral health, which is an important part of a person’s overall health”, said Lisa Morris, Director of DPHS. “I commend the high quality work of these water departments. New Hampshire residents of all ages who get their water from these municipal systems are able to enjoy the protective benefits provided by fluoridation.”
For more information about fluoridation and drinking water, please visit www.cdc.gov/fluoridation and www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/bchs/oral/index.htm.
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What a hypocrite you are. The perpetrators and wannabe perpetrators of the forced-fluoridation experiment may want to take a look at Article 6 of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, which is on the UNESCO website.
“Article 6 – Consent
1. Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be express and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice.”
Clearly the forced-fluoridation experiment (i.e. the dumping of toxic industrial fluoride pollution into public water supplies) violates human rights.
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31058&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
https://forcedfluoridationfreedomfighters.com/a-preliminary-investigation-into-fluoride-accumulation-in-bone/
Anyone who thinks that delivering any medication by dumping it into public water supplies is scientific is scientifically illiterate. As for fluoride, it is highly toxic and a cumulative poison, like lead, arsenic, and mercury. I have asked many forced-fluoridation fanatics to tell me how much accumulated fluoride in the body they think is safe. So far not a single one of them has been able to answer the question. It is unlikely to just be a coincidence that the US, Australia, and Ireland, which have had high rates of forced-fluoridation for decades, also have high rates of joint problems, and poor health outcomes in general.
You sir, are a fraud.
I was at your meeting on fluoridation in Nashua. No conspiracy theories or junk science were mentioned. Instead, your personal bias was fully on display. Weeks prior to the event you posted the speakers, and low and behold they were both fluoridation-advocates (lobbyists), not researchers, not objective observers or a balanced panel.
Multiple medical and scientific professionals from the area (including a physician) asked to be on the panel to offer something other than pro-fluoridation propaganda. You said no. Your bias was clear, and your desire for an actual discussion of the science was entirely lacking.
When the event started, the audience of about 30 immediately started asking the panelist simple questions about safety, efficacy, and informed consent (medical ethics) around fluoridation. Valid questions. The dental panelist acknowledged that she couldn’t answer the questions and simply shut down (stopped answering anything). She admitted she wasn’t up on the science, wasn’t capable of making the case for fluoridation when there was any pushback, and simply embarrassed you and herself. She was there, as she said, “to read talking points in favor of fluoridation.”
THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE (made up of YOUR science-loving supporters) was opposed to fluoridation, and you got frustrated and angry in the face of honest questions, real science, and reality.
And here you are again, showing your bias, posting more pro-fluoridation propaganda. An award for fluoridation, wow, where is the press release for an award for clean water, or proper chlorine use to kill dangerous bacteria, or PFOA-free water, etc? No, these “awards” are simply an excuse to promote fluoridation in the media, dummy.
Here is your chance to be honest, answer this question: where does NH rank among all states for rate of children’s dental decay?
Go ahead, embarrass yourself some more. The press release above says we are ranked 44 for fluoridation, but fails to say where we rank with decay. Wonder why?
Maybe because acknowledging that we are ranked 3rd for lowest rate of decay would destroy their case.
What about Vermont? They rank 40th, but 2nd with lowest decay. See the trend? Look at most of the states that are 90% fluoridated. Almost all rank highest for decay.
Be honest with yourself for once. You’ll suck down whatever a lobbying organization like the ADA tells you, like a puppet.
Maybe explain how you can justify this after the Sept. journal article published in Environmental Health Perspectives (study funded by NIH) showed that pregnant women with fluoride levels in their urine exactly the same as that in the U.S. were lowering their children’s IQ by 5 points. This joins over 50 other human studies linking fluoride to lowered IQ.
Explain how you justify adding a developmental neurotoxicant (as classified by the EPA–and backed up by over 300 studies) into the water supply in the hopes of reducing life-time dental decay by, at most, one cavity on a single tooth surface (as reported by the ADA)?
New HHS numbers show dental fluorosis rates are now at 57% for U.S. adolescents. It’s a bio-marker of overexposure. In the face of this fact, you want this rate to be higher evidently.
You are a liar and a fraud, and the people of NH and especially Nashua (as you witnessed) think you’re a complete joke for blindly advocating in favor of adding another environmental toxin to the public drinking water supply when topical fluoride is already abundantly available, cheap, and without much of the risk that accompanies systemic consumption.
Think before you post.