Why Fluoridation is Wrong for Long Island, New York
1) No Long Islander is fluoride deficient. The USDA website lists current levelsof fluoride in common foods. A more readable chart is here.
a) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study: from 1/3 to ½ of
US school children display fluoride overdose symptoms – dental fluorosis – white spotted, yellow or brown and sometimes pitted enamel.
2) The EPA increased fluoride residues allowed on foods since
approving Dow Chemical Company's sulfuryl fluoride
(ProFume) as a post-harvest fumigant. Even NYS Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer wrote the EPA and said, "...the
tolerances established by EPA are not sufficiently protective
against adverse health effects,"
3) Non-fluoridated Nassau & Suffolk cavity rates are equal to or
lower than 73% fluoridated NYS and many fluoridated NYS
counties and US States
4) Fluoridation hasn’t leveled decay rates between poor & non-poor.
5) Impure industrial waste products are used for water fluoridation.
a) What effect would this have on the LI environment?
b) Silicofluorides contain trace amounts of impurities such as
arsenic, lead, mercury and more.
c) Silicofluorides have never been safety tested in humans or
animals
d) Silicofluorides are linked to children’s higher blood lead levels.
e) High blood lead levels are linked to higher rates of tooth decay
6) The FDA never tested the safety or efficacy of fluoride ingestion.
a) Fluoride was “grandfathered in” because it was on the market pre-1938 when drug safety testing laws were first enacted.
b) Pre-1938, fluoride was only sold as a rat poison.
7) Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth.
8) Fluoride ingestion confers no benefits.
a) The CDC says: “fluoride's predominant effect is posteruptive and
topical”
9) Fluoride ingestion, like all drugs, delivers health risks.
a) Reviews of the fluoride literature by National Institutes of Health and UK researchers report fluoride studies scientifically invalid
b) National Academies of Science fluoride panel reveals health
risks at 1 ppm
10) From 1 – 5% of the population is allergic to or intolerant of fluoride
11) "If you add fluoridated water to your infant's baby formula, you may be putting your child at risk of developing dental fluorosis,"
according to the Academy of General Dentistry
a) The American Dental Association Agrees
b) The Centers For Disease Control Agrees
12) The adequate intake (AI) of fluoride for a six month old baby is
only 0.01 mg/F per day. If the AI is exceeded babies risk
moderate dental fluorosis which is defined as Light to very dark
brown staining occurs on the enamel, along with the parchment-
white coloration of fluorosis. This is what moderate dental
fluorosis looks like.
13) Fluoridation makes no difference in NYS's decay rates and no
difference between low and high income.
14) Dentists are not fluoride experts
For more general information about fluoridation, see Fluoridation 101:
For more science that shows the harm and ineffectiveness of fluoridation see the Fluoride Journal, Second Look, Fluoride Action Network.
